Showing entries with the topic “Fiduciary 101”.
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Jul 2020The DOL’s Proposed Fiduciary Rule: Some “Top of Mind” Thoughts
As the 123-page Department of Labor (DOL) Fiduciary Rule arrived on my computer on the evening of June 29, I did not have high expectations. After all, the DOL has been at this for a decade, with no success. And the prior Fiduciary Rule - which I liked - did not survive a court challenge from the ve…
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Apr 2020CARES Act Q&A
Having just finished reading an epic piece (30 pages!) from S. Derrin Watson on the CARES Act retirement plan and related provisions, I thought a CARES Act Q&A on the top the five questions that appear to be tripping people up the most might be in order. The answers are based on the collective wisdo…
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Mar 2020SECURE Act Part-Time Employee Provision: Don’t Count Hours Unless Absolutely Necessary!
I recently attended the That 401(k) Conference in Orlando, Florida, where conference moderator, Ary Rosenbaum (who runs the amazing and informative That 401(k) Site), conducted a session on the impact of the SECURE Act. In that session, he stated that one of the biggest administrative issues created…
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Jan 2020The Beginning of the End for Asset-Based Retirement Plan Recordkeeping Fees?
In The Top Retirement Plan Trends for 2020 we discussed the migration of retirement plans from traditional percentage of assets-based recordkeeping fees to per-participant fee structures. By implementing a per-participant model, recordkeeping fees do not snowball as plan assets grow (which only stan…
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Jan 2020The SECURE Act Facts: What You Need to Know Now
To the surprise of many, significant retirement plan legislation, known as the SECURE Act, was signed into law by President Trump on December 20, 2019, thanks to its attachment to a must-pass budget appropriations bill. While comprehensive coverage of the Act will be the feature of upcoming thought …
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Dec 2019Retirement Plan Committee Members: Why You Shouldn’t Be a Heat or Snow Miser!
My favorite holiday animated special is not Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (although I love me some Bumble) or Frosty the Snowman. It’s The Year Without a Santa Claus, hands down. And no, it is not due to the admittedly lame plot of Santa wanting to cancel Christmas because he feels—wait for i…
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Oct 2019The New DOL e-Disclosure Regs
On October 22, 2019, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued the long-anticipated proposed regulations addressing electronic disclosure of ERISA-required documents such as Summary Plan Descriptions, benefit statements, fee disclosures and blackout notices. For retirement plan sponsors, the paperwork bu…
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May 2019The Future of Retirement Plans
In our Revamping Retirement podcast, we have been addressing the evolution of the retirement plan landscape over the past 25 years. And a lot has changed - from technology, plan design and investments, to, of course, fees. But what might the next 25 years have in store for the future generation of r…
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May 2019Something New I Learned from the DOL
Even after 27 years in the retirement plan business, there is hardly a week that goes by where I don’t learn something new - and the past few weeks have been no exception! Recently, Greg Needles of Morgan Lewis and I had the distinct pleasure of sharing a podium with Preston Rutledge, head of the E…
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Jan 2019You Have a Retirement Plan Committee - But Do You Have a Committee Charter?
Retirement plan committees (which are sometimes broken down into separate committees such as an investment committee and/or an administrative committee) serve an important function to ensure that the plan fiduciaries fulfill their responsibilities. While most plan sponsors utilize these committees,…
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