New Retirement Rules: What Small Businesses Need to Know This is the first article in a two-part SmartMoney series on small business retirement. This article looks at the higher fees business owners and their employees can expect to pay. Source: Wall Street Journal Online

New Retirement Rules: 6 Ways to Ease Plan Costs This is the second article in a two-part series on small business retirement. Business owners and their employees can expect to pay higher fees. This articles discusses how to mitigate them. Source: Wall Street Journal Online

401(k) Fixes For All Age Groups Your nest egg isn't just cracked, it's unrecognizable, crushed by a market as ruthless as a 4-year-old on a Big Wheel. Can you put it back together in time for retirement? Source: USA Today

Spark Institute Recommends Simple Universal 401k Plan for Small Employers In testimony submitted today to the U.S. Department of Labor's ERISA Advisory Council, The SPARK Institute recommends the creation of a simplified standardized universal employer-sponsored 401k plan for small employers. Source: 401khelpcenter.com

Survey Finds Very Few Workers Understand Their Retirement Plan One-third of U.S. workers have little or no understanding of their employer-sponsored defined-contribution plan, according to a new survey. Source: Workforce.com

Recent Study Challenges Traditional Thinking About DC Annuities Two recently published studies demonstrate the sort of shift in the "conventional wisdom" related to annuities for DC plans that needs to occur for those products to be successful in the marketplace. Source: Business of Benefits Blog.

Does Better Fiduciary Process Lead to Better Performance? One of the mantra's of the Fixing the 401k Approach is that "better process leads to better decision-making which, over time, increases the probability of better outcomes." But does it? Source: Fixing the 401k Blog.

Current Pension Legislative and Regulatory Outlook This article covers defined contribution plan issues – where initiatives on 401k fee disclosure and invest. advice remain a priority – and broader issues relevant to both DB and DC plans. Source: JPMorgan.com.

Congress Eyes Compromise in 401k Indie-Advice Rule Now that the Department of Labor is scrapping a rule proposal that would have allowed brokers affiliated with financial-services firms to provide advice to 401k participants, Congress will move forward with legislation that would require that such advice be given by independent advisers, according to a key congressman. Source: Investmentnews.com

Early Returns in 401k Fee Cases Favor Defendants A recent spate of so-called 401k fee cases has generated anxiety among employers and 401k service providers. While the majority of these cases remain undecided, the early returns are positive for employers and service providers. This article provides a brief overview of the most significant developments and expected future events in these cases. Source: O'Melveny & Myers LLP.

401k Balances and Changes Due to Market Volatility In this article, the EBRI analysis shows that how workers' 401k accounts have been affected by the current economic recession depends on several factors, chief among them being the worker's age, job tenure with his or her employer and size of the 401k account balances. Source: Employee Benefit Research Institute.

Impact of Individual Account Retirement Plan Ownership on Family Net Worth How is family net worth affected by the ownership of any kind of individual account retirement plan? Quite a lot, according to a study published by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute. Source: Employee Benefit Research Institute (PDF File).

Pension Sponsorship and Participation: Summary of Recent Trends According to the U.S. Census Bureau's Current Population Survey (CPS), the number of private sector workers between the ages of 25 and 64 whose employer sponsored a retirement plan fell from 53.5 million in 2007 to 52.3 million in 2008. Source: Congressional Research Service (PDF File).

IRS Issues New Versions of Section 402(f) Tax Notices for Qualified Plan Distributions The Internal Revenue Service has issued two new safe harbor tax notices for qualified plans to provide to participants, which explain their rollover options and tax treatment when receiving an eligible distribution of plan benefits. The new notices are updated to account for changes in the law under the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act, the Pension Protection Act and other recent legislation. Source: Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP.

Experts Pin Hopes on DOL for Retirement Plan Fee Disclosure Regulations Industry experts are hoping the Department of Labor pre-empts Congress in issuing new regulations mandating increased disclosures for retirement plan fees. Source: Workforce.com

Study Shows Employers Cutting 401(k) Matches On top of the declining value of their investments, employees depending on 401(k) plans to build retirement nest eggs are getting another shock courtesy of the economic meltdown. Source: Business Management Daily.