Though much of the government is shut down, there are some deadlines that are not — like Form 5500 filing and other deadlines, such as plan funding. According to David Levine of the Groom Law Group,... Read More
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Technical competence
BY Fred Barstein | 10/14/2013
Stopping short of requiring fiduciary education by plan sponsors, the DOL is asking more questions about how companies are training their committee members, according to a report by BNA citing... Read More
BY Fred Barstein | 10/11/2013
As the financial services industry braces for changes in the definition of a fiduciary, SEC Chair Mary Jo White indicated at a Washington, DC conference this week that the uniform fiduciary rule... Read More
BY Fred Barstein | 10/4/2013
Like a snow day for students when a test is scheduled, some DOL investigations and actions will be delayed as a result of the government shutdown. Extensions on some DOL litigation have already been... Read More
BY Ronald J. Triche | 10/2/2013
A subcommittee of the SEC’s Investor Advisory Committee has submitted a draft “Recommendation of the Investor as Purchaser Subcommittee Broker-Dealer Fiduciary Duty” in advance of a scheduled Oct. 10... Read More
BY Fred Barstein | 9/27/2013
News about Detroit’s pension plan shortfalls only gets worse. A new report by the New York Times indicates that excess payments of $2.3 billion might have been paid to retirees and active workers... Read More
BY Daniel Long | 9/27/2013
“What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”In Shakespeare’s timeless love story, Juliet’s romantic plea to Romeo to relinquish his Montague family name was... Read More
BY Fred Barstein | 9/25/2013
In an exclusive interview with Chris Carosa of FiduciaryNews, EBSA Director Phyllis Borzi weighs in on several key topics — including her agency’s commitment to redefining the fiduciary rule to... Read More
BY Fred Barstein | 9/24/2013
Think that DC plan participant education is dead? Stanford Graduate School of Business professor Joshua Rauh thinks otherwise. He’s teaching an eight-week online course about the fundamentals of... Read More
BY Ray Harmon | 9/19/2013
The DOL announced Sept. 18 that it will be following the example of the recent IRS Revenue Ruling (Rev. Rul. 2013-17) adopting a “state of celebration” standard for defining “spouse” and “marriage”... Read More
BY Fred Barstein | 9/16/2013
Speaking on a wide range of issues at last week’s Plan Sponsor Council of America conference, EBSA head Phyllis Borzi commented on a number of pending issues near and dear to the hearts of DC... Read More
BY Ray Harmon | 9/12/2013
As Phyllis Borzi was informing the attendees of the Financial Services Institute’s annual conference this week that the Department of Labor’s forthcoming fiduciary standard proposal will be delayed,... Read More
BY Fred Barstein | 9/11/2013
At this week’s Financial Services Institute meeting in Washington, EBSA chief Phyllis Borzi stated that the redefinition rule will not be forthcoming in October as originally planned and that the... Read More
BY Fred Barstein | 9/10/2013
During a recent conference call at an industry meeting, Jeffrey Turner, EBSA’s deputy director charged with enforcing the rules affecting DC plans, took credit for lower fees, quality and greater... Read More
BY Fred Barstein | 9/5/2013
Though there’s consensus that the DOL’s proposal to express DC participants' account balance as a stream of income on their statements is a good idea, there’s widespread disparity on how to make the... Read More
BY Fred Barstein | 9/5/2013
Is online advice about to catch on with 401(k) participants and investors, especially those about to retire? As waves of Baby Boomers begin to retire and roll assets out of DC plans, some online... Read More
BY Fred Barstein | 8/30/2013
A federal bankruptcy court ruled this week that the city of San Bernardino’s bankruptcy filing may proceed amid arguments by CalPERS, the state pension fund. A city of 210,000 residents 60 miles east... Read More
BY Fred Barstein | 8/30/2013
Does the higher education, 403(b) market offer insights that 401(k) plans should follow, as well opportunities for 401(k) advisors? According to a study by Transamerica, higher ed deferral rates are... Read More
BY Fred Barstein | 8/28/2013
Among those advisors lucky enough to have been through a DOL audit, most wish that their clients had been better prepared, with all requested documents and materials gathered ahead of time. In the... Read More
BY Fred Barstein | 8/27/2013
As public pensions are unraveling, with cities like Stockton, San Bernardino and now Detroit burdened by huge retirement obligations owed to workers and now unable to pay their bills, news of private... Read More
BY Andrew Remo | 8/22/2013
The Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank with close ties to the Obama administration, issued a deeply critical report Aug. 20 on the voluntary employer-based private retirement system.... Read More
BY John Ortman | 8/15/2013
For retirement plan advisors, there’s a silver lining in the dark cloud hanging over public sector DB pension plans: new opportunities in the 403(b) defined contribution market. The pressure being... Read More
BY Warren Cormier | 8/14/2013
Ready, or not?A phrase that’s heard with increasing frequency in both the defined contribution and HR worlds is “retirement readiness.” In the 2012 Defined Contribution Participant (DCP) Plan Sponsor... Read More
BY Brian Graff | 8/12/2013
By now you have undoubtedly heard about the recent effort by Prof. Ian Ayres of the Yale Law School to threaten plan sponsors with negative publicity for voluntarily offering their employees “high... Read More
BY John Ortman | 8/7/2013
One overlooked factor in the sale of the Washington Post, announced on Monday: a massively overfunded pension plan. With $2.07 billion in assets and facing $1.47 billion in pension liabilities, the... Read More
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