The Department of Labor is about to make it easier for participants in a 401(k) plan with a now-defunct company to get their hands on their money. Currently, it takes the likes of a top executive to let the money roll, but in the case of a defunct company, that process can be bogged down until the appointment of an independent fiduciary, which sometimes could require a court to step in. The new rules would permit the defunct company to release the money without a specific representative doing so. The Wall Street Journal says the rules would mostly affect small companies that go out of business, and which each year leave $850 million belonging to 33,000 workers up in the air.
