Despite the weight of anecdotal evidence suggesting that the DOL’s fee disclosure regulations are not achieving at least one of their main goals — educating participants — the rules are here to stay, so everyone concerned must pay attention to them. That message was conveyed by ASPPA’s General Counsel Craig Hoffman at the organization’s annual conference Oct. 30.
What do we learn from a situation, as described by Hoffman, in which a plan sponsor handed out 35 fee disclosure statements at an employee meeting — and then picked 34 of them out of the trash after the meeting? One thing is that, to put it generously, the disclosure regs are a challenge for plan sponsors. And that means an opportunity for advisors who can help their clients meet the challenge — devising more effective communication strategies and coming up with new tactical ideas for getting the word out to participants in ways that will boost that 1-out-of-35 “success” rate. Read more about Hoffman’s comments here.
