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If you could only see this editor's notebook. it's got scribbles at odd angles, dashes, quotes, facts, suggestions–you name it. All relating to employee benefits, retirement plans, insurance, laws. Here are 3 takeaways salvaged from its pages this week:
1. Joe Biden hits the Oval Office running
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The usual cascade of work emails halted around mid-morning on January 20th. No surprise — it coincided with the inauguration of Joe Biden as 46th president of the United States. One of his first actions: Extend student loan deferrals. Will this affect employers' plans to help employees with loan payments? It's not like the loans are going away. Yet.
Biden plans to take a hard look at the DOL's rule limiting environmental, social, and governance investments in 401(k)s. During the comment period, industry professionals were nearly overwhelmingly against the rule. From what I observed, the only ones who didn't really take sides about the issue were ERISA lawyers. Even if the rule changes, which plan sponsors will take a risk and dip their toes in the water first? Definitely keeping an eye on this.
2. New Congress, new chance to polish up the retirement legislation for viewing
The new Congress will be busy teeing up legislation of interest to the retirement industry. Expect to see Secure Act 2.0, which throws a little bit of everything into the pot – from raising the required minimum distribution (RMD) age to 75, to increasing the catch-up contribution, to raising small business tax credits for those offering a 401(k) plan. We've seen a lot of proposed legislation arrive with fanfare and quietly die. This year could be different.
3. Growing realization that virtual anything isn't all fun and games
Virtual school, virtual medical appointments, virtual meetings–they're all more difficult than we had initially thought. While virtual communication is convenient, studies have proven that sitting through too many video conference calls causes meeting fatigue, a new side effect of remote work. Researchers have even found that remote workers actually invest and interact with their retirement plans differently–something to keep in mind.
Communicating with remote workers as well as encouraging their participation in benefits offerings will become doubly important as the year progresses and most offices stay closed. Also, expect to see more employers using behavioral finance techniques to get employees to save for retirement. Will that translate to wellness/well-being programs too? After all, both benefits offerings aim to help employees do "what's best" for them, while postponing the gratification of seeing instant results. Maybe we're on to something here. Stay tuned.
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