The Shore Tompkins Blog
401(k) Plans
An Update about In-Plan Conversions to Roth
The Joint Committee on Taxation recently clarified provisions relating to the expanded in-plan Roth conversions. As discussed in our March 11 post, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 expanded in-plan Roth conversions to include all pre-tax accounts, whether or...
What to Know If You’re a Highly Compensated Employee
If you're an owner or top earner at your company you might think that being an HCE is simply a matter of whether your salary exceeds a certain limit. In fact there's more to it than that. Knowing the details can help owners and other HCEs avoid unwanted surprises.The...
Converting Pre-Tax Contributions to After-Tax Roth
As part of the American Taxpayer Relief Act (ATRA) signed by President Obama in early January, all 401k, 403b, and 457b retirement savings plans now have the option to allow participants to convert some or all of their pre-tax contributions (namely, pre-tax 401k...
Deciding Whether to Make Roth 401k Contributions
In our previous post we looked at the concept of the Roth 401k, which is simply the option to contribute dollars on an after-tax basis to a traditional 401k plan (assuming that the plan sponsor has amended the plan document to allow such contributions, as required by...
QDIA Safe Harbor Upheld in Appeals Court
As noted in our last blog post, for many years retirement plan sponsors have faced a dilemma: How should they invest contributions from employees who won't affirmatively choose at least one investment vehicle for their contributions? More to the point: how to do it...
The Roth 401k: An Option for Higher Earners
When thinking of retirement, most workers (and their employers) probably associate the name "Roth" with the letters "IRA." After all, the Roth IRA has been around since the 1998 tax year and has been widely embraced by many individuals seeking to maximize their...
Cash Balance Plans
Why Have Cash Balance Plans Become Such Popular Retirement Solutions?
Have you heard of Cash Balance retirement plans? You should! Cash Balance plans have become one of the fastest growing retirement plan design options in the last few years and one that investment advisors should add to their portfolio of retirement products. Why are...
Fiduciary Tips for Defined Benefit Plans – Part 2 – Selecting an Annuity Provider
As an executive with oversight responsibilities for a frozen pension plan you begin to see the light at the end of a long journey – plan termination is near or winding up. You climbed that mountain of pension liability, now fully funded through cash contributions,...
Fiduciary Tips for Defined Benefit Plans: Trust Eligible Expenses
Much has been written in recent years about fee transparency within retirement plans, with the overwhelming majority of the focus centered on defined contribution plans. This is a result of law changes aimed at getting record keepers and investment advisors to more...
Dynamic Asset Allocation for Pension Plans – The Best of Both Worlds
Today, there are two worlds of pension finance, the world of underfunded plans requiring careful cash planning and characterized by higher risk taking leading to more volatile financial statements, and the world of well-funded plans where even modest investment...
Other Retirement Plans
Fiduciary Tips for Defined Benefit Plans: Trust Eligible Expenses
Much has been written in recent years about fee transparency within retirement plans, with the overwhelming majority of the focus centered on defined contribution plans. This is a result of law changes aimed at getting record keepers and investment advisors to more...
Dynamic Asset Allocation for Pension Plans – The Best of Both Worlds
Today, there are two worlds of pension finance, the world of underfunded plans requiring careful cash planning and characterized by higher risk taking leading to more volatile financial statements, and the world of well-funded plans where even modest investment...
Benefits of Selling Cash Balance Plans (#4 of 4)
As explained in our previous post (#3 in this series), cash balance plans are often easier for business owners (your clients) to understand and offer more flexibility than many other types of retirement plans. And in our second post we clarified how cash balance plans...
Cash Balance Plans: More Understandable, Flexible than Traditional DB Plans (#3 of 4)
Updated 1/1/2019: In our previous post (#2 in this series) we looked at the wealth-accumulation advantages of cash balance plans. Discussing these advantages with business owners (your clients) is essential to selling a cash balance plan. But because clients “live...