Benefits Blog

The IRS announced on January 23, 2014 that Cash Balance defined benefit plans will eventually be able to utilize pre-approved master and prototype plan documents.  Currently,  all Cash Balance plans must  be written as individually-designed documents.  The IRS announcement extends to  February 2, 2015 the deadline for plan document drafters to submit  their new traditional defined benefit master and prototype  plan documents for IRS approval.  By extending that deadline from January 31, 2014, the IRS stated it will now have time to publish guidance on Cash Balance plan language that will eventually be acceptable under the IRS’s master and prototype program. 

IRS Announces New 2014 Limits

For many, retiring with a million dollars would be a dream come true.  However, for a highly paid professional, a million dollar retirement nest egg may only be a third or fourth of what is actually needed.  Numerous studies have shown that key to a successful retirement is the management of the annual withdrawal rate.  Industry professionals recommend withdrawing no more than five percent of your retirement savings in any year.  Therefore, a million dollar retirement nest egg will only provide a $50,000 annual retirement income, two million would provide an annual retirement income of $100,000, and so on.  Essentially, one takes the desired annual retirement income and divides that number by 5% (.05).

If you or your client is one of the thousands of business owners that have a SIMPLE IRA retirement plan, then you may want to reconsider the options.  Below are 3 reasons a 401(k) is better than a SIMPLE (Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employers) IRA.

Now that you know what a Cash Balance Plan is from reading Part 1 Is a Cash Balance Plan Right For My Company? Part 1 of this series, the next step is: What are the reasons for setting up a Cash Balance Plan? 

When ERISA was passed in 1974, Congress realized that the provisions of ERISA would have to
be enforced.  So, Congress also created the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), which is responsible for ensuring the compliance and integrity of the private employee benefit system in the United States.  EBSA is a division of the Department of Labor.

The In-Plan ROTH Conversions, while attractive to some, will be quite an administrative nightmare.  As a Third Party Administrator, I have not had a lot of requests to amend our plans to allow for the “new” In-Plan ROTH Conversions since they became available as a transfer instead of a rollover.  This “new” law was effective January 1, 2013 to allow participants in a 401(k), 403(b) or 457 plans to convert ANY of their pre-tax funds to ROTH.  Previously, conversions were only allowed if a participant had a distributable event.