The marketing of “fiduciary warranties” has increased in recent years, in response to a wave of lawsuits against retirement plan sponsors charging breach of fiduciary duty. But the fine print found in many of these “warranty” agreements does not offer as much protection as many plan fiduciaries may believe. Plan…
Best Practices for a Successful Investment Committee Many small- and mid-size employers don’t have investment committees for their defined contribution plans. This is a problem, of course. Even small businesses need to name investment committees and conduct regular reviews of their retirement plans. But having a committee with no process…
A Request for Proposal (RFP) does more than help a plan sponsor select service providers for different aspects of their plan. RFPs also help meet the requirements under ERISA §404(a)(1), to act in the best interests of the plan participants and to document the methodology used to establish a process…
Last year was a busy one for class action lawsuits and settlements against plan fiduciaries and it looks like 2016 is shaping up to be more of the same. Three new and notable class action lawsuits against retirement plan sponsors were filed within the past couple of months. The complaints…
benchmark (noun) \bench-märk\ Something that serves as a standard by which others may be measured or judged. Benchmarking is common in the financial industry as a means of gauging progress or measuring success. Investment performance is often benchmarked against a financial market index, such as the S&P 500. The skill…