Nevin's Data "Points"

Last week another of the so-called excessive fee lawsuits was settled – not adjudicated, mind you. Here are some factors that the targets of these lawsuits seem to have in common. Now, in fairness, most of these cases haven’t actually gone to court – and, by my count, most of the ones that actually get to court are won by the employers/plan sponsors. Even the Tibble case , which drew so much attention when it made it to the Supreme Court, eventually came out in favor of the plan sponsors (though they “lost” the Supreme Court decision). However, a lot of litigation has been filed over the past decade, and millions of dollars spent — reminding me of an old mentor’s admonition that you can spend a lot of money in court being “right.” That so many employers have decided that it is “cheaper” to settle for millions of dollars gives you some idea of the magnitude of these challenges. So, with that in mind – and with apologies to Jeff (“you might be a redneck…”) Foxworthy: Your plan m...

I’ve long enjoyed John Oliver’s take on the world. He has a gift for bringing humor to subjects that aren’t generally seen as funny, and in the process not only helps make complex topics more approachable, he gives voice to the frustration that millions surely feel at the world around us. That said, when he decides to weigh in with his style of biting commentary on  your  profession – well, let’s just say that you’re likely to be in for a bumpy ride. And so it was this weekend,  when he took on  retirement savings, retirement advisors and the process of setting up a small plan 401(k). Now, it wasn’t as biased as some media treatments of the retirement plan profession have been. Oh, they brought in the exaggerated math on fees from that  2013 PBS Frontline special , copied (and doubled down on)  their dismissal of active management  …and he  did  reference  termites . But all in all – and while continuing to emphasize throughout th...

Among the assorted “idiot lights” that adorn my current car dashboard is one that alerts me to low tire pressure. It’s come in handy on precisely two occasions – one when a nail had punctured my tire (though I had already discerned that I had a problem from the sound of the flat tire nanoseconds before the light came on); the other when I had neglected to keep an eye on the tire pressure (which coincided with a day that I had let my daughter take my car to work). Other than that, it’s never really been on or an issue – or a help – until recently, when it came on, and stayed on, about 100 miles from home. Now my owner’s manual suggested that this behavior might be a sign of a bad sensor, and sure enough, (after 100 miles of driving angst) that was subsequently confirmed by my mechanic – who also informed us that it would cost a couple of hundred dollars to replace it. Perhaps needless to say, that light continues to illuminate my dashboard. Since the initial flurry of so-called “e...