Insights

FEATURE FOCUS – AUTO-ENROLLMENT How it Works When a plan sponsor adds auto-enrollment to a plan, it makes the default option for newly eligible employees to participate rather than not participate. Employees are contacted 30-90 days prior to them being eligible and...

So, M/M CFO or CEO, you run a tight ship on costs, right? You negotiate good contracts with employees and vendors. You're tough on costs. So, why does your 401(k) have a cost structure, in place for years, in which your plan costs automatically increase each year,...

Here's a very brief article from the Benefits Law Advisor that lists some best practices for those at your company in charge of the 401(k) plan. These are cornerstone practices of my approach which I strongly recommend to my clients and to plans that I am reviewing....

With huge importance for those responsible for their company 401(k), the US Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Monday that retirement plan administrators have an ongoing obligation to monitor plan investments and remove imprudent ones, that funds must be in the lowest...

For years, providers of 401(k) plans have charged the plans they manage fees based on assets. They love to do that because it causes their fees to grow automatically. As long as participants continue to contribute out of each paycheck, as long as companies put in...

Because a 401(k) plan has participants making their own decisions on how much to save and what to invest in, and because many, if not most, participants don't really know the answer to either question, education is required. A prudent plan sponsor will provide this....

How are you doing on saving for the 20+ years you will likely spend in retirement without a paycheck? On this website, www.CornerstoneInvestment.com, on the Links page, you'll find a link to the AARP retirement calculator. This is a very easy to use retirement...

Europe has been overall a terrible place to invest for the last several years. The Vanguard FTSE Europe ETF (VGK) that I use as a proxy for European stock markets overall is lower than it was at the end of 2009, well over 5 years ago, and is still roughly 30% lower...

Sounds like heresy, yes? Don't today's historically low interest rates allow more people to buy houses and cars and to finance other types of spending as well? Well, yes, that is true, but only to a point. It has a short-term impact as consumers lower their mortgage...

The biggest economic story of the last year is the collapse in the price of oil, both in the U.S. and worldwide. Last summer oil was selling for $106/barrel and Goldman Sach's foreccast was for $150. In 2008 it had been nearly $150. Today it was as low as $44 and...