Blog
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Fiduciary Loan Regulation
- September 26, 2019
- Posted by: Jeff Atwell
- Category: Financial Plan, Resources
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Plan leakage can be the result of participants terminating with outstanding loan balances. This leads to an important question for plan fiduciaries. If a participant is going to be terminated involuntarily due to a reduction in workforce or poor job performance, and the participant applies for a loan, should the loan be granted? Based on the content of the article we’ve attached, the fiduciaries of the plan could create a fiduciary breach by granting the loan to the participant.
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Simplify Menus to Encourage Participant Engagement
- September 18, 2019
- Posted by: Jeff Atwell
- Category: Financial Plan, Resources
Complex fund menus lead to participant confusion, disengagement and poor investment decisions, so the traditional DC investment menu spread across asset classes and styles is evolving toward a smaller set of choices. Some examples are simplifying the plan menu with fewer, broader menu choices, and re-labelling those choices to correspond with the way participants understand their retirement objectives.
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DOL Investigations of Retirement Plans: 10 Key Areas of Focus
- September 2, 2019
- Posted by: Jeff Atwell
- Category: Financial Plan, Resources
Plan governance is a key element in defining a retirement plan standard of excellence. Our resource outlines 10 key areas the DOL is focused on regarding the governance of a qualified plan. As indicated in the article, only a couple of the key areas of concern deal with the investments in the plan.
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Plan Sponsors and the New SEC Rule on Best Interest
- August 14, 2019
- Posted by: Jeff Atwell
- Category: Financial Plan, Resources
The new Regulation Best Interest (BI) from the Securities and Exchange Commission requires that advisors and Plan Sponsors be aware of the circumstances when the interactions with the Plan fall within the scope of Regulation BI and require both compliance with Regulation BI and, in connection with the formation of the retail investor relationship, delivery of Form CRS.
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Inspiring Participants Using Automation
- July 29, 2019
- Posted by: Jeff Atwell
- Category: Financial Plan, Resources
A key element of “Defining a Retirement Plan Standard of Excellence” is creating a retirement plan which will inspire participants to save for retirement. One method to accomplish this is to automate the plan as much as possible so participants do not have to make uncomfortable decisions.
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Defining a Retirement Plan Standard of Excellence: Key Elements
- July 18, 2019
- Posted by: Jeff Atwell
- Category: Financial Plan, Resources
The white paper we’re discussing today touches on key elements of Defining a Retirement Plan Standard of Excellence. We’re looking at how providers monetize recordkeeping while maintaining that Standard of Excellence.
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Plan Fiduciary Responsibilities and Risks
- June 27, 2019
- Posted by: Jeff Atwell
- Category: Financial Plan, Resources
Retirement Plan regulatory and document requirements can seem easy to follow, but our resource introduces very interesting fiduciary responsibilities and potential risks to plan Fiduciaries which may not often be considered.
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Plan Governance and Document Retention
- June 13, 2019
- Posted by: Jeff Atwell
- Category: Financial Plan, Resources
There are different retention requirements between the ERISA Regulations and the Internal Revenue Code. Plan Sponsors and Fiduciaries need to be very familiar with record retention requirements in order to produce the documentation in the event of an IRS audit or DOL investigation.
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Designing Plans to Meet Retirement Goals
- May 27, 2019
- Posted by: Jeff Atwell
- Category: Financial Plan, Resources
Two of the elements of Designing a Retirement Plan Standard of Excellence are designing a plan to meet the Plan Sponsor’s mission or goals and objectives and designing a plan to assist and inspire participants in meeting their retirement goals. The attached article provides some interesting statistics and strategies Plan Sponsors have implemented, or are considering implementing to accomplish these goals.
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Ensuring Intelligent Plan Governance
- May 15, 2019
- Posted by: Jeff Atwell
- Category: Financial Plan, Resources
A key element in Defining a Retirement Plan Standard of Excellence is Governance. Plan Sponsors and Fiduciaries need to ask themselves how they can ensure that they have the time, knowledge, and expertise to properly implement and maintain the best practices associated with Plan Governance.