Groups like the American Council of Life Insurers and the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors have helped shape the Secure Act and lavish it with advocacy love. The act could:
  • Create a safe harbor that employers could  use when they're choosing group annuity issuers to support 401(k) plan lifetime income stream options.
  • Help a plan participant transfer a plan lifetime income feature from one plan to another employer-sponsored retirement plan, or to an individual retirement account (IRA).
  • Require plan sponsors to tell the participants about how much monthly retirement income their assets might produce.
  • Let people contribute to IRAs even if they are over age 70 1/2.
  • Provide much richer tax credits for small employers that start new retirement plans.
  • Allow small employers to participate in multiple employer defined contribution retirement plans, or MEPS.
Congressional leaders have put the Secure Act in Division O of House Amendment to the Senate Amendment to House Resolution 1865. Related: 9 industry reactions to SECURE Act in spending bill H.R. 1865 began life as a law enforcement commemorative coin act bill. Congress is now using H.R. 1865 as the tugboat for pulling the 1,773-page Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020 (CAA 2020) through Congress. Policymakers in Washington see CCA 2020 as a "must pass" piece of legislation: If H.R. 1865 does not become law within the next few days, much of the federal government will shut down on Friday. But even if and when the Secure Act provision in H.R. 1865 becomes law, the same groups that fought hard for passage of the law will still have to fight hard to make the Secure Act do what they were hoping it would do. For 7 reasons why the retirement industry can't sit back and play with their phones, see the slideshow above. (Wiggle your pointer over the first slide to make the control arrows show up.) READ MORE:

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Allison Bell

Allison Bell, a senior reporter at ThinkAdvisor and BenefitsPRO, previously was an associate editor at National Underwriter Life & Health. She has a bachelor's degree in economics from Washington University in St. Louis and a master's degree in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She can be reached through X at @Think_Allison.

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