The Daily Brief for Benefits Professionals
BenefitsWire
Retirement Plans
October 20, 2026
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16 items · ~5 min read
Top of the Brief
ESOP “Adequate Consideration” Inadequate No More?“Seyfarth Synopsis: A deceptively simple question—How can an ESOP fiduciary determine that the price paid for closely-held stock constitutes “adequate consideration” under ERISA?”
In this issue
Regulatory Action and Guidance (3) · Retirement Plans (7) · Litigation (1) · General Benefits (5)
Regulatory Action and Guidance
3 items“The notice contemplates a five-step rollover process that includes the use of four separate forms. The participant initiates the process by submitting a request to the plan that will receive the rollover. The receiving plan and the distributing plan then work together to complete the rollover with little to no additional participant involvement. The sample forms can be used in any rollover to or from an employer-sponsored plan but can’t be used in transfers between IRAs. The notice suggests that plans can begin following the proposed process and using the sample forms immediately.” MORE >>
Source: Mercer
“The SEC has issued an order and request for comments via Release No. 34-106402, available at https://www.sec.gov/rules-regulations/2026/09/4-927 (the Order), creating a time-limited (five-year) framework for secondary trading of tokenized national market system (NMS) stocks through permissioned automated market makers (AMMs) and liquidity pools. Because every stock listed on the New York Stock Exchange or the Nasdaq Stock Market is an NMS stock, the Order is potentially applicable to the stock of most major U.S. public companies. Formally, the Order grants two targeted exemptions under Section 36(a)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the Exchange Act): one from the statut” MORE >>
Source: Foley & Lardner
“The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently clarified the deadlines for adopting required and discretionary plan amendments under the SECURE Act and SECURE 2.0. The IRS explained that discretionary amendments implementing optional SECURE or SECURE 2.0 provisions generally must be adopted by Dec. 31, 2026, with later deadlines applying to certain collectively bargained and governmental plans. In contrast, required amendments generally must be adopted by the end of the applicable remedial amendment period, which depends upon when a qualification change appears on the IRS’s annual Required Amendments List. The IRS further noted that statutory changes requiring additional guidance generally will” MORE >>
Source: reinhartlaw.com
Retirement Plans
7 items“For decades, valuation has been one of the most scrutinized aspects of ESOP transactions.” MORE >>
Source: Phelps Dunbar
“Forgot Your Password? If you do not yet have an ERIC Online profile or user name and password, please create one using Create Profile Form. If you need assistance with your user name/password or profile, please contact ERIC at (202) 789-1400.” MORE >>
Source: ERIC
“Experts from Groom Law Group and CAPTRUST answer questions concerning retirement plan administration and regulations.” MORE >>
Source: PLANSPONSOR
“Betterment LLC, an investment advisory firm, announced it is introducing mega-backdoor Roth capabilities for solo 401(k) plans. The new features are available to self-employed customers using Betterment and financial advisers offering solo 401(k)s to clients through Betterment Advisor Solutions. Through mega backdoor Roth, eligible 401(k) plan participants can currently contribute up to $72,000 annually through employee contributions, employer matches and voluntary after-tax contributions.” MORE >>
Source: PLANADVISER
“ERISA §404(a)(1)(C) requires fiduciaries to diversify plan investments to minimize the risk of large losses, unless circumstances make foregoing diversification clearly prudent. For fixed income investors, that principle has a practical application: spread exposure across independent issuers so that one company’s financial trouble cannot devastate the portfolio. An annuity issued by a single insurer can concentrate participants’ retirement savings in one company’s ability to honor its promises. Executive Life’s failure and AIG’s need for an extraordinary federal rescue demonstrate why an insurance guarantee cannot substitute for evaluating credit and liquidity risk.” MORE >>
Source: The Commonsense 401(k) Project
“Experts say the announced cost-of-living increase for 2027 offers employers a chance to encourage participants’ retirement planning and to boost savings rates.” MORE >>
Source: PLANSPONSOR
“New Empower research shows that as Americans switch employers, they often lose track of their 401(k) accounts, leading to lost investment potential A job-shifting population of American workers means that their hard-earned retirement benefits don’t always catch up, and accounts are often neglected or forgotten. New research by Empower reveals the trend of “retirement drift,” the phenomenon of 401(k) and other workplace savings accounts being orphaned when employees change or lose jobs—resulting in misplaced benefits and missed investment opportunities. Empower’s study, “The Retirement Drift,” shows that as many as one in three workers may have lost track of retirement savings from a previous” MORE >>
Source: 401(k) Specialist
Litigation
1 item“President Trump has signed into law the Retire Through Ownership Act (S. 2403), amending Section 3(18) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), to clarify the “adequate consideration” requirement that is key to employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) transactions. While the act provides that a fiduciary may rely in good faith on a valuation prepared by an independent valuation expert or business appraiser that relies on the principles and methodologies of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Revenue Ruling 59-60, it remains to be seen how the act will affect enforcement actions and litigation. An ESOP's purchase of employer stock avoids being a “prohibited transaction” under ERISA Sect” MORE >>
Source: National Law Review
General Benefits
5 items“Groom principal Will Delany was quoted in American Banker’s, “Supreme Court Weighs New Hurdle for 401(k) Lawsuits,” discussing the potential implications of Anderson v. Intel Corp. Investment Policy Committee. The case examines whether plaintiffs alleging imprudent investment decisions under ERISA must identify a meaningful benchmark to support claims of underperformance and how closely that benchmark must align with the challenged investment. Delany emphasized the importance of considering an investment’s objectives, risks, and return characteristics when evaluating performance.” MORE >>
Source: Groom Law Group
“Retirement plan advisors are watching two significant developments that could influence how fiduciaries evaluate investments. The Supreme Court is considering Anderson v. Intel Corp., while the Department of Labor has proposed new guidance addressing fiduciary investment selection. Both developments involve a deceptively simple question: What makes an investment benchmark meaningful? Yet the questions being considered are fundamentally different. The Supreme Court is examining the role of investment comparisons in ERISA litigation. The DOL is proposing standards for evaluating investments before they are selected for a retirement plan.” MORE >>
Source: 401(k) Specialist
“Seyfarth Synopsis: A deceptively simple question—How can an ESOP fiduciary determine that the price paid for closely-held stock constitutes “adequate consideration” under ERISA?” MORE >>
Source: Seyfarth (Beneficially Yours)
“President Trump on Oct. 15 signed the Retire Through Ownership Act into law, creating a new framework under ERISA for how employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) fiduciaries can rely on independent valuations when determining the value of employer stock. It’s legislation that might spur more widespread adoption of ESOPs in the workplace. The law allows ESOP fiduciaries to rely in good faith on independent valuations and business appraisers using established IRS Revenue Ruling 59-60 guidelines. It also addresses long-standing regulatory ambiguity surrounding “adequate consideration” for privately held company stock.” MORE >>
Source: shrm.org
[Retirement Plans]
Is Adding A Trump Account Option The Next Big Cafeteria Plan Benefit?“by Christopher Carosa, CTFA | Oct 20, 2026 | Basic Members, Compliance | 0 comments Viewing this content requires a Basic (Free) Membership or better. You are not currently logged in.” MORE >>
Source: Fiduciary News