SECURE 2.0: Behind the Scenes at Trinity | Trinity Pension Consultants, Inc.

Behind the Scenes at Trinity

The SECURE 2.0 Amendments

Nearly 3,000 amendments. One deadline. A team of interns who spent their summer mastering plan document amendments.

This summer, Trinity is completing the IRS-required SECURE 2.0 amendments. Every plan document must go through a formal adoption process by December 31, 2026. The amendment touches some of the most consequential provisions in recent plan history:

- Updated Required Minimum Distribution ages
- A higher $7,000 force-out threshold
- New eligibility rules for long-term part-time employee
- Expanded catch-up contribution limits for ages 60-63
- Roth-related updates across plan types

We're not waiting until the last minute, with roughly 3,000 amendments spanning 401(k), 403(b), Cash Balance, and Money Purchase plans. Trinity set an internal goal to finish four months ahead of the IRS deadline, fully managed and at no cost to plan sponsors.

The team behind the deadline

To hit that goal, we brought in a dedicated team of summer interns. After completing the Retirement Plan Fundamentals certification, they were handed real files and real deadlines with three steep learning curves at once:

Reading a Form 5500. They can now pull a plan's structure, sponsor details, and prior filings straight from it. Document literacy is no easy feat.
Unpacking SECURE 2.0. The law is a stack of provisions, effective dates, and plan-type exceptions. Interns learned not just what changed, but which changes applied where, and when.
Working in Pension Pro. None had even heard of the system before June and why would they?! It's now how they track amendment status, flag documents for signature, and keep nearly 3,000 files moving.

They've done this alongside Trinity's broader Internship Program and Leadership Academy. Working with our Relationship Managers and Plan Document Specialists, they've kept the project ahead of schedule, not behind.

Why we're pushing ahead of the deadline

We could wait until Q4. Plenty of TPAs will. We're not, because the cost of waiting isn't ours, it's our clients'. Missed deadlines can mean IRS penalties, plan disqualification, or unexpected tax consequences.

Our commitment

This is what "proactive partner" means at Trinity: training a team to do the work well, ahead of schedule, so our clients and advisors never have to think about it.