Nevin's Data "Points"

  A recent survey “revealed” a big disconnect between participants and plan sponsors — or did it? The  survey , conducted from mid-January to mid-February earlier this year by Voya, found that while 91% of sponsors thought participants were either very or somewhat prepared for retirement, “just” 69% of participants felt that way. A finding that I think it’s fair to say surprised — well, probably no one.  Indeed, I’m sure there are any number of advisors out there who saw this as an opportunity to tell plan sponsors that while they may THINK the participants they serve and support are in good shape, their reality may be different. Particularly since this survey also found that advisors’ perspective was pretty much aligned with that of the participants surveyed.   But could plan sponsors’ “read” of participant readiness really be so strong as to be so out of touch with participants’ perception? The authors of the report opined that the bull market might explain the lev...

   There were some   good headlines   about 401(k)s last week — but the numbers underneath those “averages” were even better. Those headlines — reporting on  Fidelity’s Building Financial Futures: Q1 2025 report  — noted that savings rates hit a record high in Q1, driven by a milestone employee contribution rate of 9.5%, and an employer contribution rate of 4.8% — the highest level to date in that survey. Those types of increases have previously been noted in surveys by the Plan Sponsor Council of America, but this one commented that the combined savings rate of 14.3% is the closest it’s ever been to Fidelity's suggested savings rate of 15%.  That said, when you look inside those averages — Fidelity noted that Boomers [i]  actually had a total savings rate of 17.2%, buoyed by a  12%  employee savings rate, while Gen Xers had a 15.4% total savings rate (a  10.3%  employee savings rate). Gen Z’s 7.3% employee savings rate and Mil...

  Plan fiduciaries might well have gotten a case of severe whiplash last week. I’m referring of course to the dual announcements from the Labor Department (a)  rescinding its previous position on cryptocurrency  in retirement plans and (b) indicating  that it in some fashion plans to  review/change the current so-called ESG rule  through a formal regulatory notice-and-comment period — presumably rather than defend the current version which had been  challenged in court . That, and any day now it’s expected that the Administration will (similarly) soften, if not shift, its  previous take on private equity  investments in defined contribution plans. Doubtless many are cheering these new developments; others, of course, will see this as either a danger, or a diminution of fiduciary responsibility. And some, surely, will like one, but not the other.  Regardless, if you’re a plan fiduciary trying to figure out what is right and prudent to con...

  This weekend — for the first time in my life — I’ll spend Mother’s Day without Mom. For most of my adult life I lived too far away for a trip home for Mother’s Day to be…practical. Not that I didn’t look for — and find — ways to connect with her during the year. But in my heart, Mother’s Day called for a special level of acknowledgement. That said, there’s an emptiness this year where that phone call should be. No need to time it around church or Sunday lunch — or the other calls she’d get. Since her passing last December, these past months have been…rough. My siblings and I have, at various times, made trips to go through Mom’s house — she was a “gatherer” of family mementos across generations — much of which might, in other eyes, be characterized as “junk.” And yet, in going through the multitudinous boxes of photos and “stuff,” the elementary school awards (and grade cards), not to mention the cards and letters — so many letters — that we wrote to her over the years before thi...

   Your best laid plans can quickly go awry if your beneficiaries are clueless. For the past several months, I’ve been dealing with the disposition of my late mother’s estate. In the overall scheme of things, it is neither large, nor particularly complex. As I’ve noted before, Mom did a solid job of not only managing her finances while alive, but in terms of making sure that I (as eldest perhaps, but more specifically as executor) was aware of the various insurance policies, retirement accounts and property.  In that respect, she was doubtless “better” than many parents in discussing such matters before her passing (though none of that happened until after my father passed). Moreover, despite their modest means, they set up a living trust back when my Dad was with us — specifically to avoid the complexities of going through probate in an effort to make it easier for us. And prior to her passing, Mom made sure I had all the account numbers and phone numbers, and we set up ...

  Last year, we took some family to the nearby Great Smoky Mountains in search of a waterfall of note — one that the guidebooks said was “readily accessible.”  That said, it took longer than we thought — we’d come up around a curve on the mountain trail, sure that it would be right there —– only to find (just) another curve. As we crossed folks coming back down from the falls, we’d (breathlessly) ask — “how much further is it?” — and while the responses were varied in terms of their accuracy and descriptive depth, they all added “it’s worth it.”  And you know what? It was.   Well, believe it or not, we’re nearing another kind of summit; a week from today we’ll be about halfway through the 2025 NAPA 401(k) Summit. It’s later than “normal” this year — and it’s been a long-time coming. Indeed, your Summit Steering committee has spent nearly a year putting this all together — leveraging YOUR input on topics, each has aligned themselves with a specific workshop — lit...