The Daily Brief for Benefits Professionals
BenefitsWire
Retirement Plans
October 13, 2026
— § —
8 items · ~3 min read
In this issue
Retirement Plans (4) · Executive Compensation (2) · Litigation (2)
Retirement Plans
4 items“A recurring theme in research about retirement strategies is the outsized role of lifetime income to help retirees replicate the cash flow they once received in the form of regular paychecks. And while fears about coming up short on income and the challenges of finding retirement income solutions are prevalent among pre-retirees, getting them to take early action—or even decide what product is right for them—is a different matter, according to Cerulli Associates research released this week.” MORE >>
Source: 401(k) Specialist
“The funded status of the 100 largest corporate defined benefit plans in the U.S. rose to 114.5% in September, up from 112.2% in August, according to Milliman Inc.’s Pension Funding Index. A 47-basis-point increase in benchmark corporate bond interest rates during the month to 6.47% resulted in a $54 billion reduction in pension liabilities, helping to offset a negative 2.21% investment return.” MORE >>
Source: PLANSPONSOR
“Trading activity decreased modestly in the third quarter of 2026 despite mixed market results, according to Alight Solutions’ Third Quarter 2026 update to its 401(k) index. All four benchmarks Alight tracks—the Bloomberg U.S. Aggregate Bond Index, the S&P 500 Index, the Russell 2000 Index and the MSCI All-Country World ex-U.S. Index—declined in September, and the Bloomberg and Russell were down for Q3 overall.” MORE >>
Source: PLANADVISER
[General Benefits]
Target-Date Fund Risk Games: Change the Accounting, Declare the Portfolio Safer“There is a dangerous way to make a target-date fund look safer without making workers’ retirement savings safer. Keep publicly traded stocks and bonds marked to market. Add private equity and private credit valued through infrequent appraisals and discretionary models. Perhaps add insurance contracts whose reported values follow contractual accounting. Then feed those incompatible return histories into a standard-deviation and correlation model.” MORE >>
Source: The Commonsense 401(k) Project
Executive Compensation
2 items“Equity compensation is a powerful tool for attracting and retaining talented employees. However, as employees provide services to a company over time, the initial new hire equity grants vest and may no longer provide sufficient retention incentive....” MORE >>
Source: Cooley LLP
“California Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1697 into law on September 30, 2026, amending with immediate effect the clawback (stay-or-pay) law enacted last year ... to give employers some relief.” MORE >>
Source: Epstein Becker Green
Litigation
2 items“Based on the Justices' questions during the October 6 hearing, the Court appears inclined to endorse a meaningful benchmark requirement and to give lower courts guidance on what makes a benchmark “meaningful.” Underperformance suits have continued to be filed at a steady pace since the Court granted certiorari, and the decision's most consequential contribution will likely be its guidance on what makes a benchmark “meaningful.” Plan sponsors and fiduciaries should continue to document the objectives and rationale behind their investment selections and monitoring, and should consult counsel to assess how the Court's eventual standard may affect pending or threatened claims.” MORE >>
Source: Ballard Spahr
“A Missouri federal district court judge dismissed a proposed class action lawsuit by a former partner at Husch Blackwell LLP alleging mismanagement and the illegal withholding of contributions to the firm’s 401(k) plan. The judge based his ruling on the plaintiff’s inability to show that year-end profit-sharing contributions were plan assets before the firm deposited them into his plan account, which left him unable to prove any violations of federal benefits law.” MORE >>
Source: Hall Benefits Law