Advertisement
John Ortman
By John Ortman | 8/12/2013
An estimate of DC plan participants’ lifetime income based on their accrued benefits, if one is to be included on participants’ benefits statements, should be “concise and easy to administer,” ASPPA advised the DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration last week.ASPPA’s comment, expressed in...
READ MORE
By John Ortman | 8/9/2013
Speaking at a U.S. Chamber of Commerce/AARP conference July 26, Putnam CEO Robert Reynolds offered a three-step plan to improve retirement readiness:1. Go “full-auto.” Make the best practices set forth in the Pension Protection Act the norm — auto-enrollment, re-enrollment annually, auto escalation...
READ MORE
By John Ortman | 8/9/2013
It may not turn out to be the very last word on the Prof. Ian Ayres debacle, but this dispatch from the estimable Marcia Wagner notes the important obligations that plan sponsors face to monitor and negotiate appropriate 401(k) fees — obligations that the Yale Law School professor’s unfortunate...
READ MORE
By John Ortman | 8/8/2013
Weighing in on the separate regulatory efforts underway at the SEC to establish a uniform fiduciary standard and at the DOL to redefine a fiduciary, 10 Senate Democrats urged the White House’s Office of Management and Budget to ensure that the two agencies coordinate their work. “We remain very...
READ MORE
By John Ortman | 8/8/2013
Professional financial advice as a wedding gift? Or a gift to first-time parents? An uncritical article on the New York Times personal finance website profiles LearnVest, a start-up firm that provides financial advice online. The cost? A $399 upfront fee and $19 a month (or $608 a year). The advice...
READ MORE
By John Ortman | 8/7/2013
The reader poll has returned to NAPA Net! The regular poll, which was replaced during June and July by the 2014 NAPA 401(k) Summit poll, has been rechristened “Question of the Week.” It can be found at the bottom of the right column of any page on the portal. On mobile devices, scroll all the way...
READ MORE
By John Ortman | 8/7/2013
Small business owners are offering and investing in 401(k) plans at rates considerably higher than they were five years ago, according to a nationwide survey by ShareBuilder 401k. Twenty-four percent of the 500 small business owners polled in June now offer a 401(k), up sharply from 10% in 2008....
READ MORE
By John Ortman | 8/7/2013
One overlooked factor in the sale of the Washington Post, announced on Monday: a massively overfunded pension plan. With $2.07 billion in assets and facing $1.47 billion in pension liabilities, the plan is overfunded to the tune of $604 million. The Post’s next owner, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos,...
READ MORE
By John Ortman | 8/6/2013
Risk-averse investors have long turned to deferred income annuities to provide an income stream in retirement. In fact, while the overall annuity market has lagged since the 2008 market crash, DIAs have shined. Sales of nearly every other type of annuity declined in the first quarter of 2013, but...
READ MORE
By John Ortman | 8/6/2013
The upcoming NAPA DC Fly-in Forum, slated for Sept. 17-18 on Capitol Hill, presents both an opportunity to get the straight story on retirement policy from key players in Washington, and an opportunity to make your voice heard on the impact of possible changes in retirement policy, Brian Graff...
READ MORE
By John Ortman | 8/2/2013
The final results of our online poll of ideas for sessions at next year’s NAPA 401(k) Summit are in! Here are the top 10 ideas:1. how to let the client know what has been accomplished for the plan, year-to-year2. How advisors should price their services3. should participants view their 401(k)s as...
READ MORE
By John Ortman | 8/1/2013
As we reported last week, the DOL has delayed enforcement of the 2013 round of 404a-5 participant fee disclosures for six months. The analysts at Relius have released two helpful follow-on resources — a technical update taking a deeper dive into the implications of the 404a-5 enforcement delay and...
READ MORE
By John Ortman | 7/31/2013
In the aggregate, how bad is the problem created by participants who leave their retirement accounts behind when they move to a new employer? Try this:• The average annual U.S. employee attrition rate is 23%.• 45% of employees leave their retirement accounts behind.• 43% of the assets held by 401(k...
READ MORE
By John Ortman | 7/22/2013
Investment advisory firms are giving up in the battle to keep social media out of their shops. Instead, they’re loosening bans and allowing more use of social media while putting appropriate policies and procedures in place, notes Investment News columnist Mark Schoeff Jr. Schoeff notes a recent...
READ MORE
By John Ortman | 7/18/2013
After a little more than seven weeks' worth of voting — totaling more than 11,000 votes — here are the top 10 ideas in our online poll of ideas for sessions at next year’s NAPA 401(k) Summit:
1. should participants view their 401(k)s as an asset or as income?
2. how to let the client know what has...
READ MORE
By John Ortman | 7/16/2013
On July 9, the DOL issued an amendment to DOL Prohibited Transaction Exemption (PTE) 2007-5 (a.k.a. the underwriters exemptions) that replaces the current definition of "rating agency" with a definition referencing generic rating agency requirements. This legal analysis from the Practical Law...
READ MORE
By John Ortman | 7/15/2013
Yesterday we posted about Walt Bettinger, Schwab’s CEO, lamenting how the current system is rigged against individuals buying stocks ("Individual Investors Flee Stocks"). As we noted, Bettinger is one of the heads of a U.S. major financial service firm who started his career in the DC market. The...
READ MORE
By John Ortman | 7/12/2013
After a little more than six weeks' worth of voting — totaling more than 9,000 votes — here are the top ideas in our online poll of ideas for sessions at next year’s NAPA 401(k) Summit:
1. how to let the client know what has been accomplished for the plan, year-to-year
2. methodology for systemic...
READ MORE
By John Ortman | 7/12/2013
Especially given today’s market volatility and legal environment, plan sponsors are generally looking for ways to manage the risks associated with serving as an ERISA fiduciary — and specifically, for ways to help mitigate the risks that arise from selecting and monitoring a plan’s investment...
READ MORE
By John Ortman | 7/9/2013
Last week we posted about Aon Hewitt’s 2013 “Hot Topics in Retirement” report, focusing on participation and saving rates. The report also included a raft of benchmarking information on investments and account activity. Let’s take a look at those areas.Investments• 39.7% average allocation to...
READ MORE
Pages
Advertisement
Advertisement
Sign up for The Daily
NAPA's 401(k) Rollover Specialist (k)RS Credential
Recent Comments