Get the latest updates for our retirement plan solutions.
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RecordkeeperDirect®
Save time by processing excess refunds online
Now you can process excess refunds more efficiently with our new RecordkeeperDirect online capabilities. Excess refunds (including ADP, ACP, 402g and 415 refunds) can be processed online by TPAs for individual participants or in bulk for multiple participants across multiple plans. Any distributions requested by the plan’s TPA will be routed to the plan sponsor for individual approval.
To get started, log in to the TPA website and navigate to the Plans section.
Add online loan services to reduce time-consuming paper tasks
With our electronic 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 simply submit the loan services election form. New plans can enable the service as part of the onboarding process.
New Plan manager features make it easier to establish plans
With straightforward setup, the majority of our plans are established online with Plan manager.
New features, including the ability to edit plan information and notifications have made our streamlined onboarding tool even better. See how Plan manager can help you get clients’ plans up and running faster.
Get more fund flexibility with RecordkeeperDirect
RecordkeeperDirect (with fund flexibility) offers access to Capital Group’s American Funds, as well as investments from multiple fund managers, for an additional fee. It also includes all the other benefits available in RecordkeeperDirect, such as simplified administration, powerful employee engagement and straightforward pricing.
RecordkeeperDirect (with fund flexibility) is now available for new and existing plans.
Deliver effective retirement plan reviews and plan cost summaries
Take advantage of customized plan reviews and plan cost summary reports to make sure your clients and their participants are on track.
Annual reviews are an important opportunity to demonstrate your value and perform your due diligence. Use our plan review guide and resources to prepare and help plan sponsors assess and improve their plans through our custom Plan Review report, which is updated quarterly and accessible online.
We also offer a regularly updated Plan cost summary on our website that you can share with clients to review the costs of their plans. The report includes investment results, a recordkeeping cost breakdown, industry benchmarks and more.
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PlanPremier®-TPA
We’ve simplified small balance distributions
Let us support you with small balance distributions for employees who leave the company, so you can reduce your administrative burden and help your plan stay in compliance. We'll automatically identify, notify and process these distributions for you, through an automated process.
Deliver effective retirement plan reviews and plan cost summaries
Take advantage of customized plan reviews and plan cost summary reports to make sure your clients and their participants are on track.
Annual reviews are an important opportunity to demonstrate your value and perform your due diligence. Use our plan review guide and resources to prepare and help plan sponsors assess and improve their plans through our custom Plan Review report, which is updated quarterly and accessible online.
We also offer a regularly updated Plan cost summary on our website that you can share with clients to review the costs of their plans. The report includes investment results, a recordkeeping cost breakdown, industry benchmarks and more.
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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 Fund
The 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.
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:
* 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.
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.
Prepare for important year-end deadlines
As the plan year ends, there are several deadlines and potential action items that plan sponsors should be aware of. These include year-end notices and disclosures, mandatory distributions, required minimum distribution reminders, and more.
Plan sponsors can use the following resources to help them meet these year-end retirement plan obligations.
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.
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.
Prepare for important year-end deadlines
As the plan year ends, there are several deadlines and potential action items that plan sponsors should be aware of. These include year-end notices and disclosures, mandatory distributions, required minimum distribution reminders, and more.
Plan sponsors can use the following resources to help them meet these year-end retirement plan obligations.
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.