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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 7/28/2023
A shift in precedent has lowered the bar to establish a plausible argument sufficient to overcome a motion to dismiss—and plaintiffs in yet another case are getting another shot at proceeding to trial.
We recently covered the recommendation of a magistrate judge in a case involving the Prevea...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 7/27/2023
A federal magistrate judge has recommended that a pair of excessive fee suits—previously dismissed for failure to state a plausible claim—be given another chance based on a new standard.
The separate suits were brought[i] against the fiduciaries of the plans at ThedaCare, Inc. and Prevea Clinic,...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 7/25/2023
It’s widely said that 10,000 Boomers are heading into retirement every day—and survey after survey indicates that they are interested in some kind of “solution” to provide a dependable stream of income. But what about advisors?
There remains a traditional reluctance to bring those solutions “...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 7/24/2023
A federal appellate court has held that a plan’s adoption of an arbitration agreement is sufficient to require a class action suit on behalf of the plan to those terms.
The suit was filed in mid-May 2020 in the U.S. District Court of the District of New Jersey against the fiduciaries of the $4.4...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 7/24/2023
So, what did you want to be when you grew up?
Now, I realize that some of you are still growing up—but I’ve never met ANYONE who said “I wanted to work with retirement plans”—and that includes me.
Indeed, what we aspire to become in our youth is complex—and often shaped by our experience(s) at...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 7/21/2023
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 Duvall, Washington, law enforcement responded to a call…from a driver who said he couldn’t deliver a package because of an obstacle in the road…to...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 7/21/2023
A new excessive fee suit challenges the imprudent selection of share classes, the poor selection of a stable value offering AND exorbitant recordkeeping fees.
Here we have one participant-plaintiff Robert Humphries suing based on the actions (or lack thereof) of the fiduciaries of the $700...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 7/19/2023
A federal appellate court has backed the ruling of a lower court, finding that a 401(k) plan’s investment consultant acted prudently, and in the interests of participants in decisions regarding a proprietary CIT.
The former participant/plaintiff here (one Benjamin Reetz) claimed that the...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 7/18/2023
Over the past couple of years, one of the most-clicked posts on NAPA-Net has been on a topic that is a bit of a head-scratcher.
I’m speaking, of course, of the (now-incessantly tracked), monthly projections of the (potential) cost of living adjustment (COLA) for Social Security. It started back...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 7/18/2023
A “painstakingly negotiated global Settlement” of some $124 million involving multiple suits (and the involvement of the Labor Department) has been reached in a long-standing ERISA suit.
The original suit was filed in March 2016 by Clive Cooper, a former employee (and participant) of DST Systems,...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 7/14/2023
Well, here we are again at the end of yet another workweek—and month, and halfway through 2023—and yet, just look at what happened to these guys and gals…
First, some odds and ends…
In Nambia, Africa, a Portuguese vessel that set sail from Lisbon in 1533 and disappeared…was recently discovered…in...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 7/14/2023
Over the past week, we’ve given readers (that’s you) one more shot at shaping the agenda for the 2024 NAPA 401(k) Summit. So, where do things now stand?
After several weeks of running topics through our cage-match voting system, this week we took the top 15 from each of those groups to form one...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 7/14/2023
The terms of a settlement in an excessive fee suit against a $2.3 billion 403(b) plan have come to light.
The suit (Garnick v. Wake Forest Univ. Baptist Med. Ctr., M.D.N.C., No. 1:21-cv-00454, complaint 6/4/21) was filed in June 2021 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 7/13/2023
Just ahead of a scheduled trial date, the parties in a fiduciary breach suit involving a $30 billion master trust have come to terms.
The suit—filed in February 2016 by Melina N. Jacobs—alleged that the fiduciary defendants of the Verizon Master Savings Trust violated their fiduciary duty of...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 7/12/2023
The parties involved in a suit challenging the ability to defer more to a 401(k) have come to terms, with a settlement of roughly $1.5 million.
The suit (Baird v. Hyatt Corp., C.D. Cal., No. 2:22-cv-01620, complaint 3/10/22), filed by one Lance Baird, accused his employer, Hyatt Corporation, of...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 7/11/2023
Millennials have had a rough week of it, at least in the financial press.
First there was a report that they had established asset allocations that mirrored that of their grandparents (the respondents apparently never heard of a target-date fund). Then a separate survey that indicated they (70% of...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 7/10/2023
A new study reviews data from two databases[i] to see how (if?) retirement expectations have been impacted by the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The research—titled “Retirement Expectations vs. Reality: Factors that Impact Retirement Decisions” and authored by Liu, Zhikun Liu, David...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 7/10/2023
For the past several weeks we’ve offered you a chance to help shape the agenda for the 2024 NAPA 401(k) Summit—this week, we’re offering you a shot at the ultimate cage match.
That’s right, we’ve taken several hundred potential topics, sorted them out into four separate broad categories, and...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 7/10/2023
The parties in an excessive fee suit have struck a deal—approximately three years after being filed, and despite making changes that arguably mitigated at least some of the claims.
Plaintiffs Shane Tepper, Surfina Adams, Michael Mensack and Daniel Dise—represented by Miller & Shah—sued on...
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By Nevin E. Adams, JD 7/7/2023
Well, here we are again at the end of yet another workweek—and month, and halfway through 2023—and yet, just look at what happened to these guys and gals…
First, some odds and ends…
Near Eureka, California, the drive-through Redwoods have—literally—become a tourist “trap”...
Tell me if you’ve...
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