Consider a typical retirement plan sponsored by a private employer. The employer is a fiduciary to the plan along with employees who individually serve as trustees or members of the plan’s investment or retirement committee.… Continue Reading
Checklists. Doctors use them. Engineers use them, Pilots use them. A checklist is a tool to manage complicated jobs. Atul Gawande, MD, author of best seller, The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right, puts it this way: Checklists not only offer the possibility of verification but also instill a kind of discipline of higher … Continue Reading
When we think about lying, cheating, and stealing in the workplace, we may think it’s always bad people doing bad things. But sometimes good people lose their moral compasses because of peer pressure. That was the conclusion of the recent study, Underestimating Our Influence Over Others’ Unethical Behavior and Decisions conducted by Bohns, Roghanizad, and Xu … Continue Reading
No, that’s not the Matrix pictured on the right. It’s simply a visual representation of a special report by The Economist a little over three years ago, Data, Data Everywhere, In that report, The Economist reported that Wal-Mart handled more than one million customer transactions every hour, feeding databases estimated at more than 2.5 petabytes. … Continue Reading
Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band on their Rock and Roll Never Forgets Tour this Spring. Still The Same. And still the same is the miscommunication that sometimes happens between the employee and the employer about the benefit program. It could be, for example, the Summary Plan Description and plan document don’t gibe as … Continue Reading
That’s a picture from Episode 12, How to Rock a Part Time Job, that ran on the Nickelodeon sitcom, How To Rock, on April 21, 2012. In case you haven’t seen the show, here’s the premise courtesy of Wikipedia: The show centers on Kacey Simon (Cymphonique Miller), a popular girl who was once mean, and … Continue Reading
With apologies to anyone associated with the 1967 ground breaking movie, The Graduate, my headline is a riff on the scene to your right featuring a young Dustin Hoffman as Benjamin, and the late character actor, Walter Brooke, as Mr. McGuire. Mr. McGuire: I want to say one word to you. Just one word. Benjamin: … Continue Reading
Welcome to FPA/Plans Tools and their new blog to the group of us that blog about retirement plan matters. Their goals are to provide informative content on ERISA cases, as well as their proprietary ERISA Litigation Index, which discusses cases filed in federal court so that advisers and plan sponsors can stay current on litigation … Continue Reading
In the almost 7 years I have been writing this blog, I have written a number of book reviews about 401(k) plans and investing that have tracked the retirement plan industry. Josh Itzoe’s Fixing The 401(k) in 2009 Pat Huddleston’s, The Vigilant Investor: THE VIGILANT INVESTOR: A Former SEC Enforcer Reveals How To Fraud Proof-Your Investments in 2011 … Continue Reading
Back in the Day – the Day being as far back as the ancient Egyptian settlement of Buhen in 1860 BC – moats were excavated around castles and settlements as part of their defensive system. In today’s terms, we would call it “risk management”. So with some editorial license, I’ll use the moat metaphor to … Continue Reading
Today our firm and Mike Cavanaugh and Tim Webb, Registered Investment Advisors at Know Your Options, Inc., sponsored a special briefing for corporate attorneys on the new fee disclosure regulations impacting their clients. Our briefing at the University of Chicago Gleacher Center was provided to help them provide their clients with the guidance and strategies … Continue Reading
Don’t Worry, Be Happy, is, of course, the title of Bobby McFerrin’s 1988 hit song. Since then, it’s seeped into our culture. If you want to fully incorporate it into your life, you can download the ring tone. I’m suggesting, however, that it shouldn’t be the attitude of employers who have received 408(b)(2) service provider … Continue Reading
If you’re in and around the 401(k) world, you know who Chris Carosa, CFTA, is. And if you don’t you should. Most of us know him as a prolific author who is the Chief Contributing Editor of FiduciaryNew.com, a superb source of information and commentary about the fiduciary aspects of retirement plans. Chris now has … Continue Reading
Let me introduce you to the “ERISA Account”, a relative newcomer to the small 401(k) plan market. It’s been part of the large and medium plan market for some time. Only recently has it migrated down stream because of (yes, you guessed it) the increased regulatory emphasis and fiduciary attention to fee disclosure. Overview ERISA … Continue Reading
One thing you can say for sure about the 401(k) business, it’s responsive to the needs of the marketplace. Since the beginning of 401(k) plans in the early 1980s, 401(k) service providers have introduced an increasing number of services to stay competitive with other providers. We’ve seen the proliferation of such features as: Daily valuation … Continue Reading
With the increasing spotlight on fiduciaries and their responsibilities for ERISA plans, many employers are asking themselves whether it’s time to buy fiduciary liability insurance. With personal assets on the line for breach of fiduciary responsibility, there is no “one size fits all” answer. But, if you are a fiduciary considering fiduciary liability insurance, here … Continue Reading
That’s Declan Patrick MacManus pictured above, but we know him by his stage name Elvis Costello, the English singer-songwriter of Irish heritage. The picture is actually the cover art for Watching the Detectives, the 1977 single by Elvis Costello and his backing band, the Attractions, which gave him his first UK hit single. It’s my … Continue Reading
Each week Nevin E. Adams, JD, PLANADVISER Editor-in-Chief writes a column called IMHO (In My Humble Opinion), and he’s always a good read. He’s just published a two-part series that’s an excellent, common sense approach for fiduciaries that’s definitely worth keeping handy. It’s called “To Do” List: 10 Things You’re (Probably) Doing Wrong—or Not Doing … 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
I’ve got that queasy feeling again in my stomach. The recent collapse of Bear Stearns gave me flashbacks to the 1990s during which we struggled with insolvency issues affecting ERISA plans. If you were around back then, you’ll remember the insurance companies that failed or were seized by insurance regulators as a result of failed … Continue Reading
While my main focus is qualified retirement plans, I try and stay up to date on what is happening in the world of welfare benefits, i.e., health plans, etc. After all, both types of benefit plans are subject to ERISA’s reporting, disclosure, and fiduciary rules. And both types, of course, are regulated in these areas … Continue Reading
Most of the retirement plan coverage in the mass media is about bad things happening to employees or some aspect of the Pension Protection Act of 2006. So it’s always good when a writer points out to plan sponsors that they have certain obligations in managing their retirement plans and the problems to avoid. Marc … Continue Reading