On April 29, 2008, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration released additional guidance and technical corrections to the regulation for qualified default investment alternatives (QDIAs).
Field Assistance Bulletin (FAB) 2008-03 provides guidance on QDIAs in the form of a series of frequently asked questions and answers. A QDIA fact sheet is also available. The technical corrections, which appear in the April 30 edition of the Federal Register, include changes clarifying the preamble example on “round-trip restrictions,” expanding the scope of who can manage a QDIA to include a committee that is a named fiduciary of the plan, and correcting the “grandfather” relief for stable value funds.
Since some participants do not actively direct how their retirement accounts are to be invested, QDIAs were developed as means by which these monies can be automatically invested. According to the Department of Labor, the intent of a QDIA is to ensure that an investment is capable of meeting a participant’s long-term retirement saving needs. Participants are given proper notice of this process.
Our QDIA is the NADART Fund, a balanced fund designed to achieve long-term growth while preserving capital investment. A description of the NADART Fund, including information on its risk, return, investment characteristics and objectives is available on the NADART Web site.
If you would like to know more about NADART’s retirement plans and related services, such as explaining QDIAs or the NADART Fund, please contact of our Marketing representatives at (800) 462-3278 ext. 7161 or by e-mail at nadart401k@nada.org.