The idea of Lifetime Income programs under defined contribution plans has become well accepted in the retirement plan community. There are numerous studies which show their value, from a retirement policy standpoint, and the attractiveness of those sorts of programs
Tacit in the language of the DOL’s proposed prudence safe harbor requirement that a fiduciary “read and critically review” the investment documents supporting a broad range of often commonplace DC investments is, I would think, the implication that the documents
The DOL’s proposed prudence safe harbor regulations have pretty much made it “table stakes” for some responsible person somewhere to read and understand any annuity contracts on behalf of the plan which are provided as part of any DC lifetime
This topic has never been one that has much concerned either analysts or operators of programs which involve the purchase by a DC plan of an annuity contract. This one has always been in the purview of the engineer-those insurance
One of the key fiduciary roles in the assessment of any DC lifetime income program process necessarily involves whether, and how, the plan or the vendor accommodates any required spousal consent rules related to the payout of annuities.
The vast
Often overlooked in a fiduciary analysis of any DC Lifetime Income Program are the impacts arising from the method in which any accumulated lifetime income guarantee is being distributed from any particular program. There are substantial differences between any of
We have all been well attuned over the decades since mutual funds became available to be daily traded under DC plans to a very particular view of an investment funds’ cost. ERISA’s participant investment disclosure rules have successfully established what
“No Duh!”was my favorite response by a colleague to the DOL’s alt asset proposed regulation, which is replete with references to the need of the fiduciary adviser to “read and critically review” the core documents of any of a plan’s
An important and separate “tool,” if you will, in the professional’s portfolio for use in assessing and understanding the manner in which any lifetime income program will fit into any particular DC plan is simply recognizing that annuities (1) are
