For the most part, the news about Defined Benefit plans lately has not been particularly good. Whether a big company could no longer fund its plan or how it was bankrupting their business, headlines have discouraged many businesses from seriously considering a DB plan.

Most people can contribute to their 401(k) without worrying about exceeding the annual contribution limit. If you're under 50 years old, that's $18,500 a year. If you're 50 or older, it's $24,500.A small, but important segment of the population, though, has the ability to contribute significantly mo...

You already know that a 401(k) is a very popular retirement plan and, like other plan designs, it allows your employees to take advantage of tax deferrals on contributions and earnings while their money accumulates for retirement.To enjoy this special status, the IRS put in place rules to assure you...

When it comes to the topic of fiduciary responsibilities for qualified retirement plans, there are three things we know really well:Plan sponsors like you are, by definition, a fiduciary of your plan because you exercise control over, and act on behalf of, your plan.Some plan sponsors don't know thi...

People who exercise control and authority over the management of a retirement plan's assets are fiduciaries. So are professionals who provide investment advice with respect to those assets. As a company owner or executive, in most cases you also play an investment fiduciary role unless you partially...

IRS rules provide for participant loans and hardship withdrawals from 401(k) and other plans. They're not required, but rather left to the discretion of you, the plan sponsor. Today, there's a good bit of debate about how participant loans affect long-term retirement outcomes. On one hand, it's not ...

When we talk about 401(k) retirement plans, we sometimes focus on the contributions made by employees that are always immediately vested. In other words, it's their money and they can always withdraw it without forfeiting any - subject to certain IRS rules about early withdrawals.

It's a common story - business owners put everything into their businesses for years before being in a financial position to put real money away for retirement. Once you're ready to really get going, we can suggest a number of retirement plan designs and individual plan features that can help you re...

While we hope you have never had to experience it, you're no doubt familiar with the idea of an audit of your personal or corporate tax return. But you may not be familiar with an audit of your qualified retirement plan. There are two broad categories of retirement plan audits. Today, we'll focus qu...

There are some things we're happy to buy right off the rack. After all, mass production usually means consistency and cost-savings. On the other hand, when we do buy off the shelf, we compromise on individual choice and sometimes flexibility in getting the exact qualities and features we want. In re...