As public pensions are unraveling, with cities like Stockton, San Bernardino and now Detroit burdened by huge retirement obligations owed to workers and now unable to pay their bills, news of private lobbyists entitled to receive benefits is causing concern, the Wall Street Journal reports.... READ MORE

A few providers are offering a service that levelizes fees for all participants and are claiming that this service will become popular and important with plan sponsors. The issue is that participants don’t pay a percentage of their assets like the plan does — they pay based on the revenue sharing... READ MORE

Centers of influence like CPAs, bankers, attorneys or even other advisors that don’t service DC plans can be the greatest source of leads for a plan advisor. But creating a network of COIs is hard and takes time. A Wall Street Journal article offers a list of common mistakes and suggested solutions... READ MORE

Recent M&A data for RIA firms show that while overall deal flow is down, according to both Schwab and Pershing, M&A activity is being driven by RIA shops buying colleagues, not by large consolidators. RIA-to-RIA deals accounted for 58% of the transactions, according to Pershing, up from... READ MORE

Employees today are relying more on their employers and demanding more from them. As a result, many larger employers have raised the bar for their DC plans. The result: more pressure on plan advisors and providers to establish and maintain a proactive relationship. While plan sponsors are satisfied... READ MORE

The Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank with close ties to the Obama administration, issued a deeply critical report Aug. 20 on the voluntary employer-based private retirement system. The report concludes that the current situation is so bad for individuals that the entire system... READ MORE

In last week’s Question of the Week we asked, “What contributes more to a plan sponsor's loyalty, satisfaction and sense of value regarding their advisor?” Here are the results of the voting, expressed in percentages:• Advisor's technical expertise and product knowledge are far more important = 6... READ MORE

Net outflows for actively managed funds over the past five years have been $443 billion — while net inflows for passive funds were $245 billion. Nonetheless, some advisors and experts are predicting a comeback for actively managed investments. Many experts are predicting slow market growth, which... READ MORE

In less than five years, the Defined Contribution Institutional Investor Association (DCIIA) has attracted a large majority of investment consultants, money managers and record keepers serving the mega market and the upper end of the large DC market. Their goal: to bring best practices learned in... READ MORE

In an Aug. 15, 2013, letter to Brian Graff, Executive Director/CEO of ASPPA and NAPA, Robert C. Post, Dean of Yale Law School, distanced Yale University and Yale Law School from Prof. Ian Ayres’ 401(k) plan fees research and Ayres’ related letters to plan sponsors. Dean Post states that, “the... READ MORE

Bucking industry trends and their own longstanding philosophy, Edward Jones will soon start selling a proprietary product on their $90 billion RIA platform. The fund, Bridge Builder Bond, will be managed by a Jones subsidiary using sub-advisors from JP Morgan, Prudential and Baird.Jones claims to... READ MORE

Bank of America, Merrill Lynch’s parent, is considering dissolving Merrill Lynch in Q4 just short of its 100th anniversary. Though the brand will remain and no negative impact is expected on advisors and their clients, Merrill Lynch will not exist as a separate entity if the plans go through.While... READ MORE