Insights · The Hipson Brief on Substack · podcast edition on the same feed
The Hipson Brief
Plain-English pieces on the rules that cost employers real money — ACA filings, benefit renewals, 401(k) rules, autism coverage. Written by Michael Hipson and Justin Boulet, based on the questions clients actually ask.
Get it in your inbox
Every issue, plus the podcast edition on the same feed. Written by the two people who do the work.
Free · unsubscribe whenever · your email is never sold or shared
Written by Justin Boulet
ACA compliance, CFO & payroll discipline, and the autism coverage work — from the principal who does the filings.
The 50-employee line you crossed without noticing
How full-time equivalents actually count, why variable-hour staff hide the threshold, and what an IRS Letter 226-J — the ACA penalty notice — looks like when it lands.
Justin Boulet · on the Brief
Reading an ABA denial letter
The four phrases that tell you which appeal to file — and the clock each one starts.
Justin Boulet · on the Brief
What a $200k CFO actually does — and which half you can outsource
The back-office duties that need an executive's judgment, the ones that need a disciplined team, and how to buy them separately.
Justin Boulet · on the Brief
Written by Michael Hipson
Benefits strategy, 401(k) rules and the Houston market — thirty years of renewal seasons distilled.
The 5500 deadline nobody calendars until June
What to have in hand by March 31 so July is uneventful.
Michael Hipson · on the Brief
Houston renewal rates, Q2 read
What we are seeing across 40 Harris County groups, and where level-funding still wins.
Michael Hipson · on the Brief
AI is killing these business models right under our eyes
Forbes. Michael's note: advisory businesses that only broker a transaction are being compressed out. The ones that publish judgment and stay in the file are not.
Shared by Michael · Forbes, 7 min
All issues publish on Substack — with the podcast edition on the same feed — and are syndicated to LinkedIn.
Reading about ACA risk is one thing.
Knowing yours is another. The free audit takes about three minutes.