On July 24, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey dismissed (for a second time) a breach of fiduciary duty case brought by participants in various 401(k) plans against John Hancock and its affiliates. Essentially, the plaintiffs alleged that John Hancock breached its fiduciary duty... READ MORE

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

As most retirement plan advisors are well aware, behavioral finance drives much of the discussion around retirement plan design innovations these days, for the very simple reason that it seems to help explain what might otherwise be viewed as irrational behaviors.For example, human beings are prone... READ MORE

Last week’s top five most-read stories on NAPA Net reflected keen interest in Yale’s response to Brian Graff’s original “Love Letters from Yale” post, a six-month delay on the second round of participant fee disclosure, the DOL’s proposed change to 408(b)(2) disclosure regs, a Yale professor’s... READ MORE

I was excited to hear that President Obama would be addressing the issue of retirement security in a series of speeches last week focusing on his policy agenda. That is, until I actually heard him do it.Speaking at Knox College in Galesburg, IL, on July 24, the president took the stage and made an... READ MORE

According to academic research from 1997-2011, investors will reward funds that outperform their benchmarks when the market is up but not when it’s down. When the market experienced negative returns, the research found, there was no significant effect on flows when comparing funds that outperformed... READ MORE

According to British politician Ed Miliband, “...the only time we made progress, we did it by challenging the conventional wisdom.” Taking that challenge, Schwab’s Rande Speigelman exposes what he calls the Five Big Lies about retirement.• You'll only need 70%–80% of your pre-retirement income –... READ MORE

As NAPA’s 1st Annual DC Fly-in Forum approaches, many top DC Congressional leaders and policymakers have agreed to speak, with more expected. Currently the agenda for the September 17-18 meeting includes:• Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD), Senate Finance Committee• Representative Ann Wagner, (R-MO) House... READ MORE

On Tuesday, July 24, the Aspen Institute’s Initiative on Financial Security organized a briefing for congressional staff to discuss how reforming the tax code could affect the retirement security of Americans. The briefing featured remarks from two key members of the House Ways & Means... READ MORE

While the retirement world continues to wait for some final clarification on the Department of Labor’s ongoing attempts to establish the definition of fiduciary status under ERISA, a few recent cases demonstrate the tough time DoL will likely have in finalizing its controversial rules.According to... READ MORE

If an employer is seriously considering hiring your firm to manage their retirement plan, at some point in the sales cycle, chances are they will ask you for references. It goes without saying that good references can be an invaluable resource to help you close new business. The interesting thing... READ MORE