Category Archives: 401k compliance

Protecting Your Practice with the Active Management Value Ratio 2.0™

RIAs often have mock audits performed. These audits generally focus on the various regulatory requirements for RIA, including the various documents and internal procedures of an RIA. More often than not, these mock audits do not include a forensic fiduciary … Continue reading

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Avoiding ERISA’s #1 Fiduciary Liability “Gotcha”

Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. – Aldous Huxley Fiduciary law is a combination of trust and agency law. The basic rule of fiduciary law is that a fiduciary must always put their customer’s/client’s best interests … Continue reading

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Investment Industry Has Some ‘Splaining to Do

“[B]rokers’ recommendations must be consistent with their customers’ “best interest.(1) “[A] central aspect of a broker-dealer’s duty of fair dealing is the suitability obligation, which generally requires a broker-dealer to make recommendations that are consistent with the best interests of … Continue reading

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Oil and Water: Fiduciaries and Variable Annuities

The financial services industry continues to try to convince investment advisers and other financial fiduciaries to sell variable annuities. Smart RIAs and other financial fiduciaries ignore these pleas, as they realize that variable annuities are liability traps for fiduciaries, blatant … Continue reading

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A Closer Look At The “Top” 401(k) Mutual Funds

Each year various publications put out their lists of “top” or “best” mutual funds. I always enjoy going through such lists and performing a forensic analysis of the funds on such lists to get a better analysis of each fund. … Continue reading

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The Fiduciary Standard – It’s “Best Interests,” Not “Like Everyone Else”

During a recent deposition of an investment adviser, the adviser told me that was doing the exact same thing as everyone else in the  industry and asked me why I was “targeting” him. Not the first time I have heard … Continue reading

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Whoomp, There It is! – The New Prudent Fee Fiduciary Standard

“Essential to the plausibility of plaintiffs’ claims was the allegation that the Affiliated Funds ‘charged higher fees than those charged by comparable Vanguard funds-in some instances fees were more than 200 percent higher than those comparable funds’”. With those words … Continue reading

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Citigroup Decision’s Warning for 401(k) Fiduciaries

U.S. District Judge Sidney H. Stein recently ruled that the participants in the Citigroup 401(k) excessive fees case had filed their action within the required time period. Judge Stein’s opinion was based primarily on a finding that absent “actual knowledge” … Continue reading

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Death, Divorce and LaRue: 401(k) Breach of Fiduciary Duty Claims as Assets In Divorce and Probate Cases

In 2008, the Supreme Court of the United States handed down their landmark decision in LaRue v. DeWolff, Boberg and Associates, Inc.(1) In LaRue, the Court finally recognized the fundamental difference between defined benefit pension plans and defined contribution pension … Continue reading

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The Art of Fiduciary Investing: Controlling the Controllable

“[I]nvesting intelligently is about controlling the controllable.” Ben Graham, “The Intelligent Investor” The world of fiduciary investing is going through a significant stage, as more attention is being focused on various issues such as advisory fees, annual fees charged by … Continue reading

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