A. Based on an article at Barron's, one provision of the bill eases the path for employers to offer annuities as part of their retirement plans by providing safe-harbor language that takes them off the hook if an insurer whose products they use runs into financial trouble. (The employers continue to have fiduciary duty in picking appropriate products, or annuities in this case.)
Academics have long discussed the merits of having some sort of guaranteed income option inside plans to help retirees when they start drawing on their nest egg. The concern is that the bill leaves the door open to all sorts of annuities, not just the low-cost, simple ones academics favor.
Policy watchers would have liked some framework for what annuities are allowed in a plan. As for when retirement savers will find such options in their plans, State Street's Kahn recommends thinking along the lines of evolution, rather than revolution. Employers have been looking at all sorts of guaranteed lifetime-income options and financial-services companies have been working on solutions for years, including target-date funds that incorporate some sort of guaranteed income option, Kahn says.
If nothing else, the bill will likely bring attention to the need for providing some sort of guaranteed income stream for retirees beyond Social Security.