Understanding fiduciary obligations is of key importance for plan advisors, a recent study reminds. And that will equip them to better serve their clients, it adds.
In the study, "A Winning Combination," MassMutual Financial Group found that employers with pension assets of between $25 million and $75 million put especially high value on advisors alerting them regarding the fiduciary obligations they have to fulfill. And employers whose plan assets amount to less than that value advisors possessing knowledge of fiduciary duties as well.
The study indicates that the advisors grasp the importance others place on their understanding of fiduciary duties. It reports that advisors consider plan sponsors to be "clueless" about what fiduciary duties are and what role they play in exercising them. But the study indicates that such an assessment may be too harsh: MassMutual found that a majority of employers were at least concerned about meeting fiduciary obligations, and that sentiment was higher the more sizable an employer's pension assets are.
And the study shows that while advisors+ knowledge of fiduciary duties may be valued, most of them do not consider themselves to be fiduciaries themselves. Still, the study says, they are worried about their ability to provide fiduciary support if the proposed fiduciary rule is implemented. The worry may be well-founded, the study says; it concluded that fulfilling such functions would be so demanding that it would impair advisors' ability to perform their other duties.
