The Safe Harbor 401(k) Adoption Deadline: What Business Owners Should Know
Safe harbor design often comes up as business owners plan for year-end testing and next-year administration.
Oct 16, 2026·7 min
Coverage Testing Explained: Making Sure Your Plan Serves the Right Employees
A retirement plan is built around eligibility and participation rules, but those rules also create a compliance-testing question: whether the plan is benefiting the employee groups it is designed to serve under applicable requirements.
Oct 13, 2026·7 min
Highly Compensated Employees: How the Definition Affects Your Testing
During October’s compliance-testing focus, the definition of a highly compensated employee is an important item for business owners to understand at a high level.
Oct 12, 2026·7 min
Reviewing Preliminary Testing Results Before the Fourth Quarter Rush
October is a useful point in the compliance calendar because preliminary testing information can turn year-end surprises into a planning conversation.
Oct 9, 2026·7 min
Setting a Plan Design Review Meeting Before Year-End Deadlines Arrive
A plan design review meeting is one of the simplest governance habits a business owner can establish before year-end. It creates dedicated time to look at the 401(k) as part of the company’s total-rewards program rather than as a set of isolated administrative tasks.
Sep 29, 2026·7 min
Auto-Enrollment and Auto-Escalation: Is It Time to Add These Features?
As benefits season approaches, business owners often review whether their 401(k) plan is easy to explain, administer, and integrate with the company’s broader rewards program.
Sep 29, 2026·7 min
Auto-Enrollment and Auto-Escalation: Is It Time to Add These Features?
As benefits season approaches, business owners often review whether their 401(k) plan is easy to explain, administer, and integrate with the company’s broader rewards program.
Sep 25, 2026·7 min
Considering a Safe Harbor 401(k) Design for Next Plan Year: What to Weigh Now
Benefits season is a useful planning window for looking beyond enrollment materials and toward the operating choices that shape next year’s 401(k) plan.
Sep 21, 2026·7 min
Bundling Your 401(k) Message Into Your Broader Benefits Communication
During open enrollment, employees may receive a large volume of information about medical coverage, flexible spending arrangements, payroll elections, and other workplace benefits.
Sep 2, 2026·6 min
Why Open Enrollment Season Is a Natural Moment to Revisit Your 401(k)
Open enrollment often concentrates attention on health coverage, payroll elections, and the employer’s overall benefits package.
Sep 1, 2026·6 min
Is Your 401(k) Investment Menu Still Diversified Enough for an Unstable Market?
Volatile markets often prompt a broad question from business owners: Is our 401(k) investment menu still appropriately diversified?
Aug 28, 2026·7 min
Target-Date Funds 101: What Business Owners Should Know About Their Plan's Default Option
For many 401(k) plans, target-date funds are central to the default investment discussion. They are often organized around an expected retirement year and may be used individually or as part of a QDIA. For a business owner, the key is not to evaluate a target-date series based on a recent market result alone. It is to understand how the series works and how the committee oversees it within the plan.
Aug 28, 2026·1 min
Distinguishing Market Noise From Genuine Plan Problems: A Framework for Business Owners
When markets are volatile, every alert, chart, and employee question can appear to demand a plan-level response.
Aug 27, 2026·7 min
How Often Should Your Investment Committee Actually Meet?
At mid-year, many business owners can see the difference between the committee calendar they intended to keep and the calendar that happened.
Aug 27, 2026·7 min
Documenting Your Process: Why What You Did Matters as Much as What Happened
Good retirement-plan governance involves more than reaching a decision. It also involves showing how the committee reached it.
Aug 27, 2026·7 min
Tech carries the tape: AI-fueled rally lifts stocks despite rate overhang
Wall Street finished higher with the Nasdaq out front, the S&P 500 solidly green and the Dow positive, as a powerful post‑earnings surge in mega‑cap tech set the tone.
Aug 27, 2026·3 min
Staying the Course: What a Fiduciary Process Looks Like When Markets Get Choppy
Market volatility can make a retirement plan feel urgent even when no feature of the plan has changed. For a business owner or plan sponsor, the pressure may come through employee questions, unsettling headlines, and reports that look very different from the prior quarter.
Aug 19, 2026·9 min
Building a Simple Annual "Plan Checkup" Calendar So Retirement Oversight Doesn't Get Lost
For many business owners, managing a retirement plan can seem like trying to hit a shifting target.
Jul 31, 2026·4 min
Planning for Year-End: Deadlines, Extensions, and Common Filing Pitfalls to Avoid
As another year nears its conclusion, many business owners are focused on sales goals, budgeting, hiring decisions, and preparations for the year ahead
Jul 30, 2026·4 min
Reviewing Your 401(k) Investment Menu: Is It Clear, Diversified, and Appropriate for Your Workforce?
For many employers, the middle of the year is an ideal time to evaluate the health of their 401(k) plan. While much attention is often given to participation rates, matching contributions, and compliance requirements, one area deserves equal consideration: the investment menu.
Jul 29, 2026·6 min
Eligibility, Entry Dates, and Compensation Definitions: A Mid Year Check for Business Owners
For business owners sponsoring a 401(k) plan, three core concepts shape how the plan works every day: who is eligible, when employees enter the plan, and what counts as compensation for contributions and testing.
Jul 21, 2026·5 min
Checking Contribution Timing: Are Employee Deferrals Being Deposited Promptly?
When employees choose to defer part of their pay into your 401(k) plan, they’re trusting that those dollars move from payroll into the plan quickly and consistently.
Jul 21, 2026·5 min
Is Your 401(k) Plan Document Aligned With How You Operate the Plan?
For a business owner sponsoring a 401(k) plan, the written plan document is the foundation of everything: it describes who can participate, how contributions work, when money can be taken out, and more. To keep the plan tax‑qualified, it must be both written correctly and operated in accordance with its written document.
Jul 9, 2026·6 min
Using the IRS 401(k) Checklist as a Mid Year Self Audit Tool
A 401(k) plan is a valuable benefit for your team, but it also comes with ongoing responsibilities for you as a business owner and plan sponsor. Mid year is a practical time to pause and run a structured self-check on the plan, while there’s still time in the calendar year to correct issues and refine processes.
Jul 8, 2026·5 min
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