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Portal Conductor, Columnist: Nevin E. Adams, JD
Nevin is the former Chief Content Officer and Head of Retirement Research for the American Retirement Association. One of the retirement industry’s most prolific writers, these days he’s “retired,” which means he writes less, but continues to keep his eye on developments in, and threats to, the nation’s private retirement system.
In addition to helping guide the agenda development for the NAPA 401(k) Summit, he’s also the “Nevin” in the Nevin & Fred podcast (along with renowned ERISA attorney Fred Reish), offering irreverent, but relevant perspectives on the critical issues confronting plan sponsors, advisors, and retirement industry professionals.
Article Index
By Nevin E. Adams, JD 5/17/2023
Plaintiffs in two of the fiduciary breach suits involving plans that held the BlackRock Lifepath target-date funds have…folded.
More specifically, the plaintiffs in cases involving Booz Allen Hamilton and Capital One – that had just last month filed notice of their intent to appeal dismissal of...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 5/16/2023
This is the time of year when the nation’s graduates line up for accolades (and their diplomas). It is, for them, a beginning—a commencement of a new phase in their life.
But ahead of that, most are given the “opportunity” to hear some words of wisdom and inspiration from an individual that they...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 5/15/2023
Citing an “unlawful decision to elevate unrelated policy goals over the financial health of the Plans,” a new participant suit has charged three New York plans with jeopardizing the retirement security of plan participants.
More specifically, the suit (Wayne Wong v. NYCERS, TRS and BERS) targets...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 5/12/2023
Well, here we are again at the end of yet another workweek – and yet, just look at what happened to these guys and gals…
First, some odds and ends…
So, what’s a Zillennial?
In Tokyo, Japan, as concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic fade, people are lining up to take lessons in…what?
Fans of...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 5/12/2023
You might think that all the multi-billion plans in America had been sued – and you’d be wrong.
This time the target is the University of Vermont Medical Center – more specifically the practices alleged regarding its $1.76 billion 403(b) retirement plan. The suit was filed by participant-plaintiff...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 5/11/2023
The terms of a quickly settled excessive fee suit involving a 403(b) plan have come to light.
The plan fiduciaries here are Springfield, Massachusetts-based Baystate Health Inc. – and they were sued just last Nov. 17 by participant-plaintiffs Michael Chechile and Sonia Lopez (who were represented...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 5/9/2023
Resistance to retirement plan innovations (like automatic enrollment) have long been excused as being “too paternalistic” – but there might be a better standard.
We’ve all heard it – concerns that imposing certain default choices on participants (and sometimes plan sponsors) are, however well-...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 5/9/2023
An excessive fee suit where plan fiduciaries had prevailed on most issues – has now settled the remaining claims.
The suit – filed in mid-2020 by seven former employees of Schneider Electric Holdings, Inc. – had targeted Schneider Electric, the two committees that oversee the $4.5 billion plan,...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 5/5/2023
Well, here we are again at the end of yet another workweek – and yet, just look at what happened to these guys and gals…
First, some odds and ends…
In Northampton, Massachusetts, city officials have given a $20,000 grant to the Northampton Vibrance Committee…to support the design and manufacture...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 5/2/2023
Last week the nation’s longest-running gauge of the nation’s retirement confidence painted a bleak, but understandable read on that measure.
Indeed, in the midst of a volatile (though recently recovering market) and (still) stubborn inflationary impacts[i] (not to mention the near certainty that,...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 4/25/2023
Another federal court has refused to accept the assumption that all recordkeeping services are “fungible” – and tossed an excessive fee suit – again, and this time with prejudice.
The plaintiffs here – Keith K. Kruchten, Angel D. Muratalla and William Begani – sued on behalf of the $2.1. billion...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 4/25/2023
I recently met some friends for lunch – but the only seats available were those high-back stools you basically have to climb up to in order to sit. But that wasn’t the worst of it.
As it turned out, my seat…wobbled. Which is to say that it basically rocked even as I sat there. Now, I’m all about...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 4/24/2023
The fiduciaries of the 99 Cents Only Stores have come to terms in an excessive fee suit involving their 401(k) plan – and for considerably more than…99 cents.
That said, the relatively quick (the suit was filed only about a year ago on March 25, 2022) settlement was, by the standards of such...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 4/21/2023
Well, here we are again at the end of yet another workweek – and yet, just look at what happened to these guys and gals…
First, some odds and ends…
In the UK, Northern Railway has made an unusual, but perhaps not unexpected, request of commuters…
In Eugene, Oregon, there’s a lot of excitement...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 4/19/2023
Terms of a proprietary fund suit settlement with Mutual of America have been revealed.
The plaintiffs had claimed the plan fiduciaries had “an imprudent and disloyal preference for its own proprietary funds.” Represented in the action by Nichols Kaster PLLP, the participant/plaintiffs had claimed...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 4/18/2023
I recently stumbled across an academic study that claimed to find a correlation between higher employer contribution rates and leakage.
I will confess to a certain skepticism at that finding. There are, after all, a well-established series of things that contribute to leakage, broadly defined as...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 4/18/2023
“Following several years of thorough and active litigation…including numerous dispositive and procedural motions, full discovery, and preparation for a twelve-day jury trial originally scheduled for April 2023,” the parties in an excessive fee suit have come to terms.
Here participant-plaintiffs...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 4/14/2023
Well, here we are again at the end of yet another workweek — and yet, just look at what (still) happened to these guys and gals…
First, some odds and ends…
In Augusta, Georgia…there are golf hazards…and then there’s the hazards at the recent Masters Tournament…and yes, we have video!
Near...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 4/12/2023
Another Midwestern federal court has found that the plaintiffs in a 401(k) excessive fee suit have failed to make their case.
This suit had been brought by participant-plaintiffs Ruth Williams, Tovah Allen, Carolyn Ross, Alicia Bates, and Tracy Young against Centene Corporation, the Board of...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 4/11/2023
I’ve been honored with a lot of praise and congratulations over the past couple of months about my “retirement” (and not a little skepticism about my understanding of the term) — but in quiet moments, there’s been one question that keeps coming up.
That question — and it generally arises once...
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