Get the latest updates for our retirement plan solutions.
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RecordkeeperDirect®
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 $145,000 (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.
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®
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 $145,000 (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.
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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SIMPLE IRA Plus
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.
Roth employee deferrals for SIMPLE IRAs
Plan sponsors can offer participants a new way to save for retirement by adding Roth after-tax employee deferral contributions. To add this optional plan feature, existing plans must amend their adoption agreement prior to November 2, 2025. Plan sponsors must notify participants of this change prior to the annual enrollment period from November 2 through December 31, 2025.
Year-end notifications sent to plan sponsors
Annual notification documents have been sent to SIMPLE IRA Plus plan sponsors.
Plan sponsors are responsible for the following:
• By November 2, 2025, preparing and distributing disclosure documents to eligible employees
• From November 2 to December 31, 2025, conducting the 2026 plan year enrollment
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.
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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Help drive better participant outcomes through education
Summer can be a good time to conduct participant education meetings. From increasing contributions to dealing with market volatility, we offer many educational resources to help boost participation and improve retirement outcomes.
Visit the plan sponsor website to access our participant education brochures. Under Forms, select For participants, then Handouts and instructions.
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.
Simplify retirement plan notices
Plan sponsors have a responsibility to send certain plan notices to employees every year. But that doesn’t mean they need to spend a lot of time printing documents and stuffing envelopes. Our notice delivery services make it easy for plan sponsors to send notices and fulfill their fiduciary duties.
For PlanPremier, plan sponsors may opt to have a range of notices automatically generated and sent via email for free (or $2.50 each via regular mail). They may also upload a notice and have us mail it for $2.00 per mailed notice. Learn more about notice delivery for PlanPremier.
For RecordkeeperDirect, plan sponsors may upload a notice and have us mail it for $2.00 per mailed notice. Learn more about notice delivery for RecordkeeperDirect.
Domestic abuse distributions now available
Domestic abuse distributions, a new distribution type created by SECURE 2.0 Act, is now supported in RecordkeeperDirect. Existing plans can add this new distribution type with the Plan maintenance request.
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. Our electronic plan loan service offers online loan requests and approvals, real-time notifications, automatic loan policy creation and more. Use the loan services election form to take advantage of the electronic loan service 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.
New participant enrollment videos
Give employees an overview of the enrollment process and encourage them to start saving with these short how-to videos. The videos are available in both English and Spanish.
Watch: How to enroll in your workplace retirement plan
You can now verify lost participants online
To help protect plan participants, we now place a stop-mail indicator on their account if we receive returned mail.
When we place a stop-mail indicator on an account, we’ll notify the plan sponsor and/or third-party administrator by email. They can verify or update the participant’s address online.
New force-out distribution and automatic IRA rollover request form
A new form simplifies the process of requesting force-out cash distributions and/or automatic IRA rollovers for terminated participants in RecordkeeperDirect plans.
We recommend plan sponsors review their plan document and consult their third-party administrator prior to submitting this request to ensure the vesting information they provide is correct.
Take advantage of online enrollment
Are you and your employees still relying on paper forms to enroll or update contribution rates and beneficiaries? These activities can be streamlined through the participant website and app, potentially saving you time and reducing administrative issues. To enable online enrollment for your plan, submit the completed Online Enrollment Authorization form and Participant Data Supplement file.
Review the RecordkeeperDirect Online Enrollment Summary guide to learn more.
Make onboarding easy with Plan manager
Plan manager makes it easy to get RecordkeeperDirect clients up and running with a streamlined digital experience. Let our online tool guide you through the onboarding process — and leave the paper forms behind.
Help boost plan participation with auto enrollment
Most new retirement plans established on or after December 29, 2022, are required to automatically enroll employees and automatically escalate their contributions.* We’ve made it easy to offer these plan features and help more employees get started on their journey to retirement.
To learn more about auto enrollment and the services that we offer, check out the RecordkeeperDirect automatic enrollment overview.
Plan sponsors can enable these services by submitting the Auto Enrollment Services Election form and the Participant Data Supplement file.
* Exemptions apply for small businesses with 10 or fewer employees, church and governmental plans, and companies that have been in existence for less than three years.
Our website addresses have changed
We’ve updated our retirement plan website addresses as shown below. In doing so, we hope to make it easier to do business with us, and more clearly communicate who we are and the products and services we offer. Please be sure to update your bookmarks.
Website
New address
RecordkeeperDirect
Participant
capitalgroup.com/participant/rkd
Plan sponsor
capitalgroup.com/sponsor/rkd
Third-party administrator
capitalgroup.com/tpa/rkd
PlanPremier
Participant
capitalgroup.com/participant/planpremier
capitalgroup.com/participant/planpremier
Plan sponsor/PartnerLink — PlanPremier-Bundled
capitalgroup.com/sponsor/planpremier
capitalgroup.com/sponsor/planpremier
Plan sponsor/PartnerLink — PlanPremier TPA
capitalgroup.com/sponsor/planpremiertpa
capitalgroup.com/sponsor/planpremiertpa
SIMPLE IRA Plus
Participant
capitalgroup.com/participant/simpleiraplus
capitalgroup.com/participant/simpleiraplus
Plan sponsor
capitalgroup.com/sponsor/simpleiraplus
capitalgroup.com/sponsor/simpleiraplus
Help drive better participant outcomes through education
Summer can be a good time to conduct participant education meetings. From increasing contributions to dealing with market volatility, we offer many educational resources to help boost participation and improve retirement outcomes.
Simplify retirement plan notices
Plan sponsors have a responsibility to send certain plan notices to employees every year. But that doesn’t mean they need to spend a lot of time printing documents and stuffing envelopes. Our notice delivery services make it easy for plan sponsors to send notices and fulfill their fiduciary duties.
For PlanPremier, plan sponsors may opt to have a range of notices automatically generated and sent via email for free (or $2.50 each via regular mail). They may also upload a notice and have us mail it for $2.00 per mailed notice. Learn more about notice delivery for PlanPremier.
For RecordkeeperDirect, plan sponsors may upload a notice and have us mail it for $2.00 per mailed notice. Learn more about notice delivery for RecordkeeperDirect.
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.
Transform PlanPremier plans with online enrollment
Online enrollment and other key features can help plan sponsors save time and provide the best experience for participants. Watch for an invitation to join an upcoming webinar and learn how to activate online enrollment.
Faster, easier hardship distributions available soon
New options will be available soon, including elimination of collecting backup documentation and allowing participants to self-certify, to help ease administrative efforts for plan sponsors and process hardship distributions faster. Watch for more information coming soon.
New participant enrollment videos
Give employees an overview of the enrollment process and encourage them to start saving with these short how-to videos. The videos are available in both English and Spanish.
Watch: How to enroll in your workplace retirement plan
Our payroll integration service has been expanded
We make it easy to connect with a broad range of payroll providers to help plan sponsors simplify contributions and protect sensitive information. Check out the payroll providers available through our network connections and additional providers through Payroll Integrations. In addition to 180 standard integration, we offer 360 payroll integration to further simplify the payroll process for plan sponsors.
Learn more about our payroll integration service and direct vendor connections:
SECURE 2.0 Act plan amendments
We’re committed to supporting key SECURE 2.0 Act provisions and making it easy for your plan to comply with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requirements.
For plans that use our document services, we’ll provide a SECURE 2.0 amendment prior to the IRS extended deadline to adopt the amendment. The amendment will be extensive and include all mandatory provisions, plus any optional provisions adopted by the plan. The fee for this amendment will be $1,250 per plan, billed after the amendment is provided in late 2025 to mid-2026.
Our website addresses have changed
We’ve updated our retirement plan website addresses as shown below. In doing so, we hope to make it easier to do business with us, and more clearly communicate who we are and the products and services we offer. Please be sure to update your bookmarks.
Website
New address
RecordkeeperDirect
Participant
capitalgroup.com/participant/rkd
Plan sponsor
capitalgroup.com/sponsor/rkd
Third-party administrator
capitalgroup.com/tpa/rkd
PlanPremier
Participant
capitalgroup.com/participant/planpremier
capitalgroup.com/participant/planpremier
Plan sponsor/PartnerLink — PlanPremier-Bundled
capitalgroup.com/sponsor/planpremier
capitalgroup.com/sponsor/planpremier
Plan sponsor/PartnerLink — PlanPremier TPA
capitalgroup.com/sponsor/planpremiertpa
capitalgroup.com/sponsor/planpremiertpa
SIMPLE IRA Plus
Participant
capitalgroup.com/participant/simpleiraplus
capitalgroup.com/participant/simpleiraplus
Plan sponsor
capitalgroup.com/sponsor/simpleiraplus
capitalgroup.com/sponsor/simpleiraplus
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.
SIMPLE IRA contribution limits for 2025
The annual employee contribution limits for SIMPLE IRA plans are as follows:
- For plans with 25 or fewer employees, maximum employee contributions are $17,600 with additional catch-up contributions* (age 50+) of up to $3,850.
- For plans with 26+ employees, maximum employee contributions are $16,500 with additional catch-up contributions (age 50+) of up to $3,500.
These plans can qualify for the higher employee contribution limits of $17,600 (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.*
* If allowed by the plan. The 60-63 catch-up contribution limit is effective January 1, 2025.
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.
Our website addresses have changed
We’ve updated our retirement plan website addresses as shown below. In doing so, we hope to make it easier to do business with us, and more clearly communicate who we are and the products and services we offer. Please be sure to update your bookmarks.
Website
New address
RecordkeeperDirect
Participant
capitalgroup.com/participant/rkd
Plan sponsor
capitalgroup.com/sponsor/rkd
Third-party administrator
capitalgroup.com/tpa/rkd
PlanPremier
Participant
capitalgroup.com/participant/planpremier
capitalgroup.com/participant/planpremier
Plan sponsor/PartnerLink — PlanPremier-Bundled
capitalgroup.com/sponsor/planpremier
capitalgroup.com/sponsor/planpremier
Plan sponsor/PartnerLink — PlanPremier TPA
capitalgroup.com/sponsor/planpremiertpa
capitalgroup.com/sponsor/planpremiertpa
SIMPLE IRA Plus
Participant
capitalgroup.com/participant/simpleiraplus
capitalgroup.com/participant/simpleiraplus
Plan sponsor
capitalgroup.com/sponsor/simpleiraplus
capitalgroup.com/sponsor/simpleiraplus
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