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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 3/20/2020
Concerns about the coronavirus are—well, rampant; schools are and businesses are closing, sporting events are being cancelled or postponed, and, at least in some locales, toilet paper is said to be hard to come by. This week we asked readers to share how you’re coping.
Asked to list the measures...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 3/19/2020
If you think you’ve had a bad week, just remember—it could have been worse. Check out what happened to these guys (and gals)…
In Vancouver, Washington, a woman named Miley (of undisclosed age) was doing her part to stave off the spread of coronavirus… by thoroughly washing her hands with a bar of...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 3/18/2020
A major financial institution finds itself accused of “corporate self-dealing at the expense of the retirement savings of company employees.”
The latest suit (Becker v. Wells Fargo & Co., N.D. Cal.., No. 3:20-cv-01803, complaint 3/13/20) was filed in the Northern District of California on...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 3/17/2020
Perhaps like many of you, I spent the last week watching a series of announcements regarding various school and business closings associated with the coronavirus—but I was also keeping an eye on my retirement savings.
I know—this is exactly the thing that most advisors counsel against, not only...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 3/16/2020
Concerns about the coronavirus are—well, rampant; schools are and businesses are closing, sporting events are being cancelled or postponed, and, at least in some locales, toilet paper is said to be hard to come by.
This week we’d like to know what, if anything, YOUR workplace is doing—and how it...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 3/16/2020
A long-standing proprietary fund has (finally) resulted in one of the largest proprietary fund settlements to date.
The case (Fuller v. SunTrust Banks, Inc., N.D. Ga., No. 1:11-cv-00784-ODE, 7/16/19) arises out of a suit brought by five former SunTrust participants who alleged violations[i] of...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 3/16/2020
Another multibillion-dollar 401(k) plan has been sued for its “Defendants’ failure to investigate lower cost alternative investments (both actively and passively managed funds)”—and is accused of being influenced by investment managers’ ownership in the firm.
This time the target is Salesforce—and...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 3/13/2020
If you think you’ve had a bad week, just remember—it could have been worse. Check out what happened to these guys (and gals)…
In Gloucester, Virginia, Jesse Adams, 20, was apparently really thirsty… entered a Ruby Tuesday here… about 2:00 a.m. to get a drink… well, entering by breaking out a...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 3/13/2020
We all know (I hope) that recordkeeping is a tough, low-margin business. It’s not, IMO, a “commodity,” though it is often treated as such.
And as if that weren’t enough of a challenge, the plaintiffs’ bar has not only singled out those specific fees for scrutiny, but has gone so far as to state...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 3/12/2020
The terms of a settlement between Invesco and a participant in its 401(k) plan have been announced—and there’s an interesting twist we haven’t seen before.
The suit, filed in 2018 by participant-plaintiff Diego Cervantes in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, alleged a...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 3/10/2020
If you’ve been asked in the past two weeks what to do about the market (and who hasn’t), I’m sure your response has been something along the lines of . . . “Nothing.”
There are, of course, more eloquent ways to express that sentiment. And, let’s face it, when it seems that everyone is asking that...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 3/10/2020
Once again, a prudent process has won the day in court for retirement plan fiduciaries.
In the case at hand, plaintiff Bonnie Birse, a participant in the CenturyLink Dollars & Sense 401(k) Plan since 2012, and invested in the plan’s 2015 Target Date Fund, argued that CenturyLink’s investment...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 3/9/2020
Once upon a time, per participant charges were a recordkeeping norm. Then revenue-sharing led many, perhaps most, to adopt asset-based fees that covered recordkeeping services. This week, we’d like to know what you’re seeing—and saying—about recordkeeping fees.
Recordkeeping is a tough, low-margin...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 3/9/2020
There may be a whole new focus emerging with regard to excessive fee litigation.
Last week a reader shared with us an “Excessive Fee Questionnaire Regarding Defined Contribution Plans.” This document was reportedly presented to a plan sponsor of a $170 million plan—from its property and casualty...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 3/6/2020
If you think you’ve had a bad week, just remember—it could have been worse. Check out what happened to these guys (and gals)…
In New York, New York, an unnamed biker found a unique… but arguably unwise… means of beating traffic…
In Guizhou, China, a Mr Zhang (of undetermined age) obtained his...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 3/6/2020
Noting that the plaintiff’s “account would have been worth more at the time it was distributed from the Plan had Defendant not violated ERISA,” the plan fiduciaries of a provider’s plan find themselves targeted by a participant in its own 401(k) plan.
This time the target is John Hancock, which...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 3/6/2020
February was a wild ride in the markets—from all-time highs at mid-month, only to slide into correction territory by month-end. This week we asked NAPA-Net readers what they were hearing from—and telling—clients—oh, and a special bonus question.
Well, at that point in the week anyway, most readers...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 3/4/2020
The Securities and Exchange Commission has responded to suits filed against Reg BI by a group of states and the XYPN Network, arguing that the plaintiffs lack standing, and desire an outcome beyond that dictated by the law.
The two suits were filed last September in the U.S. District Court for...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 3/3/2020
There are few things more annoying in my daily existence than those ubiquitous pop-up service agreement acknowledgements.
I say annoying because they are inevitably long and “lawyerly”; there’s no way that they can readily be read (much less absorbed) in the medium in which they are presented; and...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 3/2/2020
February was a wild ride in the markets—from all-time highs at mid-month, only to slide into correction territory by month-end. What were you being asked—and telling—clients, and what have you done with your own portfolio?
That’s right, it was indeed a wild month for the markets, which at mid-...
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