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Recent Posts
- Reasserting ERISA’s Private Enforcement Design: A Rebuttal to EBSA’s “Frivolous Litigation” Narrative
- When Income Is Not Enough: Why the Continued Inclusion of In-Plan Annuities May Breach ERISA Duties When Compared to Capital-Preserving Income Alternatives and Strategies
- The Active Management Value Ratio as a Cost-Benefit Framework: Integrating AI into Fiduciary Prudence Analysis
- Battle of the Best Interests – Whose Are the EBSA and the DOL Supposed to Serve, and Whose Are They Really Serving?
- Guest Article On Supreme Court’s Decision to Hear the Intel Case
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Author Archives: jwatkins
Reasserting ERISA’s Private Enforcement Design: A Rebuttal to EBSA’s “Frivolous Litigation” Narrative
James W. Watkins, III, J.D., CFP EmeritusTM, AWMA®InvestSense, LLC I. Introduction Recent statements by the EBSA leadership and Assistant DOL Secretary, Daniel Aronowitz, frame ERISA litigation as abusive,” “frivolous,” and in need of increased structural restrictions. Aronowitz has called for … Continue reading
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When Income Is Not Enough: Why the Continued Inclusion of In-Plan Annuities May Breach ERISA Duties When Compared to Capital-Preserving Income Alternatives and Strategies
James W. Watkins, III, J.D., CFP EmeritusTM, AWMA®InvestSense, LLC This post provides a fiduciary prudence analysis comparing a $100,000 non-SPIA immediate annuity paying 7% annually to a rolling / laddered 10-year U.S. Treasury note strategy yielding 4%, evaluated through terminal … Continue reading
The Active Management Value Ratio as a Cost-Benefit Framework: Integrating AI into Fiduciary Prudence Analysis
James W. Watkins, III, J.D., CFP EmeritusTM, AWMA®InvestSense, LLC I. Executive SummarySeveral years ago, I created a simple metric, the Active Management Value Ratio™ (AMVR). Since studies have shown that people are more visually oriented than verbally oriented, the AMVR … Continue reading
Battle of the Best Interests – Whose Are the EBSA and the DOL Supposed to Serve, and Whose Are They Really Serving?
ThesisThe Employee Benefit Security Administration’s (EBSA) recent shift to interpreting ERISA in terms of procedural prudence to the exclusion of substantive trust law is inconsistent with the stated purpopse and goals of ERISA, as revealed in the Act’s legislative history, … Continue reading
Posted in fiduciary compliance, fiduciary duty, fiduciary prudence, fiduciary prudence, fiduciary law, fiduciary liability, ERISA, fiduciary litigation
Tagged 401k, ERISA, ERISA litigation, fiduciary, fiduciary investing, fiduciary law, fiduciary liability, Fiduciary litigation, plan sponsor, retirement plans
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Guest Article On Supreme Court’s Decision to Hear the Intel Case
Several years ago, Chris Tobe, Risk Ferri, and I founded the “The CommonSense 401k Project” web site. The” Project” was created as a means of providing information on fiduciary law and compliance, specifically with regard to ERISA, the primary law … Continue reading
Fair Dinkum: A Critique of the EBSA’s Amicus Brief in Pizarro v. Home Depot
James W. Watkins, III, J.D., CFP EmeritusTM, AWMA® THESIS THE BURDEN OF PROOF ON CAUSATION PROPERLY RESTS WITH THE FIDUCIARY DUE TO ERISA’S REMEDIAL PURPOSE AND STRUCTURAL INFORMATION ASYMMETRY I. ERISA’s Remedial Purpose Requires Burden Allocation That Enables, Not Defeats, … Continue reading
Upon Further Review; The 3 X 3 Analysis That Shows Why Prudent Plan Sponsors Will Never Offer Annuities Within Their Plan
James W. Watkins, III, J.D., CFP EmeritusTM, AWMA® As I learn more about AI, I m amazed how useful if can be in preparing forensic analyses and trial presentation material. As a fiduciary risk management consultant, I continue to be … Continue reading
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The DOL’s Pizarro v. Home Depot Amicus Brief: Borzi and Gomez Don’t Live Here @ EBSA Anymore
James W. Watkins, III, J.D., CFP EmeritusTM, AWMA® May It Please the Court: The Department of Labor’s December, 2025, amicus brief urges this Court to hold that ERISA plan participants bear the burden of proving causation as part of their … Continue reading
DOL’s Betrayal of American Workers Sends a Clear Message to American Workers: We Really Don’t Give a Damn About You!
James W. Watkins, III, J.D., CFP EmeritusTM, AWMA® This past week has been a pivotal week in terms of American workers and their Rights and Protections under ERISA. The DOL finally announced what many had suspected – they would not … Continue reading
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Implications of Section 78(3) of the Restatement (Third) of Trusts and the Expanding “Knew or Should Have Known” Liability Standard in the Era of AI
The fiduciary duty of loyalty, as delineated in Section 78(3) of the Restatement (Third) of Trusts, imposes a stringent standard on fiduciaries, including plan sponsors and investment fiduciaries. The language “knew or should have known” underscores the expectation that fiduciaries … Continue reading
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