Axia Blog

IRS Issues Warning to Plan Sponsors on Loans and Hardship Withdrawals

by Axia Advisory | May 7, 2015 | Legislative, Retirement Plans

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued a reminder to plan sponsors that “even if you use a third party administrator (TPA) to handle participant transactions, you’re still ultimately responsible for the proper administration of your retirement plan.” In particular,...

Update on DOL’s Proposed Fiduciary Rule

by Axia Advisory | Apr 16, 2015 | Legislative, Retirement Plans

The Department of Labor (DOL) finally proposed a highly anticipated rule that would require any advisor working with retirement plans to act in the best interest of clients. Under the rule change, all retirement advisors – brokers, registered representatives,...

Diversification and the Flaws of Favoritism

by Axia Advisory | Mar 31, 2015 | Investing, Markets

Investment returns during 2014 diverged greatly, as any investor that diversified away from U.S. large cap stocks was left disappointed. While the S&P 500 returned almost 13.7%, the MSCI EAFE was negative at -4.5%. This means a global investor would have earned...

The Opportunity of Coordinating Health and Retirement Benefits

by Axia Advisory | Mar 20, 2015 | Retirement Plans

Health care reform and rising health care costs are among the biggest challenges affecting retirement plans, making a plan sponsor’s objective setting strategy all the more important. Historically these two benefits [health insurance and retirement plans] have stayed...

Q&A on Plan Document Restatements

by Axia Advisory | Mar 4, 2015 | Legislative, Retirement Plans

Qualified retirement plans must restate their documents every five to six years (based on the type of document) in order to remain compliant. Here are a few questions that are commonplace during this time: Why do we need to restate the plan document? Regulations get...

The DOL Re-Proposes the “Fiduciary Rule”

by Axia Advisory | Feb 25, 2015 | Investing, Legislative, Retirement Plans

In a speech on Monday at AARP in Washington D.C., President Obama gave the go ahead to the DOL on the redrafting of the “fiduciary rule” that would subject brokers to higher investment advice standards. Later that day, the DOL sent its “conflicts of interest” proposal...