On June 17, 2022, Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-OR) released an outline of the bipartisan Enhancing American Retirement Now (EARN) Act. The Committee is expected to take up this legislation beginning the week of June 20. The EARN Act, together with the Retirement Improvement and Savings Enhancement to Supplement Healthy Investments for the…Read More
In this article, we provide our standard analysis of de-risking: how changes in interest rates and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation premiums may affect sponsor decisions to de-risk (or not de-risk) defined benefit plan liabilities in 2022. For purposes of this article, we focus solely on de-risking by paying out a deferred vested participant’s benefit as a lump sum and thereby eliminating the related liability.
The combination of higher interest rates and a strong stock market have significantly improved pension funding. For some sponsors looking to exit the DB system, this improvement in funding may put them in a position to consider plan termination. In this article we briefly review some of the key issues the project of terminating a plan presents.
President Biden signed into law the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). The new legislation (among many other things) extends 25-year average interest rate stabilization relief under ERISA’s DB plan minimum funding rules another five years.
Recent IRS Notice 2021-48 details guidance on elections available to sponsors with consideration of changes made by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARP).
A review of this year’s asset and interest rate performance and their effect on DB plan funding and DC retirement income.
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) significantly relaxes single-employer defined benefit plan minimum funding requirements. New rules change the incentives for sponsors of underfunded DB plans to fund/not fund. In this article we analyze some of the strategic funding decisions confronting those sponsors.
Single-employer defined benefit plan interest rate stabilization and funding relief included in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) presents DB sponsors with a number of short-run decisions. In this article, we identify some of the more significant ones, along with some of the guidance needed with respect to these decisions.
On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed into law the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA). ARPA includes significant single-employer defined benefit plan interest rate stabilization/funding relief.
On March 1, 2021, the Senate Parliamentarian ruled that the pension provisions of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) do not violate the “Byrd Rule” and therefore may be included in this current round of budget reconciliation legislation.