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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 3/15/2013
Though there’s precious little worth watching on television these days, I’ll confess to having developed a fondness for the Sunday night shows that have sprung up all over cable television — series like Downton Abbey, Mad Men, Hell on Wheels, and yes, The Walking Dead. These not only keep me up on...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 3/12/2013
If you’re a parent, sooner or later your children will inform you — as you doubtless you told your parents — that “that’s not the way things are now!” It’s a potent retort to whatever social more is at issue because, whether it involves a choice in dress, curfew or even resume preparation, our...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 2/26/2013
One of my favorite memories of visiting my grandparents over the holidays was working on jigsaw puzzles. These were generally large, complicated affairs — whose construction was spread over days, as various family members would stop by to work on a section, to build on a border, or sometimes...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 2/12/2013
“401(k) breaches undermining retirement security for millions,” read the headline of a recent article in the Washington Post. No, we’re not talking about some kind of data-hacking scandal or new identity theft breach. Rather, those “breaches” are loans and withdrawals from 401(k) plans. Providing...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 2/5/2013
Advisors who have undertaken any number of designation or certification exams can attest that a mainstay of multiple-choice test instruction is the admonition to select the “single best answer.” Generally, on those examinations there’s only one “correct” answer, but there are times when the...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 1/29/2013
Trying to figure out how much money an individual or couple needs to live on in retirement is, to put it mildly, a complicated business.As advisors well know, it depends on a range of factors, including the age at which the individual retires, where they live, how they live, marital status and...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 1/24/2013
You may remember little else about the 1989 film “Field of Dreams,” but odds are you’ve invoked a version of what is probably its most famous line: “If you build it, he will come.” Unfortunately, for most retirement plan participants, building retirement savings is more complicated than...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 1/17/2013
I was driving home recently when my dashboard lit up with a warning that in just 63 miles, I’d run out of gas. I appreciated the warning — my car has one of those gauges that seems to fall faster once you get under a quarter of a tank — so it was nice to get not just a warning, but a specific...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 1/8/2013
Sooner or later, at just about every retirement plan conference, you’ll hear someone — and generally more than just one someone — cite the statistic that “only about half of working Americans are covered by a workplace retirement plan.” In fact, as an advisor, I’d be surprised if you hadn’t passed...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 12/26/2012
Years ago, when my kids were still kids, we discovered an ingenious website that purported to offer a real-time assessment of your “naughty or nice” status. (Thankfully, it still exists, here.)As parents, we rarely invoked the name of Santa to encourage good behavior, but no tone of voice or...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 12/3/2012
The total amount of assets held by private-sector retirement plans increased 14%, to $6.3 trillion, in 2010, according to the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA). Defined benefit plan assets increased 12%, to $2.4 trillion, and defined contribution plan assets increased by 16%, to $3.8...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 11/16/2012
A recent EBRI Issue Brief analyzed information from the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF),[1. The Survey of Consumer Finances is, as its name suggests, a survey of consumer households “to provide detailed information on the finances of U.S. families.” It is conducted every three years by the...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 11/9/2012
As the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic continues to recover from Hurricane Sandy, I was reminded that it was only a little over a year ago that Hurricane Irene came barreling up the East Coast. At that time we had just deposited my youngest off for his first semester of college, and then spent the drive...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 10/24/2012
I was asked recently about the so-called “4% rule.” That’s the rule of thumb that many financial advisors rely on as a formula for how much money can be withdrawn from retirement savings every year (generally adjusted for inflation) without running out of money. (Certified financial planner William...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 10/19/2012
I was asked recently about the so-called “4% rule.” That’s the rule of thumb that many financial advisors rely on as a formula for how much money can be withdrawn from retirement savings every year (generally adjusted for inflation) without running out of money. (Certified financial planner William...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 10/17/2012
There’s been a lot of talk lately about the need to fix the “broken” 401(k) plan. Some say it disproportionately benefits higher-paid workers; some claim it can’t provide a level of retirement income sufficient to meet lower-income needs; and still others maintain it can’t provide that level of...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 10/11/2012
If you think it’s complicated trying to determine an individual’s retirement funding needs, imagine trying to do so for all American workers.When EBRI modeled the retirement savings gap of Baby Boomers and Gen Xers earlier this year, we found that between 43 and 44 percent of the households were...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 9/30/2012
Here are six websites I recommend.The Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI)EBRI has been conducting nonpartisan, objective research on employee benefit plans (retirement and health care) since the late 1970s – and all of our research is available online. We’ve modeled retirement income...
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