I recently had the opportunity to provide a review to a prospective qualified retirement plan client. The plan assets were between 3 and 5 million and the underlying investments were separate accounts of a group variable annuity product. A variable annuity separate account will typically either invest its assets into a retail mutual fund or [...]

Over the last few weeks, I have had the opportunity to review two different 401(k) retirement plans; each one having over seventy available investment options.  Participants had to develop their own personal allocation by choosing from dozens of different investment options, many of which were in the same investment category or asset class. It seemed [...]

Chris Carosa, of the Fiduciary News Blog, recently wrote about an ongoing industry conversation that he refers to as a “401(k) Fee War.” In this article, Chris references the significant attention being paid to mutual fund expenses for 401(k) investment options.  As an industry observer, I too have noticed that the attention being paid to [...]

This article is the second in our Common Fiduciary Challenges series. As a financial advisor who consults regularly with pension clients working with my firm’s retirement plan unit, there are some common issues that arise when consulting with a new client. This series is designed to highlight some of these more frequently identified issues.

This quiz will help you determine whether or not you are on the right track as a retirement plan fiduciary. It is not meant to be an all-inclusive, exhaustive review of every aspect of a sound fiduciary process for a qualified plan sponsor. This quiz does however cover a number of issues that retirement plan sponsors should consider and may help indicate whether further review of your internal procedures is warranted.

In my capacity as a professional advisor who consults regularly with plan sponsors, there are some common challenges with plan administration that I frequently encounter when a new client is referred to me. In this article, I will attempt to outline some of the most common deficiencies and what a plan sponsor can do to address them in the most effective manner.

Currently, for Americans living on $45,000 or more per year during retirement, 18% of that income is generated from personal savings and investments1. For millions of Americans, the personal savings and investments component of our income consists largely of Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA). IRAs are tax deferred personal retirement funds that allow you to save up to $5,000 per year ($6,000 if you’re age 50 or older).

As the number of small businesses in the U.S. grows, the number of retirement plan choices seems to grow as well. Two popular retirement plan options for smaller businesses seek to avoid the complexities that go along with establishing a qualified retirement plan such as the 401(k). These two options are the SEP IRA (Simplified Employee Pension) and the SIMPLE IRA (Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees).

Welcome to part two of our series on the responsibilities of a retirement plan fiduciary. In part one of this series we cited the five significant responsibilities that a retirement plan fiduciary has. Previously we spent a considerable amount of time talking about the first two responsibilities – managing the plan for the exclusive benefit of the participants and act prudently at all times.

In a previous blog post, we spent time reviewing who could be considered a retirement plan fiduciary, and what the associated responsibilities and liabilities would be. As we discussed, anyone who has the ability to act with discretion and control, with respect to the management of retirement plan sets or other investments, could be considered a fiduciary under ERISA or the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974.