Pardon the pun, but more employers are indeed achieving cost and operating efficiencies when the payroll system and 401(k) administration can directly talk to each other. In the unconnected world, there are a multitude of steps that need to be done in order to get the employee’s 401(k) contribution into the 401(k) recordkeeper’s platform. With … Continue Reading
Unlike the money belt pictured above, the dollars charged for 401(k) services will start to become more apparent under the recently published Department of Labor Interim Final Regulation on Improved Fee Disclosure. Going forward, I’ll be commenting on the new rules as they start to impact service providers, plan sponsors, and employees. That’s I call … Continue Reading
No, that’s not my high school graduation picture. It’s a Microsoft staff photo from December 7, 1978 from the StateMaster website. Yes, that’s Bill Gates on the bottom row left, and co-founder Paul Allen on the bottom row right. The company was just three years old and still located in Albuquerque before it moved to … Continue Reading
That’s the poster from the not so good 1979 movie, The Shape of Things To Come. You kinda get the picture from the tagline Beyond the earth… Beyond the moon… Beyond your wildest imagination! The movie was an adaptation of the 1933 science fiction novel, The Shape of Things To Come, by H.G. Wells which … Continue Reading
It’s that season of the year. No, not the obvious holiday season, but the award show season. And I’ve got my own called, The Retirement Plan Year in Review: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. The reference is, of course, to Sergio Leone’s classic 1966 movie, considered the greatest of the Italian … Continue Reading
That’s Chicago’s own Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson pictured in a scene from Lost In Translation, the 2003 movie in which they co-starred. I’ll skip the movie review and just describe it as writer/director Sofia Coppola’s story about Murray and Johansson playing two people out of sorts with Japan, the country they find themselves visiting. … Continue Reading
That’s Les Stroud pictured above whose TV show, Survivorman, is one of my favorites. One of my other favorites is Bear Gyylls show, Man Versus Wild. Both are survival experts who go toe-to-toe with some of the harshest environments on the planet and come through alive. So if you’ll grant me some editorial license, Les’s picture is the visual metaphor I’m … Continue Reading
It’s already the middle of July, and for many retirement plan sponsors Form 5500 will be due by the end of this month unless extended. And if you’re a plan sponsor whose 5500 must include an ERISA audit, selecting a plan auditor is a fiduciary function. Here is a link to my column in the July issue of … Continue Reading
Here is a link to my column in the May issue of Employee Benefit news about how automatic enrollment in 401(k) plans boosts 401(k) participation. (Free registration may be required). This is the first of the monthly columns I will be writing for Employee Benefit news – an employee benefit publication which provides free newsletters, seminars and podcasts … Continue Reading
