Experts from across the retirement industry — including SBA’s Jay Schmitt — share their perspectives on retirement readiness and overall financial wellness.
Governance basics every plan sponsor should know
How do plan sponsors operate and administer employee benefit plans in a manner that is both effective and compliant with applicable regulatory and fiduciary obligations?
How to tell if you’re paying reasonable fees for actuarial services
As a defined benefit (DB) plan sponsor, it can be difficult to determine whether the fees you are paying for actuarial services are reasonable. Here are some ways to evaluate whether actuarial fees are in line with the services provided.
Plan sponsors should do their homework before offering student loan assistance
Student loans can be a distraction that diminishes employee productivity and may prevent employees from achieving their financial wellness goals. In response, employers have recently begun introducing benefit programs designed to assist employees with their student loan debt.
‘Free’ plan implementation can come with big costs
“Free implementation” has become a ubiquitous element of benefit plan administration proposals. The appeal to plan sponsors is understandable, but rest assured, with free implementation, you get what you pay for. Understanding the true cost of implementation will help plan sponsors evaluate potential benefit administrators and initiate the implementation process with eyes wide open and a more realistic budget.
To keep pension plan liabilities accurate, get to know participants’ marital status
Confirming marital status when a participant dies is an important part of a plan administrator’s responsibilities, but it takes legwork and personalized attention. Here are some tactics we have used with great success.
Preventive maintenance is key to retirement plan health
Periodic checkups can keep plans running smoothly and help plan sponsors identify issues early, before those become difficult and expensive to correct. Such audits come in two varieties—transactional audits and operational audits.
A background on retirement plan cyber crimes and how to mitigate them
The onus of safeguarding plan participants from fraud does not fall solely on the recordkeeper. Both DC plan sponsors and recordkeepers need to agree on fraud-resistant processes that are clearly documented, rigorously implemented and consistently followed. Here are a few tips.
Keeping up with all the players in outsourced benefits administration
The benefits outsourcing market is evolving rapidly, making it hard for plan sponsors to know what to look for — and who to consider — when preparing RFPs for the outsourcing of defined benefit, defined contribution, health and welfare and nonqualified benefits. Here are some tips.
How to walk the line with pension overpayments
SBA principals Mary Shah and Mindy Zatto discuss ways to recoup pension overpayments that satisfy regulators and do not place burden on retirees, as well as how to prevent overpayments from happening.
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