COVER STORY CORNER WHAT'S AROUND THE Plan sponsors prepare and plan for 2024 P lan sponsors had their hands full last year. Consolidation and cybersecurity among plan service providers; financial wellness programs; retirement income; and regulation-particularly the SECURE [Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement] 2.0 Act-all received extensive news coverage and discussion. Plan investments contended with rising rates and an uncertain economic outlook. The continued adoption of collective investment trusts vs. mutual funds changed the composition of many plans' lineups. The convergence of wealth management and retirement plan services continued. As to SECURE 2.0, the outlook for some of its optional provisions remained uncertain; sponsors' interest in financial wellness programs and retirement income options continued to grow. The impact of IBM's decision in November to shift to a cash balance plan remains unclear. Cybersecurity risks made headlines as a cyberattack on retirement and insurance platform provider Infosys McCamish Systems LLC affected systems at Ascensus, Principal Financial Group, T. Rowe Price and The Vanguard Group. Plan litigation continued to move downstream to smaller plans. PLANSPONSOR asked industry experts what they saw as the key events and trends of 2023 and to predict, informally, which ones are likely to continue, and what new ones likely to emerge, in 2024. Forecasts are inevitably wrong to some degree, but our sources' insights are worth considering. 16 PLANSPONSOR.COM January - February 2024 Art by Klaus Kremmerzhttp://www.PLANSPONSOR.COM