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) governance, autism coverage. Curated by Michael Hipson and Justin Boulet from the questions clients actually ask.
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Curated 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 a Letter 226-J 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
Curated by Michael Hipson
Benefits strategy, 401(k) governance 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.