BUSINESS

Henry Schuck built DiscoverOrg, now ZoomInfo, to $30 million in revenue without external funding.

Tax refunds are averaging about $775 higher this filing season for Americans who claim the new deductions under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). That sounds like a genuine windfall. IRS CEO Frank Bisignano told the House Ways and Means Committee on March 5 that more than four in 10 of the roughly 55 million returns filed so far include at least one of the new tax breaks, Newsweek reported, and refunds for those filers are materially larger.The average refund across all filers has hit $3,742 as of late February, up more than 10% from the same point last year, according to IRS filing-season data.The White House has called 2026 the largest tax refund season on record, but there’s a catch that’s easy to miss. That extra money in your refund is not a bonus from the government; it’s your own cash being returned.The $775 boost is real, but it’s not new moneyWhen President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) into law on July 4, 2025, the legislation created several new above-the-line deductions, effective retroactive to January 1, 2025.The Tax Foundation estimates the law reduced individual income taxes for 2025 by roughly $129 billion.However, the IRS revealed in August 2025 that it would not update employer withholding tables for tax year 2025. That decision meant employers kept withholding federal income tax at the old, higher rates for the entire year, even though workers now owed less under the new law.The result is a classic overpayment scenario. Your employer took out more than you actually owed, and now the IRS is returning the difference as a refund. Financial planner Drew Powers of Powers Financial Group called it a “classic case of overpayment,” telling Newsweek that taxpayers who proactively adjusted their withholdings after the law passed will see a smaller refund bump.The new OBBBA deductions are driving bigger refundsBisignano told lawmakers that four deductions, all reported on the new Schedule 1-A form, account for most of the increase in the refund, Deloitte’s tax@hand noted. About 43% of returns filed so far include at least one of these breaks, according to CNBC.Key OBBBA deductions for 2025 returns include the following.Overtime pay deduction: Workers can deduct the premium portion of overtime compensation, up to $12,500 for single filers ($25,000 for joint filers). This has been the most commonly claimed new deduction so far.Senior bonus deduction: Taxpayers age 65 and older can claim an additional $6,000 deduction ($12,000 for married couples where both qualify). This break is producing the largest individual refund increases, Bisignano said. It phases out at $75,000 MAGI for single filers and $150,000 for joint filers.Tip deduction: Workers can deduct up to $25,000 in qualified tip income. The Tax Policy Center estimates 5 to 10 million returns will claim this break.Auto loan interest deduction: Buyers of American-made vehicles can deduct up to $10,000 in qualified loan interest, with a phase-out beginning at $100,000 MAGI ($200,000 for joint filers).The IRS reports that households with adjusted gross incomes below $100,000 are the primary beneficiaries of these new breaks. If current trends continue, Bisignano said, the average refund boost for eligible filers could reach $1,000 by the end of tax season.A bigger tax refund now could mean a smaller paycheck laterHere’s where most coverage of the $775 boost falls short. A larger refund does not mean you paid less in taxes overall. It means you gave the federal government an interest-free loan throughout 2025, and now you’re getting the overpayment back.Kevin Thompson, CEO of 9i Capital Group, told Newsweek that the increase is partly driven by the higher standard deduction and a partially refundable child tax credit now set at $2,200 per qualifying child, with $1,700 refundable. Families with children will see the most pronounced gains because credits reduce taxes dollar-for-dollar.But the real catch is what happens next. Beginning in 2026, the IRS will adjust withholding tables to reflect the OBBBA’s tax cuts. That means less money withheld from each paycheck going forward. If you do nothing and assume next year’s refund will be equally large, you could be in for a surprise.What IRS tax changes mean in practical termsConsider a worker who received a $775 higher refund this season. Spread across 26 biweekly pay periods, that’s roughly $30 over-withheld per paycheck. Once the withholding tables update, that $30 will show up in your paycheck instead of your refund. Your take-home pay goes up slightly, but your refund next year shrinks. If you’ve already built a habit of relying on a big refund for annual expenses such as insurance premiums, property taxes, or debt payments, the shift could leave you short.Not every tax filer will see a bigger refundThe $775 average applies only to filers who claim at least one of the new OBBBA deductions. The roughly 57% of returns filed so far that do not include a Schedule 1-A are not part of that average.Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor at the University of Tennessee at Martin, told Newsweek that filers who have not yet submitted their returns need to manage expectations. Some of the new breaks are limited to specific groups: overtime workers, tipped employees, seniors, and buyers of American-made cars.More Personal Finance:Why selling a home to your child for a dollar can backfireElon Musk says ‘universal high income’ is comingFTC, 21 states sue Uber over ‘shady’ subscription billingSalaried workers under age 65 who don’t receive tips and didn’t finance an American-made vehicle in 2025 likely won’t qualify for any of the four Schedule 1-A deductions.Any increase in their refund, if any, will come primarily from the modestly higher standard deduction ($15,750 for single filers, $31,500 for married filing jointly) and the expanded child tax credit.Lower-income households that already pay little or no federal income tax may see only modest gains. Lower-income filers could receive less than $100 in additional refund money, as News Nation Now reported, citing Principal Asset Management estimates.Inflation has already eaten into the extra tax-refund cashEven for filers who qualify, the $775 average gain may not stretch as far as it sounds. Drew Powers of Powers Financial Group made this point directly to Newsweek: While a bigger refund is welcome, most Americans will find the additional amount has already been offset by higher prices.Inflation has slowed from its 2022–2023 highs, but prices have not come down. Grocery costs, housing expenses, and insurance premiums remain elevated compared to three years ago. A $775 refund increase translates to about $64 per month in purchasing power, meaningful but unlikely to reshape a household budget.Thompson noted that retirees may be the exception. Some seniors are saving between $700 and $2,100 in taxes due to the new $6,000 senior deduction, a break that can provide more noticeable relief on a fixed income.Three steps every filer should take before next tax seasonThe IRS has made it clear that withholding tables are being updated for 2026. That changes the calculus for anyone who enjoyed a larger refund this year. Take these three steps to stay ahead.Step 1: Update your W-4 nowThe IRS encourages all taxpayers to review their withholding after receiving a refund. Use the IRS Tax Withholding Estimator to check whether your current withholding is still appropriate under the new rates. If you over-withheld significantly in 2025, reducing your withholding will put more money in your pocket each pay period rather than waiting for a lump sum next spring.Step 2: Don’t spend the refund as if it’s a bonusBecause this refund is a return of overpaid taxes, not new income, treat it accordingly. Financial advisors consistently recommend directing unexpected refund increases toward high-interest debt, emergency savings, or retirement contributions. If you normally receive about $3,000 and this year you got $3,775, consider setting aside that $775 difference rather than inflating your spending.Step 3: Check whether you’re actually claiming all eligible deductionsIf you worked overtime, received tips, turned 65, or financed an American-made car in 2025, and your return does not include a Schedule 1-A, you may be leaving money on the table. The new deductions are above-the-line, meaning you can claim them in addition to the standard deduction. The IRS has published FAQs on each provision, including the overtime deduction (FS-2026-01). If you’ve already filed without claiming an eligible deduction, you can file an amended return using Form 1040-X.The broader risk most filers are overlookingThe 2026 refund season is unique because it combines the normal refund cycle with a one-time retroactive adjustment from a law that passed mid-year. That won’t repeat. Once withholding tables catch up to the new tax rates, the gap between what’s withheld and what’s owed narrows. Average refunds should settle closer to historical norms.For filers who don’t update their W-4, the risk runs in both directions. Some may under-withhold and face a balance due next April. Others may over-withhold again if they choose not to update their paperwork, effectively giving the government another interest-free loan.A $775 increase in refunds is real and welcome. But it’s a one-time correction, not a recurring benefit. The filers who come out ahead are the ones who understand what the money actually represents and plan accordingly.Related: Turning Your Refund into Financial Progress

TheStreet aims to feature only the best products and services. If you buy something via one of our links, we may earn a commission.Why we love this dealYour warm-weather wardrobe isn’t complete without a pair of go-to sandals. The ultimate everyday sandal is equal parts comfortable and stylish, but it should also deliver on versatility, matching both casual and classy looks alike. For us, our dream pair is one you can easily slip on when heading out the door, whether you’re running errands in a worn-out tee and denim shorts or dressed nicely for brunch in a flowy summer dress.One option that fits the bill is the Ugg Goldenstar Glide Platform Sandal, and right now, the fashionable footwear is on sale at Nordstrom Rack. Normally, you’d have to pay $120 to add these to your closet, but with 37% off, you can score them for just $75. These savings cover all four colors, including Smoke Plume, Chestnut (pictured below), Sand, and Bay Fog. This Ugg sandal deal is even more impressive when you realize the same shoes are still retailing for nearly full price elsewhere around the web, like at Zappos.Ugg Goldenstar Glide Platform Sandal, $75 (was $120) at Nordstrom Rack

Courtesy of Nordstrom Rack

Why do shoppers love it?Ugg has become a shoe rack staple over the years for quality footwear that takes cute and cozy to the next level, and these chic platform sandals live up to this top-notch reputation. They feature a classic slingback design that’s updated for the modern day with a one-inch platform sole and an adjustable strap for a more customizable wear. Not only can you tighten the slingback strap for a more secure fit when walking long distances, but you can also push it forward to convert these slingback sandals into easy-to-wear slides. If you have any upcoming travel plans, the 2-in-1 wear would be a game changer for navigating through airport security.”The most comfortable slide ever,” one shopper called the travel-friendly shoes. Featuring a compression-resistant cushioned footbed with built-in arch support, these can serve as walk-all-day sandals. The shoes use a soft recycled lining upgraded with a peppermint anti-odor treatment that keeps your feet feeling fresh. The same reviewer called the Uggs “quality-made and super comfy” and reported, “These sandals have both breathing room and cushion and keep my feet comfy all day.”Related: REI is selling the Original Universal Tevas for only $42, and they’re one of my favorite shoesThese everyday sandals are so impressive that, as of writing, every reviewer has backed their superior quality with a perfect five-star rating. “Straight out of the box, I made it through my 10-hour workday on my feet the entire time,” one shopper wrote, describing them as a “new fave.” They continued to rave, “I can’t recall ever having a shoe this comfortable, and I get tons of compliments!”Details to know Sizes available: These sandals come in women’s shoe sizes 5 to 12.Color options: All four colors are on sale for $75.Materials: A leather upper, a recycled polyester lining, and a synthetic sole.Plenty of cushion and support make these trendy sandals a stellar choice for everyday wear this spring and summer. Since everyone has different preferences, we’ve rounded up additional noteworthy sandal discounts at Nordstrom Rack, including deals on top Ugg shoe styles for spring. If you’d like to add the Ugg Goldenstar Glide Platform Sandal to your shoe collection for just $75 at Nordstrom Rack, don’t wait to secure the savings, as deals this good tend to sell out fast.Shop more dealsUgg Delray Ankle Strap Sandal, $80 (was $110) at Nordstrom RackDr. Scholl’s Once Twice Platform Sandal, $50 (was $95) at Nordstrom RackUgg Solivan Slingback Sandal, $75 (was $90) at Nordstrom RackUgg Goldenglow Slingback Sandal, $65 (was $100) at Nordstrom Rack

Courtesy of Nordstrom Rack

Sorel Ona Ave Ankle Strap Sandal, $50 (was $100) at Nordstrom Rack

Courtesy of Nordsr

Ugg Goldenglow Platform Slide Sandal, $60 (was $90) at Nordstrom Rack

Courtesy of Nordstrom Rack

Vionic Harmony RX Sandal, $39 (was $125) at Nordstrom Rack

Courtesy of Nordstrom Rack

Teva Hurricane XLT 2 Sandal, $40 (was $80) at Nordstrom Rack

Courtesy of Nordstrom Rack

Multi-agent systems, designed to handle long-horizon tasks like software engineering or cybersecurity triaging, can generate up to 15 times the token volume of standard chats — threatening their cost-effectiveness in handling enterprise tasks. But today, Nvidia sought to help solve this problem with the release of Nemotron 3 Super, a 120-billion-parameter hybrid model, with weights posted on Hugging Face.By merging disparate architectural philosophies—state-space models, transformers, and a novel “Latent” mixture-of-experts design—Nvidia is attempting to provide the specialized depth required for agentic workflows without the bloat typical of dense reasoning models, and all available for commercial usage under mostly open weights.Triple hybrid architecture At the core of Nemotron 3 Super is a sophisticated architectural triad that balances memory efficiency with precision reasoning. The model utilizes a Hybrid Mamba-Transformer backbone, which interleaves Mamba-2 layers with strategic Transformer attention layers.To understand the implications for enterprise production, consider the “needle in a haystack” problem. Mamba-2 layers act like a “fast-travel” highway system, handling the vast majority of sequence processing with linear-time complexity. This allows the model to maintain a massive 1-million-token context window without the memory footprint of the KV cache exploding. However, pure state-space models often struggle with associative recall. To fix this, Nvidia strategically inserts Transformer attention layers as “global anchors,” ensuring the model can precisely retrieve specific facts buried deep within a codebase or a stack of financial reports.Beyond the backbone, the model introduces Latent Mixture-of-Experts (LatentMoE). Traditional Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) designs route tokens to experts in their full hidden dimension, which creates a computational bottleneck as models scale. LatentMoE solves this by projecting tokens into a compressed space before routing them to specialists. This “expert compression” allows the model to consult four times as many specialists for the exact same computational cost. This granularity is vital for agents that must switch between Python syntax, SQL logic, and conversational reasoning within a single turn.Further accelerating the model is Multi-Token Prediction (MTP). While standard models predict a single next token, MTP predicts several future tokens simultaneously. This serves as a “built-in draft model,” enabling native speculative decoding that can deliver up to 3x wall-clock speedups for structured generation tasks like code or tool calls.The Blackwell advantageFor enterprises, the most significant technical leap in Nemotron 3 Super is its optimization for the Nvidia Blackwell GPU platform. By pre-training natively in NVFP4 (4-bit floating point), Nvidia has achieved a breakthrough in production efficiency. On Blackwell, the model delivers 4x faster inference than 8-bit models running on the previous Hopper architecture, with no loss in accuracy.In practical performance, Nemotron 3 Super is a specialized tool for agentic reasoning. It currently holds the No. 1 position on the DeepResearch Bench, a benchmark measuring an AI’s ability to conduct thorough, multi-step research across large document sets. BenchmarkNemotron 3 SuperQwen3.5-122B-A10BGPT-OSS-120BGeneral KnowledgeMMLU-Pro83.7386.7081.00ReasoningAIME25 (no tools)90.2190.3692.50HMMT Feb25 (no tools)93.6791.4090.00HMMT Feb25 (with tools)94.7389.55—GPQA (no tools)79.2386.6080.10GPQA (with tools)82.70—80.09LiveCodeBench (v5 2024-07↔2024-12)81.1978.9388.00SciCode (subtask)42.0542.0039.00HLE (no tools)18.2625.3014.90HLE (with tools)22.82—19.0AgenticTerminal Bench (hard subset)25.7826.8024.00Terminal Bench Core 2.031.0037.5018.70SWE-Bench (OpenHands)60.4766.4041.9SWE-Bench (OpenCode)59.2067.40—SWE-Bench (Codex)53.7361.20—SWE-Bench Multilingual (OpenHands)45.78—30.80TauBench V2Airline56.2566.049.2Retail62.8362.667.80Telecom64.3695.0066.00Average61.1574.5361.0BrowseComp with Search31.28—33.89BIRD Bench41.80—38.25Chat & Instruction FollowingIFBench (prompt)72.5673.7768.32Scale AI Multi-Challenge55.2361.5058.29Arena-Hard-V273.8875.1590.26Long ContextAA-LCR58.3166.9051.00RULER @ 256k96.3096.7452.30RULER @ 512k95.6795.9546.70RULER @ 1M91.7591.3322.30MultilingualMMLU-ProX (avg over langs)79.3685.0676.59WMT24++ (en→xx)86.6787.8488.89It also demonstrates significant throughput advantages, achieving up to 2.2x higher throughput than gpt-oss-120B and 7.5x higher than Qwen3.5-122B in high-volume settings.Custom ‘open’ license — commercial usage but with important caveats The release of Nemotron 3 Super under the Nvidia Open Model License Agreement (updated October 2025) provides a permissive framework for enterprise adoption, though it carries distinct “safeguard” clauses that differentiate it from pure open-source licenses like MIT or Apache 2.0.Key Provisions for Enterprise Users:Commercial Usability: The license explicitly states that models are “commercially usable” and grants a perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free license to sell and distribute products built on the model.Ownership of Output: Nvidia makes no claim to the outputs generated by the model; the responsibility for those outputs—and the ownership of them—rests entirely with the user.Derivative Works: Enterprises are free to create and own “Derivative Models” (fine-tuned versions), provided they include the required attribution notice: “Licensed by Nvidia Corporation under the Nvidia Open Model License.”The “Red Lines”:The license includes two critical termination triggers that production teams must monitor:Safety Guardrails: The license automatically terminates if a user bypasses or circumvents the model’s “Guardrails” (technical limitations or safety hyperparameters) without implementing a “substantially similar” replacement appropriate for the use case.Litigation Trigger: If a user institutes copyright or patent litigation against Nvidia alleging that the model infringes on their IP, their license to use the model terminates immediately.This structure allows Nvidia to foster a commercial ecosystem while protecting itself from “IP trolling” and ensuring that the model isn’t stripped of its safety features for malicious use.‘The team really cooked’The release has generated significant buzz within the developer community. Chris Alexiuk, a Senior Product Research Enginner at Nvidia, heralded the launch on X under his handle @llm_wizard as a “SUPER DAY,” emphasizing the model’s speed and transparency. “Model is: FAST. Model is: SMART. Model is: THE MOST OPEN MODEL WE’VE DONE YET,” Chris posted, highlighting the release of not just weights, but 10 trillion tokens of training data and recipes.The industry adoption reflects this enthusiasm:Cloud and Hardware: The model is being deployed as an Nvidia NIM microservice, allowing it to run on-premises via the Dell AI Factory or HPE, as well as across Google Cloud, Oracle, and shortly, AWS and Azure.Production Agents: Companies like CodeRabbit (software development) and Greptile are integrating the model to handle large-scale codebase analysis, while industrial leaders like Siemens and Palantir are deploying it to automate complex workflows in manufacturing and cybersecurity.As Kari Briski, Nvidia VP of AI Software, noted: “As companies move beyond chatbots and into multi-agent applications, they encounter… context explosion.” Nemotron 3 Super is Nvidia’s answer to that explosion—a model that provides the “brainpower” of a 120B parameter system with the operational efficiency of a much smaller specialist. For the enterprise, the message is clear: the “thinking tax” is finally coming down.

Looking for help with today’s New York Times Wordle? Here are some expert hints, clues and commentary to help you solve today’s Wordle and sharpen your guessing game.

Month-over-month existing-home sales were bleak in January, plummeting by 8.4% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR) of 3.91 million units, according to a report by the National Association of Realtors. These data include the sales of existing (not newly built) single-family homes, condos, and co-ops. Existing-home sales make up more than 90% of housing sales in the U.S., according to the NAR, so they’re crucial to understanding how the national real estate market is performing.Following January’s discouraging data, the financial services firm Goldman Sachs predicted that existing-home sales would just barely tick up in February, up 0.5% to 3.9 million.Goldman Sachs underestimated February’s increase, however, according to a press release describing the latest NAR existing-homes sales data. In reality, sales unexpectedly jumped by 1.7% to 4.09 million units.Monthly and annual existing-home prices stabilizeGoldman Sachs data show that the seasonally adjusted median sales price of existing homes dropped by 0.2% in February. Seasonally adjusted prices compare housing costs by accounting for seasonal factors such as weather to provide a more accurate picture of the housing market.Although the 0.2% decrease may seem minor, any downward movement is a good sign for potential buyers as we enter spring, which is the unofficial start of the homebuying season.More on the housing market:Redfin, Zillow reveal major mortgage rate, housing market changeWhat the stock market is saying about the housing marketZillow reveals U.S. city with top housing market for homebuyersAccording to the NAR, January’s annual home price was up 0.9% to $396,800. In February, median year-over-year prices only rose by only 0.3%, landing at $398,000.Yes, this is still a price increase. But according to the NAR, in February 2025, the year-over-year median existing home price had grown by 3.4%. National housing prices are climbing more slowly, which is good news for hopeful buyers as we enter the homebuying season.The NAR claims home affordability is improving for AmericansSeveral factors influence why month-over-month property sales are up. The median number of days a home sat on the market in February was 47, according to the NAR report, one more day than in January and five more days than during last February. The longer a house is on the market, the more likely sellers are to offer concessions or cut prices to induce buyers.According to Realtor.com, 15.5% of listing prices were cut nationally in February.“Housing affordability is improving, and consumers are responding,” NAR Chief Economist Dr. Lawrence Yun said in the press release. “Still, there is a long way to go to return to pre-pandemic levels of transaction activity.”Maybe you’re considering waiting for prices to drop even more significantly before buying. This probably isn’t a good strategy, though. During my career covering mortgages and the housing market, I’ve learned that attempting to time the real estate market is as risky — and often as fruitless — as trying to time the stock market. Also, it’s possible prices could increase over time rather than decrease.“Inventory is growing, but sluggishly,” Yun added. “If demand picks up notably in the coming months and outpaces supply growth, home prices will inevitably rise. That is why increasing supply is so important to help limit home price growth, improve housing affordability, and boost transactions.”Data show that housing affordability varies by regionAnnual housing affordability improved nationally.The NAR’s Housing Affordability Index tracks whether a typical family can afford a mortgage on a standard home, both nationally and regionally. February’s HAI showed that home affordability grew in all four major regions in the U.S. The West experienced the highest affordability increase at 17%, while the Northeast saw the lowest at 10%.February monthly existing-home sales increased in the Midwest, South, and West, but rose in the Northeast.Year-over-year home sales only improved in the South. The other three regions experienced lower annual sales. This demonstrates Yun’s point that the country still has significant steps to take before reaching pre-pandemic levels.The balance between supply and demand is improving. According to Goldman Sachs, February’s inventory of existing homes on the market rose to 4.4 months, reaching its highest point since May 2025.Related: Zillow predicts mortgage rate, housing market shift

Broadcast Retirement Network’s Jeffrey Snyder discusses the U.S. Department of Labor Enforcement Priorities in 2026 for Employee Benefit Plans with Kutak Rock’s John Schembari.Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement NetworkWell, joining me now is John Shembhari of Kutak Rock. John, great to see you. Thanks for joining us this evening.You bet, Jeff, nice to be here. Always great to see you. I hope the weather’s warming up there in Omaha, Nebraska.It is here on the East Coast, so hopefully you’re getting some of that as well. John, I wanted to talk to you, and I think our audience wants to hear about the Department of Labor. Just released their enforcement priorities for 2026.What can you tell us? What are they gonna be focused on this year?John Schembari, Kutak RockYeah, it’s kind of a big change. In fact, maybe the biggest change they’ve had in a number of years. We got a new head of the Department of Labor, end of 25, Daniel Aronowitz.He came from the private sector. In fact, he ran a fiduciary liability insurance company. So if anybody was more familiar with fiduciary litigation and that side of the business, Daniel is the guy.So when he came on board, he emphasized that they were gonna try to cut down on the amount of class action litigation that was affecting plan sponsors all across the country, which is great news. But in exchange for that, he needs to increase the amount of Department of Labor enforcement. So he’s going to focus on a number of things.He’s gonna focus on cybersecurity. Cybersecurity has been an area of focus from the Department of Labor since 2021. In 21, they issued three pieces of guidance for plan sponsors to follow regarding cybersecurity.In 2024, they came out and extended that guidance, if you will, to health and welfare fiduciaries. So Daniel said that they’re gonna come out and really focus on cybersecurity. They’re gonna focus on service providers and our plan sponsors and fiduciaries monitoring those service providers, basic fiduciary hygiene.And then they’re gonna look at plan distributions. Are plans operationally distributing the money that people are entitled to when they’re entitled to it? How are they handling missing participants, checks that bounce and come back to the plan?How are they handling things like that? Notably, Jeff, something that had been on the priority list for the last 20 years was ESOPs. So the last 20 years, the Department of Labor has really been at war against ESOP companies.And notably, that is removed from the 2026 enforcement guide. And that’s consistent with the testimony that Daniel gave to the Senate hearing to get himself confirmed, where he said he’s gonna end the Department of Labor’s war on ESOP. So that’s good news.Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement NetworkYeah, so let’s, I mean, all the things that you mentioned in terms of priority, as someone who’s been in the business like you for a long time, those sound pretty good, logical steps in terms of enforcement. What’s the process? So assuming that Secretary Aronowitz stays in the position for the full four years, what’s the process for instituting these enforcement priorities?Do they issue basic regulations to get some comment on? Can you take us through that process a little bit?John Schembari, Kutak RockYeah, it’s probably not gonna do anything for existing ongoing investigations. Those are gonna continue, they’re gonna run its course. But what it’s gonna do is it’s gonna focus the department on future investigations.A practice that the prior Department of Labor did was they would work hand in hand with plaintiff’s lawyers to do what they call joint interest enforcement. So they would basically, Department of Labor would deputize some private plaintiff’s law firms to help them investigate businesses and employee benefit plans. That’s off the table.He’s not gonna do that anymore. He’s also said that while they’re gonna increase their enforcement activity, enforcement and audits will be much more concise and shorter in duration. So I don’t expect to see audits that last multiple years, which was common in the past.I expect to see audits that may take three, four, five months at tops. And they’re gonna be precise audits. They’re gonna be audits focused on cybersecurity or fiduciary governance.On the health and welfare side, we’re gonna see audits, we’re already seeing some on mental health parity compliance, surprise billing, all of that. So the Department of Labor is gonna focus not just on retirement, but also health and welfare plans.Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement NetworkAnd if I’m a plan sponsor, so you sit around the fiduciary table, what should I know? I mean, what should I be thinking about? Does my approach change to how I manage my plan?Because you still gotta have meetings, do everything on behalf of the participant and the beneficiaries in the plan. And you have to take notes and keep track of all your decisions. But do I need to think about things differently than I did in 2025?John Schembari, Kutak RockNo. So if you’re an employer that’s been taking your fiduciary responsibilities pretty seriously in the past, I don’t think you should be nervous about this. In fact, I think you should encourage it.You know, we’re gonna get rid of a lot of this needless litigation, which is great news, in exchange for the DOL, maybe doing a few more visits to confirm that you’re following your prudent process. If you’re doing that, you have nothing to worry about. But what you can do to prepare for a Department of Labor audit, it’s better to do it in advance than after they come knocking on the door.Make sure your documentation is in order. They’re gonna ask to see your contracts with your vendors. They’re gonna wanna see your documentation of your fiduciary meetings, your plan documents.Have that stuff in order now so that when the Department of Labor comes in, you can impress them with how prepared you are how timely you are, how organized you are. And oftentimes, just being prepared, just being timely, just being responsive, that goes a huge way towards resolving a Department of Labor audit.Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement NetworkAnd I guess my last question for people in retirement plans. So people like us, employees, or what we call in the industry as participants, are there any lessons here? I mean, we won’t be directly involved as participants.We wouldn’t be directly involved in an audit or cybersecurity. But I guess there’s a bit of a reassurance there that these protocols, these priorities have been established.John Schembari, Kutak RockI think that’s exactly right, Jeff. I think participants can take some comfort. And Daniel did say in his testimony to the Senate that that is a priority, is to provide protections for the American workforce.That is his number one priority. So he works for participants in retirement plans more than he works for the fiduciaries that oversee them. So he’s gonna make sure those fiduciaries are doing their job, which then preserves our retirement plan benefits.Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement NetworkAnd John, I guess my last last question is, I’ll just offer a comment. You can respond if you want to. The retirement ecosystem continues to expand.We’ve got new providers all the time. We’ve got new services. It’s a pretty complex world.I don’t envy the regulators. Just like I don’t envy people in our position to have to learn all those things. It’s a lot to keep in mind.They’re regulating what is a growing, expanding ecosystem.John Schembari, Kutak RockIt is. It’s absolutely growing. It’s expanding.It’s getting more and more complicated. I specialize in this area. So it’s my job.I don’t envy the HR professionals out there who have to manage a million different things. And this is just one part of their responsibilities.Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement NetworkYeah, it is so tough. Hats off to them. Hats off to people like you for guiding clients.John Shambari, we’re gonna have to leave it there. Thanks for joining us. And look, we look forward to having you back on the program again very soon, sir.Sounds great, Jeff. Take care.

The two agencies sealed their memorandum of understanding to link the parts of their work that overlap, and coordinated crypto oversight is among the top goals.

Biaggio Ali Walsh faces Dash Harris in a lightweight bout at PFL Chicago on April 11. Sergio Pettis vs. Mitch McKee headlines the card.

“Anaconda,” a monster comedy starring Jack Black and Paul Rudd, is coming soon to streaming on Netflix. Find out when you can watch the film on the platform.