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Attorney (and FRA/PlanTools blogger) Thomas Clark reports a major victory for plaintiffs in Spano v. Boeing Co., one of the original 401(k) excessive fee cases filed in 2006 by Jerome Schlichter. The court granted the amended motion for class action in the case, which will now be allowed to proceed...
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The Affordable Care Act (more commonly known as "Obamacare") includes an employee notice requirement with an Oct. 1 deadline, a recent ASPPA ASAP notes. According to Lawrence C. Starr, CPC, QPFC, who authored the alert, most businesses with $500,000 or more in annual dollar volume of sales or...
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Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) has introduced legislation to fund the federal government until Dec. 15, 2013. The bill, which includes a provision to defund Obamacare, is expected to be voted on sometime today, Sept. 20. The legislation, known as a Continuing Resolution (CR), will...
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As CalPERS contemplates a move toward more passive investments, the question arises of what the liabilities and consequences would be. Blogger Stephen Rosenberg of The McCormack Firm in Boston asks whether plan sponsors which move to nothing but indexed investments will be sued by participants who...
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In last week’s Question of the Week we asked, "What is the amount of retirement savings that would stay in the DC system over the next 10 years if cash-outs were reduced by 50%?" Here are the results of the voting, expressed in percentages:$10 billion: 14%$500 million: 46%$1 trillion: 25%$2...
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The DOL announced Sept. 18 that it will be following the example of the recent IRS Revenue Ruling (Rev. Rul. 2013-17) adopting a “state of celebration” standard for defining “spouse” and “marriage” under ERISA. In Technical Release No. 2013-04, the DOL said that it will interpret ERISA, the...
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This week’s first annual NAPA DC Fly-in Forum was a seminal event in the evolution of the plan advisor profession — the latest in a series of initiatives by ASPPA and NAPA to help the profession move to the next level. Washington and the process it goes through to enact laws and promulgate...
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The ERISA consultants at the Columbia Management Retirement Learning Center Resource Desk regularly receive calls from financial advisors on a broad array of technical topics related to IRAs and qualified retirement plans. A recent call with a financial advisor in New Jersey is representative of a...
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According to research by Cerulli, the financial planning industry is expected to lose 25,000 professionals over the next five years because of fewer recruits at wire houses and brokerage firms. Similarly, the CFP Board of Standards says that two-thirds of finance majors did not take the CFP exam....
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Amid the chaos and concerns caused by the Washington Navy Yard shootings, business was almost as usual in Washington this week. But for the first time, a large group of plan advisors were part of the legislative process.Nearly every association, industry and profession regularly brings its members...
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Since May, interest rates around the world have generally risen, led by the U.S. and its Federal Reserve initiating a discussion on tapering its asset purchases. At OppenheimerFunds we continue to believe that the Fed will not actually begin hiking its policy rate until 2015, but the potential for...
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As part of the process by ING US to become more independent, the parent company recently announced its intent to sell stock currently held in an S1 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. ING US, which eventually will be renamed Voya, went public on May 1, 2013, so underwriters had to...
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Addressing the first annual NAPA DC Fly-in Forum on Sept. 17, Mark Iwry, the Department of Treasury’s Senior Advisor on Health Care and Retirement Policy, spoke about his auto-IRA proposal. The proposal is intended to address the coverage issue, as tens of millions of American workers still do not...
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Call it “the Lehman Effect” or “the five-year witching hour,” but funds that suffered the most during the Great Recession are about to post stellar five-year returns — which they will no doubt be highlighting as net outflows for equity funds continue. According to a Wall Street Journal MarketWatch...
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There’s an old saying: “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.” It’s a sentiment expressed by many a benefits manager (or retirement plan advisor) who has devoted significant time and effort to plan design, only to find the adoption rate by individual workers to be “...
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As the retirement industry is fighting to keep money market funds in pension plans and the SEC considers reforms spurred by the Great Recession, others are questioning whether MMFs belong in DC plans at all. In comment letters to the SEC, pension executives argue that MMFs offer stability,...
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Last week’s top five most-read posts on NAPA Net reflected keen interest in the potential impending 401(k) bidding war, postponement of the DOL’s fiduciary definition rule, the DOL’s claim to ownership over higher quality 401(k) plans, an AARP study showing increased demand for investment advice...
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Speaking on a wide range of issues at last week’s Plan Sponsor Council of America conference, EBSA head Phyllis Borzi commented on a number of pending issues near and dear to the hearts of DC advisors and providers, including fee disclosure, lifetime income illustrations in participant statements...
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This week, FINRA’s board will take up the issue of whether advisors will be required to report bonuses received when switching broker dealers. The issue had been on the agenda for their July board meeting, but scheduling delayed its consideration. FINRA said this:The board will consider an updated...
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According to the benefits consulting firm Schneider Downs, the EBSA’s Office of Chief Accountant will be looking into the professional standards and compliance work of 400 ERISA auditors. Letters are expected to be sent out to plan sponsors requesting copies of the work papers; they will have 15...
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The percentage of American workers expecting to work after turning 65 has risen more than three-fold since 1991, with 25% adjusting their timetable in just the past year, according to EBRI. More than a third (36%) of workers plan to work past 65, up from 11% in 1991 — with 7% indicating that they...
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On Monday, Sept. 16, the CalPERS investment Committee will meet. The big topic: whether to move more aggressively to passive strategies. RIABiz’s Lisa Shidler describes how the retirement industry is closely watching the $260 billion bellwether pension fund, which already has 35% of its assets in...
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In light of significant activity in Washington affecting retirement plans, the scope of NAPA’s upcoming quarterly webcast has been expanded to include an update on all regulatory and legislative developments, both recent and anticipated. The webcast, set for Sept. 24 at 2:00 PM ET, is sponsored by...
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What are the current prospects for tax reform, especially in light of shifting priorities on Capitol Hill? NAPA Executive Director/CEO Brian Graff tackles that question in this month’s Washington Update video. As is often the case, the answer to the question involves numerous moving parts and what-...
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According to an article in the Wall Street Journal’s “CFO Journal” reporting on a Duke/CFO magazine study, more CFOs are expecting to hire part-time and temporary workers, driven by Obamacare mandates and concerns about the economy. In addition, CFOs are expected to rely on outside firms and...
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