Category: 401(k)
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401(k) investment choices
The CFO is individually named as defendant in this class action lawsuit for his choice of investment offerings in company’s 401(k) plan. Contrast this story to other news of employees pressuring employers to add a range of non-traditional investments like real estate, partnerships, private company stock and cryptocurrency. The risk to employers and employees is…
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The 2021 investment shakeup
After more than a decade of one-way intense focus in the stock market, investors are now changing strategies. We see more wisdom and opportunities in the broad investment asset reallocation than ever before. A number of clients are diversifying into asset these classes for the first time. These decisions have significant long term consequences on…
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Benefit of 401(k) tax credit for small business that start 401(k) plans
My brother John Novak, a well established 401(k) expert, shared some calculations that he made for his own clients illustrating the impact of the SECURE act tax credit for small businesses that want to start a 401(k) plan. This is the first analysis of this type that I’ve seen using “real life” 401(k) plan fees…
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Impact of the SECURE Act on business retirement plans
Ted Benna, called “the father of 401(k)s” was one of my first business mentors when I left Wall Street in 1997 and started my own firm serving small businesses in the Doylestown, Pennsylvania area. His comments today in ThinkAdviser on the impact of the new SECURE Act are ‘spot on’: • “Hopefully the operating efficiencies a…
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2019 Tax Saving Checklist for Attorneys
Forecast 2019 taxes now based on 2018 year-to-date results. (If you don’t have 2018 YTD then we really need to talk). Use a Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) for tax-free payments of out-of-pocket expenses Use a Qualified Small Employer Health Reimbursement Arrangement (QSEHRA) for insurance assistance Add a Health Savings Account (HSA) for long term health…
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New way to pay student loans – tax free!
I’ve been practicing in the employee benefits field for 37 years and I can’t remember being as surprised as I was reading IRS Private Letter Ruling 201833012 released on last Friday. Never before has there been any tax advantage to student loan payments (typically made to an outside financial company) through connection with an employer plan.…
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Alternative Investments: Now More Than Ever
I’m convinced that most people don’t know about vast array of alternative investment options available to them including through tax-advantaged individual retirement accounts. Consider the broad environment of alternative investments that we face today: We’ve been brainwashed1 to think that alternative investments are not safe while investments in the US securities markets are safer. Financial…
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What the fiduciary rule means to us
Update on February 8, 2017: District Court in Texas upheld the fiduciary rule in this 81 page ruling in a case brought by the financial services industry groups. The court ruling seems to praise the new rule. Except in the unlikely event of very fast action by the Department of Labor it appears that the fiduciary…
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Target benefit annuity plans
how to use a 412(i) target benefit annuity pension plan for a self employed individual