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- Five Landmark Decisions That Shaped, and Continue to Shape, Fiduciary Prudence Under ERISA
- Seniors’ Anti-Financial Exploitation (SAFE) Act of 2026
- Quantifying Fiduciary Prudence: Creating a Win-Win ERISA Fiduciary Prudent Process by Integrating The Fiduciary Prudence Trinity With AI and the AMVR and TWBVI Metrics
- Quantifying Fiduciary Prudence: In-Plan Annuities, Terminal Wealth, and the Terminal Wealth Breakeven Value Index
- Terminal Wealth As a Fiduciary Prudence Metric: Why ERISA Plan Fiduciaries Should Incorporate Wealth Preservation and Capital Preservation into the Evaluation of In-Plan Annuities and Alternative Investments
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Tag Archives: fiduciary
Five Landmark Decisions That Shaped, and Continue to Shape, Fiduciary Prudence Under ERISA
James W. Watkins, III, J.D., CFP EmeritusTM, AWMA®InvestSense, LLC Mathematics is the light that reveals the nature of things.”- Justice Louis Brandeis Executive overview The modern concept of fiduciary prudence under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) … Continue reading
Posted in fiduciary compliance
Tagged 404c compliance, compliance, ERISA, fiduciary, fiduciary investing, fiduciary law, retirement plans
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Quantifying Fiduciary Prudence: Creating a Win-Win ERISA Fiduciary Prudent Process by Integrating The Fiduciary Prudence Trinity With AI and the AMVR and TWBVI Metrics
James W. Watkins, III, J.D., CFP EmeritusTM, AWMA®InvestSense, LLC ERISA § 404(a)(1)(B)1, imposes upon plan fiduciaries a demanding but deliberately flexible standard: fiduciaries must act “with the care, skill, prudence, and diligence” that a prudent fiduciary acting in a like … Continue reading
Terminal Wealth As a Fiduciary Prudence Metric: Why ERISA Plan Fiduciaries Should Incorporate Wealth Preservation and Capital Preservation into the Evaluation of In-Plan Annuities and Alternative Investments
James W. Watkins, III, J.D., CFP EmeritusTM, AWMA®InvestSense, LLC Abstract Modern portfolio construction has historically emphasized maximizing expected returns for a given level of risk. Within defined contribution plans governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”), … Continue reading
Posted in fiduciary compliance
Tagged 401k, ERISA, fiduciary, Fiduciary litigation, Fiduciary prudence, terminal wealth
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May It Please The Court: THE EBSA’s Legally Unsupported, Unfounded, and Bootstrapped Policies Create a Systemic Threat to Plan Participants and Plan Sponsors Alike and Must Be Rejected
James W. Watkins, III, J.D., CFP EmeritusTM, AWMA®InvestSense, LLC The issue before this Court is not whether procedural prudence matters under ERISA. It unquestionably does. The issue is whether the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) may lawfully transform procedural prudence … Continue reading
Posted in fiduciary compliance
Tagged compliance, ERISA, fiduciary, fiduciary investing, fiduciary law, Fiduciary litigation
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DOL/EBSA Field Assistance Bulletin 2026-01 Is Not Entitled to Judicial Deference Under The Loper Bright Decision
James W. Watkins, III, J.D., CFP EmeritusTM, AWMA®InvestSense, LLC In DOL/EBSA Field Assitance Bulletin 2026-01 (FAB 2026-01), the Department of Labor states its belief that its proposed legislation is entitled to legal deference. Nothing could be further from the truth. … Continue reading
Terminal Wealth: The True Fiduciary Prudence Paradigm with Regard to the In-Plan Annuity Scam
James W. Watkins, III, J.D., CFP EmeritusTM, AWMA®InvestSense, LLC A sound evaluation of fiduciary prudence must ultimately be anchored in outcomes, not just process—and in the context of long-term financial decision-making, the most meaningful outcome is terminal wealth. Fiduciaries are … 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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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
ERISA 404(a) vs. NAIC Rule 275 -Wake-Up Call or Ticking Fiduciary Litigation/Liability Time Bomb for Plan Sponsors?
James W. Watkins, III, J.D., CFP EmeritusTM, AWMA® As a fiduciary risk management counsel, I’m often asked about my opinion as to the biggest risk management mistake plan sponsors make. To me, the answer is simple. The biggest and most … Continue reading
Posted in 401k, 401k compliance, 401k investments, 401k litigation, 401k plan design, 401k plans, 401k risk management, 401klitigation, 404(a), Annuities, best interest, DOL, ERISA, ERISA litigation, ERISA litigation, fiduciary liability, ERISA litigation, ERISA, ERISA litigation, fiduciary responsibility, fiduciary prudence, fiduciary duties, fiduciary litigation, 401k, 401k plans, plan sponsor, plan sponsors, fiduciary law, fiduciary, fiduciary compliance, fiduciary duty, fiduciary law, fiduciary liability, fiduciary liability, Fiduciary litigation, Fiduciary prudence, fiduciary prudence, fiduciary responsibility, fiduciary risk management, fiduciary standard, fiduciarylitigation, pension plans, plan sponsors, risk management
Tagged 401k compliance, 401k fiduciary, 401kplans, Annuities, ERISA, fiduciary, fiduciary risk management, investing, plan sponsor
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