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January 29th, 2020
Insight on Plan Design & Investment Strategy Every Weekday
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Ask the Experts
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Must Plan Sponsors Allow All Reasons for Hardships?
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“Some of the expenses for which distributions are deemed to be made on account of an immediate and heavy financial need under new hardship withdrawal rules appear to be difficult to administer in practice, particularly the new expense related to federally declared disasters. Must a 403(b) plan sponsor adopt the entire list of expenses for permissible hardship, or can sponsors pick and choose from the list?” 
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| Economic Events |
New orders for manufactured durable goods in December increased $5.7 billion or 2.4% to $245.5 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau announced. This increase, up two of the last three months, followed a 3.1% November decrease. Excluding transportation, new orders decreased 0.1%. Excluding defense, new orders decreased 2.5%. Transportation equipment, up following three consecutive monthly decreases, drove the increase, $5.9 billion or 7.6% to $82.9 billion.
The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index increased in January, following a moderate increase in December. The Index now stands at 131.6 (1985=100), up from 128.2 (an upward revision) in December. The Present Situation Index—based on consumers’ assessment of current business and labor market conditions—increased from 170.5 to 175.3. The Expectations Index—based on consumers’ short-term outlook for income, business and labor market conditions—increased from 100.0 last month to 102.5 this month.
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| Market Mirror |
Tuesday, the Dow gained 187.05 points (0.66%) to finish at 28,722.85, the NASDAQ closed 130.37 points (1.43%) higher at 9.269.68, and the S&P 500 increased 32.61 points (1.01%) to 3,276.24. The Russell 2000 was up 14.18 points (0.86%) at 1,658.31, and the Wilshire 5000 climbed 328.72 points (1.00%) to 33,357.49.
The price of the 10-year Treasury note decreased 26/32, bringing its yield up to 1.652%. The price of the 30-year Treasury bond fell 1 22/32, increasing its yield to 2.104%.
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Compliance
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Post-SECURE Act, IRS Provides RMD Relief
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The SECURE Act extended the age at which RMDs take effect from 70 1/2 to 72, but financial institutions may not have had time to change their notice systems.
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Investing
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Research Shows Positive Effects of TDFs
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Various beneficial changes to retirement savings portfolios made by investing in TDFs could enhance retirement wealth by as much as 50%, research suggests.
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Between employees missing work the Monday after and spending working hours participating in related activities this week and next, Challenger, Gray & Christmas estimates this year’s Super Bowl could cost employers more than $5.1 billion in lost productivity. The firm explains how it came to this calculation—including that the highest number of workers since 2005 reported they likely will not go to work the Monday after.
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ON THIS DATE: In 1802, John Beckley became the first Librarian of Congress. In 1843, William McKinley, the 25th American president and the first president to ride in an automobile, was born in Niles, Ohio. In 1861, Kansas became the 34th state of the Union. In 1886, the first successful petrol-driven motorcar, built by Karl Benz, was patented. In 1936, the first members of major league baseball’s Hall of Fame were named in Cooperstown, New York. In 1949, in Virginia, the Newport News was commissioned as the first air-conditioned naval ship. In 1963, the first members to the NFL’s Hall of Fame were named in Canton, Ohio. In 1995, the San Francisco 49ers became the first team in National Football League (NFL) history to win five Super Bowl titles. The 49ers defeated the San Diego Chargers 49-26.
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WEDNESDAY WISDOM: “I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn’t learn something from him.”—Galileo Galilei, Italian astronomer
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