Fred Barstein

Why Young Advisors Are Attracted to the DC Plan Business

By Fred Barstein | 5/4/2015

If you haven’t noticed, more young advisors are working in the DC market. You may not see them at industry conferences and they may not be quoted regularly in the press — that’s the domain of the old guard. But there’s no question that there are more young advisors working in our industry. Here’s... READ MORE

What’s Keeping Top Plan Advisors up at Night?

By Fred Barstein | 5/1/2015

At this week’s TRAU session at UCLA, 60 top advisors and industry professionals gathered for three days to learn and share. Here’s what’s top of mind for these leading advisors from all different types of BDs and RIAs and what’s keeping them up at night: The DOL — Specifically, will plan... READ MORE

Custom TDFs: When to Use Them and Why

By Fred Barstein | 4/24/2015

Custom TDFs are starting to become popular in larger DC plans. But do they make sense for plans with less than $1 billion? According to a report by consultants at Rocaton, the answer is yes, but only in certain circumstances. Plan sponsors may find it convenient to choose the TDF available on their... READ MORE

Will Roll-ins Take Off?

By Fred Barstein | 4/22/2015

While most DC plans with more than $5 million allow roll-ins, relatively few participants take advantage of the opportunity to consolidate their DC and IRA accounts as part of the process.According to research by Boston Research Group, 96% of plans with more than $5 million allow roll-ins but just... READ MORE

Bon Voya-ge: Nelson Leaves Great-West, Heads East to Voya

By Fred Barstein | 4/20/2015

Charlie Nelson, who led the retirement business of Great-West through its integration with Empower Retirement, will join Voya Financial as CEO of Retirement on May 1.In his new role, the 54-year-old Nelson will oversee Tax-Exempt and Corporate Markets and Retail Wealth Management, which comprise... READ MORE

New TDF Rating: Beyond Performance

By Fred Barstein | 4/16/2015

When it comes to analyzing investments, TDFs are different. Yet many people make the mistake of rating them like any other investment. TDFs are different because they are a portfolio of investments not meant to be switched out frequently. Most are being used as the plan’s QDIA, which means they are... READ MORE

TDF Adoption Explodes in Vanguard Plans

By Fred Barstein | 4/7/2015

Plans record kept by Vanguard in 2014 show a growing use not only of TDFs but also of more participants using them as their single investment strategy. Almost all participants (97%) are in a plan offering a TDF; 64% have invested in them, and 80% of new participants are invested in a single TDF.... READ MORE

The Future of DC Wholesaling

By Fred Barstein | 4/6/2015

Will Plan Advisors Suffer the Fate of Travel Agents?

By Fred Barstein | 4/6/2015

9 Key Trends for 2015

By Fred Barstein | 4/2/2015

Cammack Retirement’s Jeffrey Snyder recently published a thoughtful list of trends likely to affect the retirement market. Not only do these trends represent opportunities for advisors to grow and distinguish themselves in a commoditizing market, they are also really good discussion points with... READ MORE

Is Revenue Sharing a Dinosaur?

By Fred Barstein | 4/1/2015

FiduciaryNews’ Christopher Carosa raises the controversial question of whether the time has come to eliminate 12b-1 fees and other forms of revenue sharing in corporate retirement plans. Though the trends seem compelling enough, including the recent success of plaintiffs in obtaining multi-million... READ MORE

Leveraging the HR Gatekeeper

By Fred Barstein | 4/1/2015

Many advisors view HR and benefits managers as obstacles to overcome to get to decision makers like the CEO or CFO. To the “Triple F” advisor focused on fees, funds and fiduciary — a.k.a., costs, liability and investments — the HR manager offers little value. But for plan advisors focused on... READ MORE

‘Star Wars’ — DC Aggregators Girding for Battle

By Fred Barstein | 3/27/2015

Recent M&A activity by DC advisor aggregators highlights even more activity smoldering under the surface driven by a rapidly maturing DC market. Like an iceberg, above the surface I see record keeper consolidation and a bit of DCIO consolidation. But below the surface, advisor consolidation is... READ MORE

Global Retirement Partners Acquired — By Advisors

By Fred Barstein | 3/20/2015

Global Retirement Partners, LLC, a firm that CEO Bill Chetney says was built by advisors for advisors, has now been bought — by advisors.A group of retirement plan advisory firms has announced their intentions to acquire Global Retirement Partners, LLC (GRP), a retirement plan consulting firm... READ MORE

Who Are the Industry’s Top DC Wholesalers?

By Fred Barstein | 3/18/2015

Today NAPA unveils its second annual list of top DC wholesalers, who act as “Wingmen” for the nation’s retirement plan advisors.This year’s list drew an overwhelming response — 10 times the number of responses received in the inaugural voting in 2014. Consequently, the NAPA Wingmen Blue Ribbon... READ MORE

DOL Enforcement Targeting Advisors

By Fred Barstein | 3/18/2015

Advisors are now clearly in the crosshairs of Employee Benefit Security Administration (EBSA) enforcement personnel, according to the Groom Law Group. A recent article by the Washington, DC-based law firm highlights the increased activity, as well as the areas of focus. Groom’s David Kaleda writes... READ MORE

CAPTRUST and Pensionmark Join Forces

By Fred Barstein | 3/15/2015

In a deal sure to send shockwaves around the DC plan advisor industry, CAPTRUST and Pensionmark have announced a partnership to create a jointly owned RIA run by Pensionmark with a capital investment by CAPTRUST. Though continuing to operate independently, for now, the combination of the dominant... READ MORE

Pension Funds Lag Individuals' Adoption of Index Funds

By Fred Barstein | 3/11/2015

Despite conventional wisdom that institutions like pension funds and endowments have moved to passive investing more aggressively than individuals, the opposite appears to be true. As reported in a recent New York Times article, just under 20% of public pension fund assets and 11.2% of corporate... READ MORE

Does a Surge in CITs Portend 401(k) Fee Reductions?

By Fred Barstein | 3/9/2015

A recent Reuters article says that assets in collective investment trusts, or CITs, are “surging” as asset managers are using them to “slash” fees, especially in DC plans. The article suggests that this may be a reaction by active managers in response to lower-cost index funds, as well as the so-... READ MORE

New Robo DC Advisor Launched by Industry Veteran Yoshida

By Fred Barstein | 3/6/2015

With all the activity and VC money around robo advisors, it was only a matter a time before we had our first robo DC platform. As the Wall Street Journal reports, (subscriber-only content) Henry Yoshida and partner announced the launch of their new company, Honest Dollar, which will offer online... READ MORE

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