Podcasts about qdia

Unlocking the Door to Broader Adoption of Guaranteed Lifetime Income in 401(k)s: Matt Gray and Todd LevyGuaranteed lifetime income remains a hot topic in the workplace retirement plan market and there are plenty of factors at play these days that are helping these solutions gain traction—and more widespread adoption—in 401(k) plans.Matt Gray, Assistant Vice President, Workplace and Middle Markets at Allianz Life, and Todd Levy, a “first mover” for lifetime income in DC plans who is Managing Director of RIA for The Retirement Plan Company, join the 401(k) Specialist Pod(k)ast to discuss how these products are evolving to meet the wants and needs of 401(k) participants.

While saving for retirement has been simplified and streamlined in recent decades, with tools like auto-enrollment and target date funds, the retirement savings ecosystem is anything but simple. It's a complex confluence of innovators, service providers, employers, workers, consultants, lawyers, and, yes, government officials. Regulators play a huge role in our industry, so understanding who they are and how they work is an important factor in the outcomes for plan sponsors and plan participants. In this episode, we speak with two former Department of Labor EBSA directors, Brad Campbell and Phyllis Borzi, about the challenges and opportunities in regulating the employee benefits space, including the enactment of the landmark Pension Protection Act of 2006. Key Takeaways: [:04] Josh opens up today's episode with a quick recap of episode 5 which focused on the work of two innovators in the field. He opens up this part of the conversation on what made the start of Target Date Funds and automatic enrollment so very impactful, the passage of the Pension Protection Act of 2006.   [2:18] Josh explores the regulatory carrots and sticks of EPSA through the eyes of two of its leaders, we begin with Bradfrod Campbell. Brad shares about how he came to shape the world of modern retirement savings as the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employee Benefits in the United States Department of Labor.   [4:18] The Pension Protection Act was passed while Brad worked as a young Republican, he speaks about his beginnings in the Government and how he found ERISA, enrolled in law school and weathered the Enron scandal.   [8:15] Phyllis Borzy took over Brad's position as the Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employee Benefits in the United States Department of Labor. She talks about how she was always drawn to law and enrolled the year ERISA passed.   [11:14] Her love for ERISA was cemented after her stay in corporate law and she brought it into her career in government all the way up to what she calls the Gingrich revolution.   [13:45] Brad and phyllis had similar challenges but different approaches. Brad talks about the balancing act between carrot and stick.   [15:09] Josh offers a quick explanation of 404C — a pivotal part of the Accidental Plan Sponsor story as well as the Pension Protection Act. Brad weighs in on the way 404C functions.   [19:14] Phyllis shares her profound hate for 404C, her multiple reasons why and what she would do differently.   [22:25] The Pension Protection Act from Brad's point of view — both pre and post Enron — and the legal implications that had to be thought over in that context.   [26:15] More carrots! 404C generated a proliferation of offers without much structure for participants to direct their investment, Brad describes how they helped write the QDIA regulation and define 3 mechanisms for an appropriate default investment that would stand the test of time.   [30:00] Brad shares the difficulties of putting regulations in place, from congress to burgeoning lawsuits inter-administration. Phyllis shares her take and the work she did on the regulation, get ready for some bi-partisan agreement!   [34:44] Phyllis takes a moment to denounce the attacks her co-workers received from the nay-sayers.   [35:54] With overwhelming bi-partisan support, the Secure Act was passed in 2019, Josh touches on some of the issues this rule attempts to address. Brad and Phyllis share their joy having worked on ERISA.   [37:48] Josh thanks his guests for sharing their stories and ends with a taste of what episode 7 has to offer.   Thank you for tuning in. If you liked what you heard, please subscribe and leave us a review wherever you listen to your podcasts.   Links: The Accidental Plan Sponsor   Mentioned in this episode: More about Bradford Campbell. More about Phyllis Borzy.

To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/1085/29 Everybody knows the first investing decision you should make is to max out any employer contributions to your 401(k) because its free money, right? But what if that money isnt so free? Theyre seldom talked about, but 401(k) matching contributions do come with strings attached. Today on MoneyWise, financial planner and teacher Rob West goes over this for us. I still think its the best policy for most people, most of the time, to max out 401(k) contributions. But today were looking at a different point of view. The idea is that some investors might be better off by delaying 401(k) contributions in favor of making the maximum contribution to a Roth IRA. Vesting. You may not realize it, but when you start making contributions into a company 401(k), the company often doesnt begin matching those contributions right away. In fact, for your first year, your employer may make zero contributions. This is to protect the company from losing money in case you suddenly find a better job somewhere else. QDIA or Qualified Default Investment Alternative. Thats what happens if you sign up to have money deposited in your 401(k) but you dont designate it to go into a specific fund or funds. In that case, the money goes into a QDIA. This means that the 401(k) plan is making the decision for you and that may not always be in your best interest. Contributing enough to your 401(k) to get your employer match is still the best option for most people, especially those whod rather not be watching their portfolios all the time. Yes, there are definite advantages to a Roth IRA over a 401(k), such as tax free growth and withdrawal in retirement and many more investing options, and quite probably lower maintenance fees. But to take advantage of them youll need to give up employer matching and take a more active interest in your investments. Refer to the Forbesarticleon401(k)matching (https://www.forbes.com/sites/jrose/2020/05/13/dave-ramsey-might-think-im-crazy-but-heres-why-you-should-skip-your-401k-match/amp/). On todays program we also answer your questions: Im 29 years old and am a first-time home buyer. I want to play it safe and go as affordable as possible (under $200,000). What do you think about manufactured homes with land? What do you think of tithing, and does it matter if its on the gross or the net? I have close to $80,000 in savings and investments. Im 83 years old. My daughter wants to buy a house and Id co-sign with her to help her out. Itd also be a place where I can live, too. I wouldnt necessarily be helping her each month, but could. I do get Social Security. What do you think about this? Ask your questions at (800) 525-7000 or email them atquestions@moneywise.org. Visit our website atmoneywise.orgwhere you can connect with a MoneyWise Coach, purchase books, and even download free, helpful resources. Like and Follow us on Facebook at MoneyWise Media for videos and the very latest discussion!Remember that its your prayerful and financial support that keeps MoneyWise on the air. Help us continue this outreach by clicking the Donate tab at the top of the page.

Schedule a Consultation - Click here to get your free book Today I’m covering another facet of Auto to the 5th Power, automatic re-enrollment. You have can actually re-enroll your employees into that Qualified Default Investment Option, or QDIA, to provide incredible protection for you as a plan sponsor and help your employees save money to create that paycheck for life. If you’d like to skip ahead and learn all the secrets on how to create the best possible retirement plan for yourself, I’d be happy to get you a copy of my book, “Save America, Save! The Secrets of a Successful 401(k) Plan.” I’d also like to get you a copy of my first book, “Paychecks for Life: How to Turn Your 401(k) into a Paycheck Manufacturing Company.” It contains my nine secret recipes for how your employees can create a paycheck for life. Click here to get your copies. “As the employer, you are protected under the Pension Protection Act of 2008.” In addition, if you’d like a free benchmarking analysis of your retirement plan, we’d be happy to do that for you. Just send an email to Matt Gilmore in my office at mgilmore@epsteinfs.com or give him a call at (413-539-2379). Now onto our topic for today. Automatic re-enrollment is the option where you send out a 30-day notice and tell people that if they do not want a change in their investment options, they need to let you know. Otherwise, there are going to be automatically re-enrolled into that QDIA investment option. Don’t forget, you as the employer are protected under the Pension Protection Act of 2008. If you have any other questions, please feel free to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you.

Schedule a Consultation - Click here to get your free book Today I’m going to be talking about something I like to call Auto to the 5th Power. This is a way that you can use technology to automate savings for your employees and make your life easier, especially if you’re an HR director trying to get people to enroll in their retirement plans. So what exactly is Auto to the 5th Power? It’s actually a series of automatic features that you can use in your retirement plan to get your employees engaged in their retirement plans. This means getting them enrolled, getting them to increase their savings, and also providing greater protection for you as a plan sponsor. Today we’ll be taking a look at the top two automatic features. I’ll show you why they are so beneficial and how you can put them into action. The first feature is automatic enrollment, which is one of the easiest ways to save time, money, and effort. Instead of sending out a retirement form to your employees that may or may not ever be returned, all you need to do is send out a 30-day notice to your employees notifying them that when they are eligible for the retirement plan, they will automatically be enrolled in the plan at a set rate. For example, if your match is 50% on 6% you might want to set that contribution rate at 6%. The government will allow you to go as low as 3%, so that is an option if you’re worried about taking too much out of your employees’ paychecks right away. We personally always recommend setting the contribution rate at whatever the match rate is. After all, the name of the game is getting people to save for retirement, and people usually need to save about 10% a year. Now, you’re probably not going to automatically enroll at 10%, but the key to automatic enrollment is in the 30-day notice. You’re covered because you gave your employees notice, and your employees have the option to opt out. However, 70% of people who are automatically enrolled in the plan stay in the plan. “The name of the game is getting people to save for retirement.” The second feature is called automatic QDIA. A QDIA is a qualified default investment option. Say you automatically enroll an employee into the retirement plan but they don’t pick their investments. What’s a plan sponsor to do? Under the Pension Protection Act, you can automatically enroll them into something called the Qualified Default Investment Option. Typically a QDIA is going to be some sort of lifestyle fund, but it could be a customized option based on the employee’s age. As with automatic enrollment, the key to the QDIA is all about the notice. You have to send them something that tells them if they don’t make an election, you’re going to make the election for them. Provided you do investment due diligence on that investment option and document that you are monitoring that investment, you’ll be protected under the Pension Protection Act, which means you can’t be sued for making that investment choice for your employee. The bottom line is, using automatic features is easy, convenient, faster, and cheaper. Also, if you do your due diligence, you are completely protected thanks to the Pension Protection Act. In the end, your employee is the person who wins as they are saving money to create that paycheck for life. If you have any questions please feel free to send me an email or give me a call. Additionally, if you’d like an analysis of your retirement plan, you can reach out to Matt Gilmore in my office by sending him an email or giving him a call as well. We’d be happy to help!

In this episode, Ben Jones sits down with Phillip Chao of Chao & Company in Washington DC. Philip delves more into the concept of using Custom QDIA or Qualified Default Investment Alternative in retirement plans. This has been a hot topic for fund managers, advisors, consultants, and plan sponsors in the US. Topics covered include the reasons to explore a custom QDIA, the challenges, and other considerations to help you have better conversations with your clients about this important investment option. For full show notes and links mentioned in this episode, visit https://www.bmogam.com/us-en/advisors/news-and-insights/custom-target-date-funds/. 

Episode Description By leaps and bounds, target date funds, or lifecycle funds are the fastest growing investment in 401(k) plans primarily due to their popularity with plan sponsors as the qualified default investment alternative, or QDIA in their 401(k) plan.  As some fiduciaries are starting to realize, evaluating target date funds can be a bit tricky due to the numerous variances in style from one fund to another.  For that reason, I invited Rich Weiss, Senior Portfolio Manager at American Century Investments to help demystify target date funds and help employers better understand what they should focus on as they evaluate options in the market.  Rich does a great job of effortlessly explaining both the fundamentals of target date funds and more specific concepts of risk that employers should be aware in their monitoring and evaluation process.  He also discusses the three pillars of differentiation amongst target date managers, glide path construction, investment diversification and management style.  As you will hear, some of his perspectives might make you rethink some things about your go forward strategy.  Guest Bio Rich Weiss, is a Senior Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager at American Century Investments.  He is the co-portfolio manager for the firm’s asset allocation strategies, including Strategic Allocation, Global Allocation and One Choice Portfolios®. He also serves as a member of the firm’s Asset Allocation Committee, which is responsible for establishing investment policy and reviewing investment decisions for all of our asset allocation products. Prior to joining the firm in 2010, Rich was executive vice president and chief investment officer of City National Bank, where he was responsible for their $12 billion investment management group and directed investment policy and strategy. Previously, he was executive vice president and chief investment officer at Sanwa Bank California, where he managed all aspects of their investment department. Earlier in his career, Rich held senior investment positions at Vantage Global Advisors, TSA Capital Management, PaineWebber and Mellon Bank. He has worked in the investment industry since 1984. Rich holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from the University of Chicago. He has authored several academic papers and is well known for his advanced work in the field of global investing. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Welcome to the 401(k) Fridays Podcast, where employers come to learn and retirement industry leaders come to share their unique stories, experiences and perspectives.  My name is Rick Unser, and I am your host.  Each episode leverages my nearly two decades of experience as a retirement consultant and features a candid interview with an industry expert to help enhance fiduciary protection, streamline plan operations or improve participant retirement readiness.   For more information please visit www.401kfridays.com