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Recent Posts
- 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
- Fair Dinkum: A Critique of the EBSA’s Amicus Brief in Pizarro v. Home Depot
- Upon Further Review; The 3 X 3 Analysis That Shows Why Prudent Plan Sponsors Will Never Offer Annuities Within Their Plan
- The DOL’s Pizarro v. Home Depot Amicus Brief: Borzi and Gomez Don’t Live Here @ EBSA Anymore
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Tag Archives: 401k
“Meaningful Choices”: Cost-Efficiency, the CommonSpirit Health decision, and the Future of 401(k) Litigation
Recently, the Sixth Circuit handed down its decision in the Smith v. CommonSpirit Health (“CommonSpirit) 401(k) action.1 My immediate reaction was “hello again SCOTUS,” as once again we have inconsistent and irreconcilable rulings between two circuits involving ERISA litigation The … Continue reading
Posted in 401k, 401k compliance, 401k investments, 403b, Active Management Value Ratio, AMVR, best interest, closet index funds, cost consciousness, cost efficient, cost-efficiency, ERISA, ERISA litigation, fiduciary compliance, fiduciary duty, fiduciary law, fiduciary liability, fiduciary liability, Fiduciary prudence, fiduciary prudence, fiduciary responsibility, fiduciary standard, investment advisers, investments, Mutual funds, pension plans, plan sponsors, prudence, Reg BI, wealth management, wealth preservation
Tagged 401k, 401k compliance, compliance, cost-efficiency, ERISA, ERISA litigation, fiduciary, fiduciary investing, fiduciary law, fiduciary liability, Fiduciary prudence, fiduciary responsibility, investment advisers, plansponsors, retirement plans
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Caveat Fiduciarius: The Reg BI “Reasonably Available Alternatives”/ERISA “Fiduciary Prudence” Liability Trap
I am on record as saying that (a) ERISA plaintiff’s attorneys should never lose a properly vetted 401(k)/403(b) action, and (b) the amount of 401(k)/403(b) litigation is going to continue to increase. Those opinions are based on three trends within … Continue reading
Posted in 401k, 401k compliance, 401k investments, 403b, 404c, 404c compliance, best interest, compliance, consumer protection, cost consciousness, cost efficient, cost-efficiency, ERISA, ERISA litigation, fiduciary compliance, fiduciary duty, fiduciary law, fiduciary liability, fiduciary liability, Fiduciary prudence, fiduciary prudence, fiduciary responsibility, fiduciary standard, investment advisers, investments, Mutual funds, pension plans, plan sponsors, prudence, Reg BI, retirement plans, wealth management, wealth preservation
Tagged 401k, 401k compliance, 404c, 404c compliance, best interests, compliance, ERISA, fiduciary, fiduciary duty, fiduciary investing, fiduciary law, Fiduciary prudence, fiuciary responsibility, investment advisers, InvestSense, plan sponsors, Reg BI, retirement plans
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“The Lie of the Pie”: Mutual Fund Marketing “Trickeration”
by James W. Watkins, III The financial services industry likes to use charts…a lot of charts. Attorneys do not like charts. Charts can be confusing and misleading, sometimes deliberately so. One judge told me that after I had argued the … Continue reading
Posted in 401k, 401k compliance, 401k investments, Active Management Value Ratio, AMVR, asset allocation, closet index funds, clsoet index funds, compliance, consumer protection, cost consciousness, cost efficient, cost-efficiency, Cost_Efficiency, ERISA, evidence based investing, fiduciary compliance, fiduciary duty, fiduciary law, fiduciary liability, fiduciary liability, Fiduciary prudence, fiduciary prudence, fiduciary responsibility, fiduciary standard, investment advisers, investments, Mutual funds, pension plans, plan sponsors, prudence, wealth management, wealth preservation
Tagged 401k, 401k compliance, Active Expense Ratio, Active Management Value Ratio, compliance, cost-efficiency, ERISA, fiduciary, fiduciary investing, fiduciary law, Mutual funds
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Redefining Fiduciary Prudence for 401(k) Plan Sponsors
by James W. Watkins, III, J.D., CFP®, AWMA® The legal requirement for prudence, as defined in ERISA Section 404(a)(1)(B), is for a fiduciary to discharge his or her duties with: “the care, skill, prudence, and diligence under the circumstances then prevailing that a prudent man acting in a … Continue reading
Posted in 401k, 401k compliance, 401k investments, 403b, Active Management Value Ratio, AMVR, closet index funds, compliance, consumer protection, cost consciousness, cost efficient, cost-efficiency, DOL fiduciary rule, ERISA, ERISA litigation, fiduciary compliance, fiduciary duty, fiduciary law, fiduciary liability, fiduciary liability, Fiduciary prudence, fiduciary prudence, fiduciary responsibility, investment advisers, investments, pension plans, plan sponsors, prudence, retirement plans, risk management
Tagged 401k, 401k compliance, Active Management Value Ratio, AMVR, compliance, ERISA, fiduciary, fiduciary investing, fiduciary law, fiduciary liability, Fiduciary prudence, fiduciary responsibility, investment advisers, plan sponsors, retirement plans
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At What Cost?: Annuities, Cryptocurrency, and Fiduciary Law
A [fiduciary] is held to something stricter than the morals of the market place. Not honesty alone, but the punctilio of an honor the most sensitive, is the standard of behavior….1 Fiduciary law is a combination of three types of … Continue reading
Posted in 401k, 401k compliance, 401k investments, 403b, Active Management Value Ratio, AMVR, Annuities, consumer protection, cost consciousness, cost efficient, cost-efficiency, Cost_Efficiency, ERISA litigation, evidence based investing, fiduciary compliance, fiduciary duty, fiduciary law, fiduciary liability, fiduciary liability, Fiduciary prudence, fiduciary prudence, fiduciary responsibility, fiduciary standard, investment advisers, pension plans, prudence, retirement plans, risk management, securities compliance, wealth management, wealth preservation
Tagged 401k, 401k compliance, 404c compliance, compliance, ERISA, fiduciary, fiduciary investing, fiduciary law, plansponsors, retirement plans, trustees, trusts, trusts and estates
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Heuristics, Cognitive Biases and 401(k)/403(b) Fiduciary Decision-Making
The number of 401(k)/403(b) cases continues to grow. And it will continue to do so unless and until plan sponsors take the time to truly understand their legal responsibilities and adjust their plans accordingly. I am on record as saying … Continue reading
Posted in 401k, 401k compliance, 401k investments, 403b, Active Management Value Ratio, ERISA, ERISA litigation, fiduciary compliance, fiduciary duty, fiduciary law, fiduciary liability, fiduciary liability, Fiduciary prudence, fiduciary prudence, fiduciary responsibility, fiduciary standard, investments, retirement plans, wealth management, wealth preservation
Tagged 401k, 401k compliance, 401k litigation, 403b, ERISA, ERISA litigation, fiduciary, fiduciary investing, fiduciary law, fiduciary liability, fiduciary responsibility, investment advisers, plansponsors, retirement plans, trustees, trusts
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CommonSense 401(k) Prudence and Risk Management
Whenever I perform a forensic fiduciary advice on a 401(k) or 403(b) plan, I invariably find myself asking the plan sponsor and/or the plan’s investment committee the same two questions: Why do you have so many investment options? Why did … Continue reading
Posted in fiduciary compliance
Tagged 401k, 401k compliance, compliance, ERISA, fiduciary, fiduciary investing, fiduciary law, retirement plans
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Less Is More: Plan Sponsors and the Art of Fiduciary Thinking
When I read about the House passing the SECURE 2.0 bill, I had three immediate thoughts: “Annuities are sold, not bought.” “So, plan sponsors are going to be able to automatically force employees to contribute to non-compliant 401(k) plans loaded … Continue reading
Posted in 401k, 401k compliance, 401k investments, Active Management Value Ratio, Annuities, ERISA, ERISA litigation, fiduciary compliance, fiduciary duty, fiduciary law, fiduciary liability, fiduciary liability, Fiduciary prudence, fiduciary prudence, fiduciary responsibility, fiduciary standard, pension plans, prudence
Tagged 401k, 401k compliance, ERISA, fiduciary, fiduciary investing, fiduciary law
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Connecting the Dots: Correlation of Returns and Fiduciary Prudence
With SCOTUS’ recent decision in Hughes v. Northwestern University1, we now have what I like to refer to as the “fiduciary responsibility trinity” (Trinity). The Trinity consists of the Tibble v. Edison International2 (Tibble), Brotherston v. Putnam Investments, LLC3(Brotherston), and … Continue reading
Posted in 401k, 401k compliance, 401k investments, 403b, Active Management Value Ratio, closet index funds, compliance, consumer protection, cost consciousness, cost efficient, cost-efficiency, ERISA, ERISA litigation, fiduciary compliance, fiduciary duty, fiduciary law, fiduciary liability, fiduciary liability, Fiduciary prudence, fiduciary prudence, fiduciary responsibility, pension plans, prudence, wealth management, wealth preservation
Tagged 401k, 401k compliance, 404c compliance, compliance, ERISA, fiduciary, fiduciary investing, fiduciary law, Fiduciary prudence, fiduciary responsibility, investment advisers, retirement plans
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The “Fiduciary Prudence Trinity”: A Blueprint for Evaluating the Prudence of Fiduciary Investments
In my last post, I discussed the significance of three ERISA related decisions-Tibble, Hughes/Northwestern and Brotherston. I like to refer to these three cases as the “fiduciary responsibility trinity,” because I believe that, collectively, they will shape the future of … Continue reading
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