The Daily Brief for Benefits Professionals
BenefitsWire
Retirement Plans
July 29, 2026
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12 items · ~4 min read
In this issue
Retirement Plans (5) · Litigation (4) · General Benefits (3)
Retirement Plans
5 items“Q: In a 403(b) plan, can a participant contribute both a 15-year catch-up and an age-50 catch-up contribution? And if so, is there a hierarchy for the order in which catch-ups are applied to a participant’s account?” MORE >>
Source: PLANSPONSOR
“As retirement income becomes a larger focus for plan sponsors, providers are looking for ways to add guaranteed lifetime income features to products participants already use. “Target-date funds are the most popular way people save for retirement,” says Jason Kephart, senior principal of multi-asset strategy ratings at Morningstar. “The benefit of doing in-plan … gets you better pricing than you would on your own and better outcomes.” Experts describe these products as target-date funds that include the option to annuitize all or a portion of retirement savings during retirement. Like traditional TDFs, they continue to follow a glide path that shifts asset allocation over time.” MORE >>
Source: PLANADVISER
“Too often, auto enrollment is limited to new hires, and starts with a small percentage of pay, say 3%, says Jack Towarnicky, Of Counsel, Koehler Fitzgerald, LLC in Powell, Ohio. “And, few use auto-escalation to prompt individuals to start contributions once they have declined to participate. Limiting auto-escalation to 1% or 2% a year moves the needle slowly—and is often disrupted by turnover among younger, shorter-service, lower-paid workers. The better option is to perennially backsweep individuals who are contributing less than the amount necessary to obtain the full employer financial support.” MORE >>
Source: Fiduciary News
[Regulatory Action and Guidance]
SECURE 2.0 Act Mandatory Roth Catch-Up Contributions Require Plan Amendments by Year’s End“As the SECURE 2.0 Act deadline for mandatory catch-up contributions for some plan participants looms, many retirement plan sponsors are beginning to amend their plan documents to meet its requirements.” MORE >>
Source: Hall Benefits Law
“The Retirement Fairness for Charities and Educational Institutions Act would change that, by allowing 403(b) plans access to CITs, as long as there is a fiduciary responsible for selecting and overseeing the plan’s investment lineup and the act’s other requirements are satisfied.” MORE >>
Source: PLANSPONSOR
Litigation
4 items“The court explained that Defendants offered no evidence explaining why a document purportedly executed in 2008 would name a person not hired until years later, resting instead on a sworn declaration from a Calbiotech vice president and trustee asserting concurrent execution.” MORE >>
Source: Roberts Disability Law
“The Labor Department has weighed in on a fifth forfeiture reallocation suit, asserting that “To cultivate an ERISA landscape with the fertile soil that sustains both employer and worker, the weeds must be pulled.” ... “Unfortunately,” the Labor Department explained, “private-party ERISA litigants (or, more specifically, private party ERISA litigators) are now trying to contort these well-intentioned shields into cynical swords that often hurt the American worker.” MORE >>
Source: American Retirement Association
“The Sixth Circuit’s decision in Clippinger v. State Farm Automobile Insurance Co., 173 F.4th 817 (6th Cir. 2026) (en banc), is the latest in a series of decisions from that court, including Speerly v. GM, LLC, 143 F.4th 306 (6th Cir. 2025) (en banc) (covered in a prior update here), and Generation Changers Church v. Church Mutual Insurance Co., 168 F.4th 354 (6th Cir. 2026) (covered here), emphasizing the rigorous analysis that Rule 23 demands before any class may be certified. As explained in previous updates, in Clippinger a divided Sixth Circuit panel had affirmed certification of a class of roughly 90,000 Tennessee insureds challenging the insurer’s use of a “typical negotiation” adjustm” MORE >>
Source: Gibson Dunn
“Another federal judge has dismissed a suit by plaintiffs backed by Schlichter Bogard LLC alleging that their pensions were put at risk via a transfer of those obligations to a PE-backed insurance company. ... “In sum,” he concluded, “Plaintiffs haven’t plausibly alleged that there is a significant likelihood Athene would default to a degree” MORE >>
Source: American Retirement Association
General Benefits
3 items“As workers increasingly turn to AI tools for financial advice, a new report finds that most still prefer the expertise of human advisers and recommendations backed by reliable data. SAVVI Financial's Finances on Fire report found that 64% of employees would use an employer-provided AI financial guidance tool, but 81% still want a real person to review its recommendations. "Large language models are incredibly good at explaining concepts and summarizing information, but they don't know an individual's employer-sponsored benefits, healthcare utilization, retirement savings, tax situation, or broader financial goals," said Brian Harrison, president of SAVVI Financial, a financial wellness techn” MORE >>
Source: Employee Benefit News
“Buying another business is exciting. It usually means your company is growing, adding new customers, entering a new market, or acquiring talented employees. The due diligence process is often exhaustive.” MORE >>
Source: JD Supra
“A recent survey of retirees found the usual litany of regrets — but I think you could sum it all up in one key point. They didn’t have a crystal ball. Oh, not that they characterized it as such.” MORE >>
Source: American Retirement Association