Monthly Archives: June 2026

Making Retirement Plan Tax Credits Too Complicated for the Businesses That Need Them Most

Posted on June 3, 2026 by admin

Washington has a remarkable talent for creating programs designed to help small businesses while making them just complicated enough that the smallest businesses never actually use them. The revival of legislation aimed at expanding startup retirement plan tax credits for … Continue reading →

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Auto-Enrollment Is Easy—Until It Isn’t

Posted on June 3, 2026 by admin

Auto-enrollment is one of those retirement plan features that sounds wonderfully simple in a sales presentation. “We’ll automatically enroll employees, boost participation, and help people save.” Great. Everyone nods. Then reality arrives wearing steel-toed boots. Because auto-enrollment only works when … Continue reading →

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Eligibility Rules: Why Something So Simple Became So Complicated

Posted on June 3, 2026 by admin

Once upon a time, 401(k) eligibility was easy. Age 21. One year of service. Quarterly entry dates. Everyone understood the assignment. Then we collectively lost our minds. Today, eligibility is where simple concepts go to die. Immediate eligibility for deferrals? … Continue reading →

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Your Payroll Provider Just Changed Something. Why Your 401(k) Team Should Panic a Little.

Posted on June 3, 2026 by admin

Few words in retirement plan administration should trigger more anxiety than: “We changed payroll providers.” Because payroll changes are never just payroll changes. To HR, it’s a software conversion. To finance, it’s an operational upgrade. To your retirement plan team? … Continue reading →

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Your Call Center Is Your Brand

Posted on June 3, 2026 by admin

Providers love talking about technology. Modern platforms. Digital enrollment. AI tools. Participant dashboards. Mobile apps. That’s all nice. But when participants have an actual problem, they don’t care about your shiny interface. They call. And the person who answers that … Continue reading →

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The vendor blame game

Posted on June 3, 2026 by admin

Every retirement plan problem seems to follow the same script. A contribution is wrong. A loan payment disappears. Eligibility is miscalculated. Payroll deductions don’t match elections. A participant calls angry. Then the finger-pointing begins. Payroll says the file went out … Continue reading →

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If Your Best People Are Constantly Firefighting, Your Process Is Broken

Posted on June 3, 2026 by admin

When I worked for TPAs as an attorney, there were days I felt less like legal counsel and more like a firefighter. Not the glamorous kind. Not the heroic calendar photo kind. More the exhausted guy showing up because someone … Continue reading →

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