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Jan 7, 2025 | 
401kspecialistmag.com | Jack Towarnicky
Did you know that there was such a thing as Generation Beta? [i] As best as I can tell, there is still no consensus about Generation Alpha.[ii] Amazing that retirement advisors can predict doom and gloom for someone born in January 2025.
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Nov 12, 2024 | 
treasuryandrisk.com | Chris O'Malley |Christine Cooper |Jack Towarnicky |Satyam Panday
The FTC expressed concern that the $25 billion merger of Kroger and Albertsons would restrict job options for workers and reduce their unions’ clout to negotiate higher wages, criteria that usually had been beyond the scope of merger reviews. Photos: jetcityimage/Adobe Stock & melissamn/Shutterstock.com.
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Nov 12, 2024 | 
treasuryandrisk.com | Jack Towarnicky |Lynn Cavanaugh
Credit: hakinmhan/Adobe StockThe Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) aims to lower prescription drug costs and enhance Medicare benefits. While these changes benefit Medicare recipients, they raise concerns for employer-sponsored health plans that are not part of government price negotiations. These plans could see cost increases due to price shifts, with premiums rising for employers and employees alike.
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Nov 12, 2024 | 
treasuryandrisk.com | Christine Cooper |Jack Towarnicky |Meg Waters |Craig Stirling
By Christine Cooper and Jack Towarnicky | November 12, 2024 By being prepared and implementing strategic solutions, employers can mitigate some of the financial pressures that may arise from the IRA, ensuring that their employees and retirees are better protected from the ripple effects of this landmark legislation. By Meg Waters | November 12, 2024 The winner of the 2024 Gold Alexander Hamilton Award in Financial Risk Management is Bristol Myers Squibb.
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Aug 26, 2024 | 
401kspecialistmag.com | Jack Towarnicky
In an article in The Wall Street Journal back on July 21, 2024, Gina Heeb and Kailyn Rhone confirm that America’s borrowers are on ever more shaky ground.[i] Day to day, a majority of Americans live paycheck to paycheck[ii] or worse, they become another day older and deeper in debt[iii]. Many low- and middle-income households have exhausted the glut of deficit-financed cash distributed during/after the pandemic.
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Apr 30, 2024 | 
lifehealth.com | Jack Towarnicky
Moving beyond management toward cost-containment by Jack TowarnickyAs an ERISA/Employee Benefits compliance and planning attorney, Jack has over forty years of experience in human resources and plan sponsor leadership roles. This includes twenty-five years as the leader of a Fortune 100 corporation’s benefits function. While serving in those roles, Jack and his team won a multitude of individual, team and corporate recognitions.
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Feb 29, 2024 | 
401kspecialistmag.com | Jack Towarnicky
On Wednesday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a hearing titled: “Taking a Serious Look at the Retirement Crisis in America: What can we do to expand defined benefit pension plans for workers?”That session included a spirited discussion of the pros and cons, the positives, and negatives of defined benefit pension plans versus individual account retirement savings plans.
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Feb 23, 2024 | 
401kspecialistmag.com | Jack Towarnicky
In an article two years ago, I mashed-up three reports—one from Pew, a study by the Employee Benefits Research Institute, and a 10+ year old SHRM report—in order to highlight the challenge presented by involuntary distributions from tax-qualified plans that had been rolled over to IRAs and stranded in capital preservation investments.[i] I concluded saying: “Hopefully, going forward, we can avoid the travesty of IRAs, owned by individuals under age 44, that are invested in money market funds...
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Feb 14, 2024 | 
401kspecialistmag.com | Jack Towarnicky
Did SECURE 2.0 change the decision-making regarding whether to contribute to a Roth 401(k) or a Roth IRA?[i] Yes, and no. Participants should keep an eye on any actions a plan sponsor takes (or fails to take) in amending their 401(k) plan following SECURE 2.0.But most retirement savers can achieve the best outcome by leveraging the superior features incorporated in each account—both the Roth 401(k) and the Roth IRA.
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Feb 7, 2024 | 
401kspecialistmag.com | Jack Towarnicky
In Part 1, I noted that three retirement experts recently asserted that America’s “tax deferred” retirement plans and programs “… do little to increase retirement saving. …”[i] and that “…Revenues saved from repealing the retirement saving tax preferences could be reallocated to address the majority of Social Security’s long-term funding gap.”[ii]It may take a while, but such changes may end employer-sponsored retirement plans as we know them.
