Industry Insights
Extra! Extra! Stay up to date on the latest news about the DWC team.
The retirement plan landscape is ever evolving. We distill the details so you don’t have to!
We’ve corralled the best news from inside the beltway – not only regulations, but also new legislation from Congress as well as relevant guidance from the IRS and Department of Labor. In true DWC fashion, we don’t just repackage a recitation of the rules, we provide our thoughts and commentary about what those rules mean to you.
We know cash balance rules can be intimidating! Settle into the Cash Balance Corner and let us break it down for you.
Have 401(k) questions? We have 401(k) answers! We bring you answers to many of the common questions we receive.
A behind-the-scenes look not at how the sausage is made, but why we make it the way we do. (Hint: It’s all about the best interests of the client.)
We’re all about learning from other people’s (alleged) mistakes. We might not be attorneys, but we still follow benefits-related cases and summarize lessons and key take-aways. No hourly fee needed for these insights!
A deeper dive into retirement plan topics doesn’t have to be headache-inducing. Our Pension Primer articles provide depth of information without depth of jargon!
Are you a Plan Sponsor? Then it's your fiduciary duty to hire and oversee the industry service providers for your plan. Hopefully your current selection criteria is not limited to out-of-pocket costs ...
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A retirement plan’s investment menu and the communication campaign are probably the two most visible aspects of any retirement plan from the participants’ perspective. They can go a long way in ...
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Want to maximize the value of your HR dollar in your defined contribution or defined benefit plan? You need a cost benefit analysis.
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Be sure you're doing your due diligence. Plan sponsors have a fiduciary duty to hire and oversee the industry service providers for retirement plans, and your selection process should not be limited ...
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"Before Fidelity made its move, the Department of Labor had sent a warning about using crypto in retirement accounts. In March, the agency issued a compliance assistance release cautioning retirement ...
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From the Hot Seat to a Fireside Chat This week, we are bringing the heat in two completely different ways. Receiving notification that the Department of Labor is about to pay a visit to investigate ...
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Over the last several months we’ve been in touch quite a bit to keep you up to date on the many changing regulations occurring in the industry as legislators work to react to current events and ...
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Get ready for the “PEP as panacea” pitch to the small plan marketplace (think low cost, highest quality services, coolest technology, least risk, etc.). We’ve already seen one promoter using the ...
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Written by Keith Clark, Managing Partner The end of the year is a time for reflection, and this year we have a lot to look back on. We entered our 20th year of business this past May. Eleven years ...
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All of us here at DWC thrive on the really geeky stuff, and some of the best discussions start with our pontifications about how different topics impact our clients and our industry. We decided to ...
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Facts I sponsor a small 401(k) plan for my employees. Sometimes, I get confused about which service provider to go to for different plan-related questions. Time and efficiency are important to me ...
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All of us here at DWC thrive on the really geeky stuff, and some of the best discussions start with our pontifications about how different topics impact our clients and our industry. We decided to ...
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Are you a plan sponsor? Then it's your fiduciary duty to hire and oversee the industry service providers for your plan. This new eBook will help you do it right.
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All of us here at DWC thrive on the really geeky stuff, and some of the best discussions start with our pontifications about how different topics impact our clients and our industry. We decided to ...
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DWC stays on top of what's trending, and our self-proclaimed pension geeks often offer their insights in industry publications. As we transition into the fourth quarter the theme has been, "What Plan ...
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All of us here at DWC thrive on the really geeky stuff, and some of the best discussions start with Adam and Keith’s pontifications about how different topics impact our clients and our industry. We ...
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Feeling out of the loop on industry happenings this summer? DWC stays on top of what's trending, and our self-proclaimed pension geeks often offer their insights in industry publications. Get caught ...
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Whether a company is small or large, chances are it offers employees a 401(k). But this well-intentioned benefit has become target practice for attorneys, with lawsuits against companies ranging from ...
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For more than a year bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have been making headlines, and its skyrocketing value has investors asking when it will become an investment menu option for their 401(k) or ...
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Facts Someone would have to be living under a rock for the last year or so not to have noticed all the talk about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency. The values have fluctuated quite a bit, but all the ...
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Choosing a third-party administrator to manage your company's document design, compliance or government reporting services should be based on careful due diligence, rather than on the price of fees, ...
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DWC partner Jen Gibbs Swets recently spoke with Enterprise Radio host Eric Dye to discuss selling a business and the impact it has on retirement planning. Swets, who has more than 15 years of ...
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Facts With over 100 participants in our 401(k) plan in 2017, we have learned that our plan will now require an audit each plan year from an Independent Qualified Public Accountant (IQPA). This will ...
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As we move into the new year, Business News Daily's Adam Uzialko advises businesses to stay up to date on new regulatory policies and debates.
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Regulated exchanges such as the Chicago Board Options Exchange, CME Group, and Nasdaq are either already trading or planning to trade bitcoin futures, an asset that is known to be particularly ...
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If Roth IRAs offer a legitimate long-term savings strategy by allowing people to generate tax-free income, why do less than a third of IRA investors have such an account? The short answer is income ...
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The reconciliation of the tax reform bills working their way through Congress is prompting retirement industry experts to speak up. Many are expressing concern that the unintended consequence of the ...
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Participants could potentially be losing a portion of their retirement savings due to some tricky 401(k) administrative issues. In a recent article for Kiplinger, DWC Managing Partner Keith Clark ...
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Service providers are judged by by many factors and one of the most important is managing to zero service issues. And considering how important plan compliance is, issues with plan compliance via a ...
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Retirement plan compliance is a big deal to the IRS. After all, the tax deductions that both plan sponsors and participants receive each year for contributions to retirement plans surpass deductions ...
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"Bitcoin may be the hottest thing going in the investment world, but 401(k) plan participants aren’t likely to see it on their regular investment menus anytime soon," writes Jasmine Ye Han in ...
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"Much has been written lamenting the near extinction of the corporate pension plan," Chris Carosa writes in a book excerpt posted to FiduciaryNews.com. "Are reports shaded by rose-colored glasses? ...
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If exchange-traded fund assets are hot among individual investors, why are employers slow to add them as an option for employees?
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"The 401(k) service sector has evolved considerably since its introduction in the Revenue Act of 1978," writes DWC Partner Keith Clark in 401(k) Specialist.
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"To Roth or Not to Roth," that is the title question of Christopher Carosa's latest FiduciaryNews.com article about 401(k) rollovers.
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More and more small, professional companies are interested in new comparability, or cross-tested, plans.
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Even as target date funds have become staples in 401(k) investment menus, there continue to be questions about their appropriateness as participants approach retirement age. Is the target date meant ...
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Once primarily the domain of 401(k) plans of professional organizations such as law firms or medical practices, the self-directed brokerage window has become a more common option in plans sponsored ...
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At the end of August, I made my first trip to Burning Man, an annual event held in the Black Rock Desert of northern Nevada. With 10 guiding principles, it involves art, music and free-spiritedness. ...
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I must confess that I have been very surprised by the vocal opposition to the new Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) requirements.
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2009 was a tough year for the 401(k) plan. From the Time cover story [Stephen Gandel, "Why It's Time to Retire the 401(k)," Time, 174(15): 28–34] to the pages of this journal [Teresa Ghilarducci, "If ...
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Several weeks ago, I had a lengthy conversation with a prospective client (we’ll call her Alice) and her investment advisor. After the standard dialogue about fees, service guarantees, etc., the ...
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In the last few days, there have been several new media reports of professional wrongdoing. One describes a CPA suspended for preparing a false tax return. Another alleges a TPA firm provided ...
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As an industry, we have spent a great deal of time over the last 2 years discussing issues like investment advice, default investments and fiduciary responsibility ostensibly for the purpose of ...
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The recent market downturn has stirred much debate about the ability of the 401(k) plan to provide adequate retirement income. One proposed solution to the perceived failure of the country’s most ...
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This was the subject of quite a lengthy debate in an online, 401(k)-related discussion group a little while back. It quickly amassed quite a few comments. While the discussion took a few twists and ...
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