Get the latest updates for our retirement plan solutions.
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RecordkeeperDirect®
Name changes for American Funds Target Date Retirement Series® funds
We’ve updated the names of four of the vintages in the American Funds Target Date Retirement Series to reflect the funds’ focus on income after reaching the retirement target date. The change impacts the following funds:
• American Funds 2010 Target Date Retirement Fund® is now the American Funds 2010 Target Date Retirement Income Fund
• American Funds 2015 Target Date Retirement Fund® is now the American Funds 2015 Target Date Retirement Income Fund
• American Funds 2020 Target Date Retirement Fund® is now the American Funds 2020 Target Date Retirement Income Fund
• American Funds 2025 Target Date Retirement Fund® is now the American Funds 2025 Target Date Retirement Income FundThe name change does not affect the investments in any other way, including the fund objectives, strategies, portfolios and management. Going forward, we will continue to add “Income” to the target date fund names after each fund’s target date is reached.
Review our Spanish-language resources for participants
Stay up to date on the Spanish-language services we offer to help participants. This overview sheet has a handy list of the many documents and other resources available, from enrollment books for eligible employees to live customer service, educational brochures and more.
The sheet includes a breakdown of which resources are available for each of our recordkeeping solutions, so you can easily show plan sponsor clients and prospects what’s available for their participants.
Higher contribution limits for 2026 released
The IRS recently released new contribution limits for 2026, raising the limits across most plan types.
The annual employee contribution limits for 401(k) and 403(b) plans for 2026 are as follows:
• For participants, the maximum salary deferral is $24,500.
• Total combined contributions from employee and employer combined are limited to the lesser of 100% of pay or $72,000.
• Participants age 50 to 59 and 64+ can make additional catch-up contributions* above the maximums of up to $8,000. For employees aged 60 to 63 only,† a higher catch-up contribution limit of $11,250 replaces the 50+ catch-up contribution limit.
PlanPremier participants can use the new contribution limits and leverage our interactive tools to set a personalized retirement goal and track their progress on the participant website or mobile app.
Footnotes/Important information:
* If allowed by the plan.
† The higher catch-up limit is only applicable to participants who attain ages 60, 61, 62 or 63 in 2026.
Check out our new RecordkeeperDirect participant site demo
Tour the RecordkeeperDirect participant website with our new, interactive demo. The demo allows you to experience how participants can use the site for everything from account management to changing their contributions and investments to setting retirement goals. To get started, use the button below and click Log In to enter the site.
Make retirement plan loans easier for plan sponsors and participants
Paper loan forms and many manual administrative tasks can soon be a thing of the past. With our electronic plan loan service, available at no additional cost, plans can take advantage of online loan requests and approvals, real-time notifications, automatic loan policy creation and more.
Existing RecordkeeperDirect plans can enable this service by submitting the loan services election form. New plans can enable the service as part of the onboarding process.
Get the latest SECURE 2.0 Act provisions updates
The SECURE 2.0 Act marked a significant step toward enabling more small business owners and employees to pursue retirement stability. Get the latest updates on our recordkeeping support to help you take advantage of key SECURE 2.0 provisions.
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PlanPremier®
Name changes for American Funds Target Date Retirement Series® funds
We’ve updated the names of four of the vintages in the American Funds Target Date Retirement Series to reflect the funds’ focus on income after reaching the retirement target date. The change impacts the following funds:
• American Funds 2010 Target Date Retirement Fund® is now the American Funds 2010 Target Date Retirement Income Fund
• American Funds 2015 Target Date Retirement Fund® is now the American Funds 2015 Target Date Retirement Income Fund
• American Funds 2020 Target Date Retirement Fund® is now the American Funds 2020 Target Date Retirement Income Fund
• American Funds 2025 Target Date Retirement Fund® is now the American Funds 2025 Target Date Retirement Income FundThe name change does not affect the investments in any other way, including the fund objectives, strategies, portfolios and management. Going forward, we will continue to add “Income” to the target date fund names after each fund’s target date is reached.
Review our Spanish-language resources for participants
Stay up to date on the Spanish-language services we offer to help participants. This overview sheet has a handy list of the many documents and other resources available, from enrollment books for eligible employees to live customer service, educational brochures and more.
The sheet includes a breakdown of which resources are available for each of our recordkeeping solutions, so you can easily show plan sponsor clients and prospects what’s available for their participants.
The latest on our support for SECURE 2.0 Act provisions
We’re making a number of enhancements for PlanPremier plans to support provisions of the SECURE 2.0 Act:
• Emergency personal expense withdrawals: This new distribution type is now available to help participants meet unforeseeable financial obligations such as medical expenses, auto repairs or other urgent and immediate personal needs. Contact us for more information on this or other distribution types made available through the SECURE 2.0 Act, including options to make hardship distributions easier to process by eliminating collection of backup documentation and allowing participants to self certify.
• Rollovers from SIMPLE IRAs: For plans that currently allow rollovers from IRAs, we will soon add SIMPLE IRAs as an acceptable rollover type, supporting new rules under the SECURE 2.0 Act that allow participants to roll over amounts from a SIMPLE IRA to a qualified plan or IRA within two years of participation. This rollover type will be added effective April 1, 2026.
• Annual paper statements: To satisfy new rules under the SECURE 2.0 Act, beginning this year we will send one paper statement per year to participants who were defaulted to e-delivery with a personal email on file. In plans using the “wired-at-work” delivery method permitted by the Department of Labor, participants defaulted to e-delivery with a work email address will receive an initial paper notification by mail with information about e-delivery, including instructions on how to opt-out of e-delivery. (These changes do not apply to 403(b) plans or plans set up with paper delivery).We’re committed to supporting key SECURE 2.0 Act provisions and making it easier for plan sponsors to comply with the IRS requirements. For PlanPremier-Bundled plans, make sure sponsors take action by the end of April 2026 (the amendment cutoff deadline) to adopt any elective SECURE 2.0 provisions to be included in their SECURE 2.0 plan amendment. The amendment will be delivered later this year, and will cost $1,250 per plan due to the extensive nature of the provisions.
Click below for more information on our recordkeeping support of SECURE 2.0 Act provisions.Higher contribution limits for 2026 released
The IRS recently released new contribution limits for 2026, raising the limits across most plan types.
The annual employee contribution limits for 401(k) and 403(b) plans for 2026 are as follows:
• For participants, the maximum salary deferral is $24,500.
• Total combined contributions from employee and employer combined are limited to the lesser of 100% of pay or $72,000.
• Participants age 50 to 59 and 64+ can make additional catch-up contributions* above the maximums of up to $8,000. For employees aged 60 to 63 only,† a higher catch-up contribution limit of $11,250 replaces the 50+ catch-up contribution limit.
PlanPremier participants can use the new contribution limits and leverage our interactive tools to set a personalized retirement goal and track their progress on the participant website or mobile app.
Footnotes/Important information:
* If allowed by the plan.
† The higher catch-up limit is only applicable to participants who attain ages 60, 61, 62 or 63 in 2026.
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SIMPLE IRA Plus
Name changes for American Funds Target Date Retirement Series® funds
We’ve updated the names of four of the vintages in the American Funds Target Date Retirement Series to reflect the funds’ focus on income after reaching the retirement target date. The change impacts the following funds:
• American Funds 2010 Target Date Retirement Fund® is now the American Funds 2010 Target Date Retirement Income Fund
• American Funds 2015 Target Date Retirement Fund® is now the American Funds 2015 Target Date Retirement Income Fund
• American Funds 2020 Target Date Retirement Fund® is now the American Funds 2020 Target Date Retirement Income Fund
• American Funds 2025 Target Date Retirement Fund® is now the American Funds 2025 Target Date Retirement Income FundThe name change does not affect the investments in any other way, including the fund objectives, strategies, portfolios and management. Going forward, we will continue to add “Income” to the target date fund names after each fund’s target date is reached.
Review our Spanish-language resources for participants
Stay up to date on the Spanish-language services we offer to help participants. This overview sheet has a handy list of the many documents and other resources available, from enrollment books for eligible employees to live customer service, educational brochures and more.
The sheet includes a breakdown of which resources are available for each of our recordkeeping solutions, so you can easily show plan sponsor clients and prospects what’s available for their participants.
Help participants enroll with a quick video
Our new enrollment video for SIMPLE IRA Plus walks participants through the enrollment process, from how to set their salary deferral to selecting investments. The video also highlights the benefits of enrollment to encourage participants to get started.
In addition to the SIMPLE IRA Plus video available below, we also have a new video for SIMPLE IRA plans that covers how to enroll using traditional enrollment forms.
Higher contribution limits for 2026 released
The IRS recently released new contribution limits for 2026, raising the limits across most plan types.
The annual employee contribution limits for SIMPLE IRA plans for 2026 are as follows:
• For plans with 25 or fewer employees,* maximum employee contributions are $18,100 with additional catch-up contributions† (age 50 to 59 and 64+) of up to $3,850.
• For plans with 26+ employees,* maximum employee contributions are $17,000 with additional catch-up contributions† (age 50 to 59 and 64+) of up to $4,000. These plans can qualify for the higher employee contribution limit of $18,100 (and $3,850 catch-up) by making higher mandatory employer matching contributions of 4% of compensation or nonelective contributions of 3%.
• For employees aged 60 to 63 only, a higher catch-up contribution limit of $5,250** replaces the 50+ catch-up contribution limit.†With the new contribution limits, you can help participants create a customized retirement savings plan by encouraging them to log in to the participant website and leverage our Retirement goals tool.
Footnotes/Important information:
*Employees who received $5,000 or more in compensation in the preceding calendar year.
† If allowed by the plan.
** The higher catch-up limit is only applicable to participants who attain ages 60, 61, 62 or 63 in 2026.
Get the latest SECURE 2.0 Act provisions updates
The SECURE 2.0 Act marked a significant step toward enabling more small business owners and employees to pursue retirement stability. Get the latest updates on our recordkeeping support to help you take advantage of key SECURE 2.0 provisions.
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Add investment options from other fund managers
Existing RecordkeeperDirect plan sponsors can now add investment options from other fund managers for a low fee. It’s the same recordkeeping experience you know, with the benefit of expanded fund flexibility to help participants pursue their retirement savings goals. Complete the Change of funds or share class form to get started.
Introducing American Funds Core Plus Bond Fund
This diversified U.S.-focused fixed income mutual fund is designed to anchor a portfolio through a research-based investment approach. American Funds Core Plus Bond Fund invests in securities across all fixed income sectors, seeking to balance preservation and potential enhanced income compared to a traditional core fund.
We expect this new fund to be available for RecordkeeperDirect in early November 2025.
Be prepared for the new SECURE 2.0 Roth catch-up rule
Starting January 1, 2026, catch-up contributions for participants who earned more than $150,000 (indexed annually) in Social Security FICA wages in the prior calendar year must be made as Roth contributions.
Plans that don’t allow Roth contributions should consider adding Roth elective deferrals as a contribution type. If a plan does not offer Roth contributions, higher-paid participants subject to the Roth catch-up requirement will not be able to make catch-up contributions. If you don’t want to offer Roth contributions, you may also remove the option to make catch-up contributions.
We encourage you to work with your payroll provider now to ensure catch-up contributions for higher-paid participants are directed appropriately. For plans that automatically switch catch-up contributions from pretax to Roth when a participant is subject to the Roth catch-up requirement, the sponsor/payroll provider is responsible for changing impacted participants’ deferrals from pretax to Roth. For plans that don’t have a Roth source, sponsor/payroll providers are responsible for stopping impacted participants’ deferrals when the applicable deferral limit is reached.
We can help you comply with this requirement by collecting a new high-earner indicator on our system that identifies participants who are subject to the Roth catch-up requirement. The indicator will drive reports with relevant data to assist with contribution processing and identifying any participants that may require corrections.
Watch for more details soon, including information on how to add the high-earner indicator to the recordkeeping system.
Make onboarding easier with Plan Manager templates
As we see an increase in the adoption of our Plan Manager tool, we continue to streamline the process of onboarding new retirement plans online. Now, you can create a plan template based on an existing plan and store up to five templates for future use.
Take advantage of a more powerful proposal
Help unlock your next retirement plan opportunity with a streamlined proposal. Now you can focus on what matters most to your clients and the value you can offer with our recordkeeping solutions.
The streamlined proposal is available as a PDF or printed brochure through our Retirement Planalyzer® tool, where you can easily find and compare retirement plan options.
Introducing the Save-o-meter on ICanRetire®
The Save-o-meter is a new tool available on the ICanRetire homepage that’s designed to help participants maximize their company match. Now, participants can better see if they’re leaving free money on the table.
We’ve also refreshed the existing planning calculator to include an option for employer matching. If matching isn’t available, participants can enter 0%.
Both tools are available on the ICanRetire homepage.
Learn more about the benefits of ICanRetire.
Offer more fund flexibility
RecordkeeperDirect (with fund flexibility) enables you to offer access to investments from multiple fund managers, including American Funds for an additional fee. Add to that the many benefits that RecordkeeperDirect offers today, like simplified administration, powerful employee engagement and straightforward pricing.
RecordkeeperDirect (with fund flexibility) is available now to new plans and coming soon for existing plans.
Introducing American Funds Core Plus Bond Fund
This diversified U.S.-focused fixed income mutual fund is designed to anchor a portfolio through a research-based investment approach. American Funds Core Plus Bond Fund invests in securities across all fixed income sectors, seeking to balance preservation and potential enhanced income compared to a traditional core fund.
We expect this new fund to be available for PlanPremier in early November 2025.
Be prepared for the new SECURE 2.0 Roth catch-up rule
Starting January 1, 2026, catch-up contributions for participants who earned more than $150,000 (indexed annually) in Social Security FICA wages in the prior calendar year must be made as Roth contributions.
Plans that don’t allow Roth contributions should consider adding Roth elective deferrals as a contribution type. If a plan does not offer Roth contributions, higher-paid participants subject to the Roth catch-up requirement will not be able to make catch-up contributions. If you don’t want to offer Roth contributions, you may also remove the option to make catch-up contributions.
We encourage you to work with your payroll provider now to ensure catch-up contributions for higher-paid participants are directed appropriately. For plans that automatically switch catch-up contributions from pretax to Roth when a participant is subject to the Roth catch-up requirement, the sponsor/payroll provider is responsible for changing impacted participants’ deferrals from pretax to Roth. For plans that don’t have a Roth source, sponsor/payroll providers are responsible for stopping impacted participants’ deferrals when the applicable deferral limit is reached.
We can help you comply with this requirement by collecting a new high-earner indicator on our system that identifies participants who are subject to the Roth catch-up requirement. The indicator will drive reports with relevant data to assist with contribution processing and identifying any participants that may require corrections, as well as payroll warnings and custom participant messaging.
Watch for more details soon, including information on how to add the high-earner indicator to the recordkeeping system.
Take advantage of a more powerful proposal
Help unlock your next retirement plan opportunity with a streamlined proposal. Now you can focus on what matters most to your clients and the value you can offer with our recordkeeping solutions.
The streamlined proposal is available as a PDF or printed brochure through our Retirement Planalyzer® tool, where you can easily find and compare retirement plan options.
Introducing the Save-o-meter on ICanRetire®
The Save-o-meter is a new tool available on the ICanRetire homepage that’s designed to help participants maximize their company match. Now, participants can better see if they’re leaving free money on the table.
We’ve also refreshed the existing planning calculator to include an option for employer matching. If matching isn’t available, participants can enter 0%.
Both tools are available on the ICanRetire homepage.
Learn more about the benefits of ICanRetire.
Updated fee-based compensation calculation
We're modernizing our fee-based compensation calculation service for PlanPremier retirement plans.
When the financial professional or third-party administrator (TPA) is first assigned to the plan (or for the last quarter, if removed), fee-based payments will be calculated based on their time assigned to the plan in the recordkeeping system for the following scenarios:
• Plans with compensation payments from a recapture account with a commissionable share class (Class R-2, R-2E, R-3 or R-4)
• Plans with compensation recoveries from participant accounts with any share class
Commission-based payments from 12b-1 fees will not be affected by this update.
The change will be effective with payments for the third quarter of 2025 (ending September 30). Payment timing will continue to be the same, the third-quarter payments will go out in October or November 2025 based on type. This change will impact payments at the beginning and end of the financial professional’s relationship with the plan.
For more information, please reach out to your American Funds sales representative or call us at (877) 872-5159.
Introducing American Funds Core Plus Bond Fund
This diversified U.S.-focused fixed income mutual fund is designed to anchor a portfolio through a research-based investment approach. American Funds Core Plus Bond Fund invests in securities across all fixed income sectors, seeking to balance preservation and potential enhanced income compared to a traditional core fund.
This new fund is available for SIMPLE IRA Plus now.
Introducing the Save-o-meter on ICanRetire®
The Save-o-meter is a new tool available on the ICanRetire homepage that’s designed to help participants maximize their company match. Now, participants can better see if they’re leaving free money on the table.
We’ve also refreshed the existing planning calculator to include an option for employer matching. If matching isn’t available, participants can enter 0%.
Both tools are available on the ICanRetire homepage.
Learn more about the benefits of ICanRetire.
ICanRetire for SIMPLE IRA Plus
Our fully automated, digital participant engagement program is now available for SIMPLE IRA Plus. ICanRetire® is designed to help participants take control of their financial future and add value for plan sponsors.
Eligible employees can benefit from targeted emails that encourage them to begin saving for retirement, increase contribution levels and more. They’ll also have access to a wealth of educational content that’s designed to be fun and approachable.
ICanRetire is research-backed and behavior-focused to help enhance employee engagement at no additional cost.
Help participants stay on track with their retirement goals
You can help plan participants create a customized retirement savings plan by encouraging them to log in to the participant website and leverage our new Retirement goals tool.
The Retirement goals tool will prompt participants to enter basic information about where they are today and the retirement they’d like to pursue. From there, the tool will show if they’re on track to reach their goals, signaling when adjustments may be needed.
ACH distributions now available
For greater convenience and security, ACH distributions are now available for participant distributions.
Participants can elect payment by ACH and input their checking or savings account information within the online distribution request process on the participant website. Electronic bank verification is then conducted through a third-party service provider as a fraud prevention measure.
For more information about online distributions and other website features, refer to our participant website demo.
Help more clients take advantage of Roth employee deferrals
With the introduction of Roth employee deferrals for SIMPLE IRAs, plan sponsors can offer participants more ways to save for retirement.
To help you discuss this optional plan feature with your clients, consider using our Roth vs. pretax contributions brochure to highlight the potential benefits of each.
New help center for participants
Our new help center is designed to enable participants to find answers to common questions and better manage their retirement accounts. Topics include how to update contribution rates, managing investment portfolios, requesting distributions and more.
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