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.
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.
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®-TPA
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).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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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.