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Breaking up with your TPA can be hard to do

The MTV reality series The Real World ended their opening intro with “to find out what happens… when people stop being polite… and start getting real.” As an ERISA attorney working with retirement plan clients, I often find that what determines a good...

The beneficiary form and the need for no drama

As a plan sponsor, you need to ensure that participant beneficiary forms are up to date. It’s not enough to ensure that every participant has filled one out; you also have to ensure that they’re updated. Family lives and situations change, so it should ma...

Make sure those exclusions make sense

If you restrict eligibility from your retirement plan to a certain group of employees outside of th...

Changes have to be smooth

I hate moving. I’ve lived in the same house now for 19 years and I dread the idea of moving I hav...

IRS has a tough time with the 5500 “zig zag”

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) doesn’t read the 5500s, but the Department of Labor (DOL) does...

The bonus problem

Bonuses are nice, I wouldn’t know because in the 11 years I was an employee, I got $300 for the h...

Tell your TPA the whole story

There are good third-party administrators (TPAs) and bad ones. No matter how good your TPA is, they...

Plans paying more? Well, yeah

I read that a recent study showed the 80% of 401(k) plans are overpaying in fees. Tell me something...

Get that Final 5500 done ASAP

When a plan terminates and distributes all its assets or merges all its assets into another plan, y...

The issue with 3(16)

Over the last few years, we’ve seen the proliferation of companies offering ERISA §3(16) service...