DC plans step it up in tough times, PSCA survey shows Almost 77% of defined contribution plan executives have continued making matching company contributions to their 401(k) plans, while 73.2% continue to make non-matching company contributions in 2008 and 2009, according to a survey by the Profit Sharing/401k Council of America.Source: Pensions & Investments

The Four Stages of An Annual Review As the year draws to a close, fiduciaries should be turning their attention to one of their most important responsibilities: the annual portfolio review. This is a prime event conducted in the process of fulfilling the continuing fiduciary duty to monitor. It is the time when the fiduciary undertakes a comprehensive assessment of whether the investment objectives of the investors they serve are being met. Source: Investmentnews.com (free registration may be required)

Plan Sponsors May Face New Fiduciary Responsibilities Plan sponsors need to increase their educational efforts and may find it prudent to engage an outside investment advisory firm as well as competent legal counsel so as to assume and delegate fiduciary responsibility for the advice provided on behalf of the plan, as well as plan participants and beneficiaries, ensuring that suitable guidance is provided with respect to guidelines pursuant to ERISA law. Source: Gerson Lehrman Group

ERISA Section 404(c) and Summary Prospectus DOL Field Assistance Bulletin 2009-3 describes the circumstances in which a participant-directed individual account plan may satisfy the prospectus delivery requirements of Section 404(c) by providing a Summary Prospectus. Source: McKay Hochman

QDIAs and Other Options Under ERISA Section 404(c) Find out how ERISA provisions can help you deal with "undirected funds" in a participant directed retirement savings plan. It's all outlined in the white paper written by third party expert Groom Law Group. Source: Principal Financial Group

2010 Sample Compliance Calendar This sample 2010 compliance calendar provides general key retirement plan compliance requirements common to most calendar year plans. Source: ERISAdiagnostics

Compliance Update for Tax-Qualified Retirement Plans This article describes upcoming key deadlines and actions that must be taken by plan sponsors of tax-qualified retirement plans by the end of 2009 or beginning of 2010. In particular, many plan sponsors that maintain qualified plans must adopt certain amendments to comply with the Pension Protection Act by December 31, 2009. Source: Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker LLP

Nearly Half of Suspended 401k Matches Now Restored Of the companies that have suspended matching contributions to their 401k plan, nearly half, 46.7%, have either already reinstated the match or plan to do so in the first quarter of 2010. Among large companies, 52.7% have restored the match or plan to do so. Source: Financial-Planning.com

AUDIO: Interview with Marcia Wagner Fee litigation at 401k plans, such as the recent proposed $16.5-million settlement at Caterpillar Inc., are often in the news. Marcia Wagner, managing partner at The Wagner Law Group, discusses current trends in fee litigation and evolving best practices for plan sponsors. Source: Plansponsor.com (free registration may be required)

Lifetime Income Disclosure Act -- S. 2832 This is the text of Senate bill S. 2832 which would amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to require a lifetime income disclosure to plan participants. Source: American Benefits Council

Remedial Amendment Period and Reliance for Section 403(b) Plans This announcement 2009-89 provides for a remedial amendment period and reliance for employers that, pursuant to the upcoming revenue procedures, either adopt a pre-approved plan with a favorable opinion letter or apply for an individual determination letter when available. Source: IRS

Using the Third Condition of DOL's FAB 2009-2 to Manage 403(b) Audit Expense The real key to making the FAB work for the employer in keeping auditing costs down is in the sensible application of the FAB's 3rd condition. The author suggests that applying it consists of two parts. First, use a reasonable effort to determine and find contracts that were related to the plan at some time in the past and, secondly, making a reasonable effort to determine whether or not the rights under those contracts are legally enforceable by the individual. Source: Business of Benefits Blog

Will Automatic Enrollment Reduce Employer Contributions to 401k Plans? This paper examines the relationship between employer matching behavior and automatic enrollment. Using a sample of large 401k plans, the study found that match rates are about 7 percentage points lower among firms with automatic enrollment than among those without automatic enrollment, even controlling for firm characteristics. Source: Center for Retirement Research at Boston College

Women and Retirement: Facing Challenges in a Recession While the recession has impacted most workers' outlook for retirement, women's outlook has fared worse. The survey data highlights some areas of concern, but also reveals opportunities to help women and all workers get back on track with their retirement savings. Source: Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies

Advisers to Funds Within Target-Dates Not Plan Fiduciaries In an advisory opinion, the U.S. Department of Labor addressed whether investment advisers to the mutual funds underlying target-date funds used in a retirement plan are plan fiduciaries. Source: Plansponsor.com (free registration may be required)

DOL Advisory Opinion 2009-04A Issue: Whether target-date or lifecycle mutual funds constitute "plan assets" of investing employee benefit plans or whether the investment advisers to such mutual funds are fiduciaries to the investing plans under ERISA. Source: U.S. Department of Labor

DOL's Statement of Regulatory and Deregulatory Priorities for 2010 This Fall 2009 "Statement of Regulatory and Deregulatory Priorities" identifies regulatory priorities and contains information about the most significant regulatory actions that the DOL expect to undertake in the coming year. Source: U.S. Department of Labor

DOL Discusses Lifetime Annuity Income Project In a written summary of planned regulations, the DOL suggested the lifetime retirement income stream might ultimately become a consideration in judging the behavior of fiduciaries under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. Source: Planadviser.com

SEC to Make Recommendations on 12b-1 Fees, Target-Date Funds Advisers could be looking at some changes on target-date funds next year, and maybe a change in certain mutual fund fees. Source: Planadviser.com