Insights

There is an increasing pressure on 401(k) fees and I heartily welcome that. In fact, I am part of that movement - replacing bundled plans charging a % of assets with flat fee providers. I love to get rid of provider fees that grow rapidly every year without a...

The State of Washington this year became the first state to begin a state-run retirement plan available to all WA workers and businesses. The idea is to lower administrative costs and provide access to a retirement plan for employees of businesses that don't offer a...

Saw the quote at the bottom in the WSJ this morning, referring to the Memorial Day weekend just ahead. A man who will not fight for anything is not a man. Today, we are having to fight for things we used to take for granted. But the biggest thanks goes to those...

Ever since ERISA was passed in 1974, advisors to retirement plans have been required to “act in the best interest of plan participants.” Unfortunately, brokers, insurance agents and bank financial salespeople have not been held to that standard, known as the fiduciary...

Somehow the Federal Reserve and central banks around the world have gotten it into their heads that the lower the interest rate the more it stimulates the economy and that if the economy is slower than desired, rates should be kept as low as possible for as long as...

2016 Outlook This year, 2016 has the potential to be a down year again for commodities, bonds and stocks. As usual, market analysts are not pessimistic but that can change. Only real estate is expected to show a good return. Interest rates will probably go up, but...

When I talk to 401k sponsors about the costs of being found to have paid more than reasonable fees to their 401k vendors, I don't spend much time on attorney fees. However, they can sometimes dwarf the actual award for damages. In Tussey v ABB, a famous case that all...

A couple weeks ago, Blue Cross sent me the notice of my 2016 premium amount. It was $1,600/month for my wife and me. For many people that is a mortgage payment. And, it will go up a lot again next year. That's for 70/30 sharing and a $5,000 per person deductible....

Milliman just came out with an excellent guide to required year-end compliance issues. Rather than me reciting it, you can access it at www.milliman.com/uploadedFiles/insight/Periodicals/cab/pdfs/15-10_YEretire.pdf Note that there are a number of notices due by either...

Novant Health of Charlotte, NC, which was the object of a class action lawsuit brougt by plan particpants and lawyer Art Schlicter, just agreed to settle for $32 million plus a max of $10.6 million in plaintiff's attorney's fees. The class action lawsuit was mainly...