Nevin's Data "Points"

There were a lot of ERISA litigation settlements in 2019 – but how are those trending? An analysis by Bloomberg Law finds that class settlements in employee benefit disputes hit $449 million in 2019 – a figure that they noted was up significantly from 2018’s $291 million, but well short of the $559 million in settlements recorded in 2017. That said, “only” about half of the 2019 “tab” – some $193 million – came from excessive fee suits, according to the report. The average of such settlements? $12 million. In March , the parties in  Tussey v. ABB , one of the oldest (2005) excessive fee suits, came to terms for $55 million. Other settlements announced included: Northrop Grumman  ( $16.5 million );  a 2017 stable value suit settlement finally approved ;  the settlement terms of two fiduciary breach suits involving Safeway’s 401(k) plan, its investment structure, plan consultant, and selection of target-date funds have been submitted for court...

A few years back — well, now it’s quite a few years back — when my kids still believed in the reality of Santa Claus, we discovered an ingenious website that purported to offer a real-time assessment of their “naughty or nice” status. Now, as Christmas approached, it was not uncommon for us to caution our occasionally misbehaving brood that they had best be attentive to how those actions might be viewed by the big guy at the North Pole. But nothing we said or did ever had the impact of that website — if not on their behaviors (they were kids, after all), then certainly on the level of their concern about the consequences. In fact, in one of his final years as a “believer,” my son (who, it must be acknowledged, had been  particularly  naughty that year) was on the verge of tears, worried – after a particularly cautionary status - that he'd find nothing under the Christmas tree but the coal and bundle of switches he so surely “deserved.” In similar fashion...

Earlier this year, I commented that it would be interesting to see how expanded access to hardship withdrawals might impact that activity. Now we have some answers. There’s more than a little irony in a legislative body that has long bemoaned both the paucity of retirement savings and the nefarious impact of “leakage” (pre-retirement withdrawal of retirement savings) opening those floodgates a little wider – but mostly the new law, and clarifying regulations [i]  seemed to provide plan sponsors a bit more flexibility in administering these programs, some welcome latitude in helping their workforce navigate choppy financial waters. What remained unknown was – would participants take advantage – or, more precisely, would they abuse the privilege. The first sign – and it was a bit of an eye-opener – came from Fidelity who, in a white paper , claimed to have seen a shift in participant behavior. Not in the percentage of participants taking loans and hardships over...

Shopping for a new provider is not something one would normally equate with a Black Friday foray or a Cyber Week scramble. But if you have a plan sponsor — or plan sponsor prospect — who’s thinking about shopping for a new provider, here are some ideas to share. Make a list — and yes, check it twice. In an area fraught with as much potential complexity as searching for a retirement plan provider, it’s easy to think you can learn what you need to look for by simply going through the process. And while it’s certainly a learning process, doing so without a sense of core needs is a bit like going grocery shopping on an empty stomach; everything will sound good, and you’ll likely overload on the “sugar” (and perhaps overpay as well). Even Santa Claus makes a list — so should you: of plan design features (real and anticipated) that you want supported. Don’t neglect the problems. Odds are if a plan sponsor is serious about a change in providers, there’s a reason – ...

Thanksgiving has been called a “uniquely American” holiday, and while that may be something of an overstatement, it is unquestionably a special holiday, and one on which it seems appropriate to reflect on all for which we should be thankful. So, as I look back at this past year: I’m thankful that so many employers voluntarily choose to offer a workplace retirement plan – and that so many workers, given an opportunity to participate, do. I’m thankful that a growing number of employers have chosen to automatically enroll valued workers into these programs, and that they are increasingly opting to establish a default contribution rate in excess of the “traditional” 3%. I’m thankful that the vast majority of workers defaulted into retirement savings programs tend to remain there – and that there are mechanisms (automatic enrollment, contribution acceleration and qualified default investment alternatives) in place to help them save and invest better than they might otherw...

Thanksgiving has been called a “uniquely American” holiday, and while that may be something of an overstatement, it is unquestionably a special holiday, and one on which it seems appropriate to reflect on all for which we should be thankful. So, as I look back at this past year: I’m thankful that so many employers voluntarily choose to offer a workplace retirement plan – and that so many workers, given an opportunity to participate, do. I’m thankful that a growing number of employers have chosen to automatically enroll valued workers into these programs, and that they are increasingly opting to establish a default contribution rate in excess of the “traditional” 3%. I’m thankful that the vast majority of workers defaulted into retirement savings programs tend to remain there – and that there are mechanisms (automatic enrollment, contribution acceleration and qualified default investment alternatives) in place to help them save and invest better than they might o...

I’ve been on the road a lot over the past several weeks – and I’ve noted a remarkably diverse range of prices in gasoline across various locales. I think it’s fair to label gasoline a “commodity [i] ” – what the dictionary describes as “a reasonably interchangeable good or material, bought and sold freely as an article of commerce.” Oh, sure – you may have a preference for one brand or another, you may not care for the political allegiances of their ownership… but when push comes to shove, it usually comes down to price – because, after all, when it comes to gasoline, it’s pretty much the same stuff. For years, recordkeeping services – complex and difficult as they can be to provide accurately and consistently (not to mention profitably) – have been characterized (some might say disparaged) as a “commodity,” while fee compression (and the aforementioned complexities) continue to fuel consolidation in that industry. Honestly, as a former recordkeeper, I’ve never...

I’ve never had very healthy eating habits – even as a child. And while this wasn’t a concern of mine at the time, my parents were quite insistent that either I start taking vitamins or improve my eating habits. Figuring that it was the lesser of two “evils,” I went for the pill. Well, until I saw THE PILL. Mind you, this was no kid-friendly Flintstones chewable – no, it was some big, ugly black monstrosity – a real “horse pill.”  And just looking at it I was sure that there was no way it could possibly make it down my poor 5-year old throat (I wasn’t altogether sure it would even fit in my mouth). However, and despite my vehement protestations, my parents were determined that I would ingest it. And, for the next 15 minutes or so (it felt like forever) I was as close to being waterboarded as I will ever want to be – as my parents proceeded to hold me down, tilt my head, and attempt to flush the pill down my throat with copious amounts of water. But su...

Financial wellness – it remains a hot topic among advisors – but among plan sponsors? For all the coverage that the subject engenders – and it’s considerable in this space – it’s not unusual to find awareness gaps among plan sponsors, with perspectives ranging from ignorance to ambivalence to downright skepticism. About a year ago, the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) conducted a survey  of 250 large employers. At the time, the report claimed that while many employers were interested in offering financial wellness programs to their employees, there didn’t appear to be a consensus on the approach. So, what’s changed in in the past year? Well, as it turns out, not much. Once again EBRI surveyed  large plan sponsors – this time in June 2019, the online survey of 248 full-time benefits decision-makers from companies with at least 500 employees (17% had more than 10,000). Last year’s survey canvassed employers with an “expressed interest in financ...

Plan sponsors have a lot of responsibilities and often rely on others to help them keep their plan operating in accordance with the law. And yet, even with the most attentive plan sponsors, mistakes (still) occur. Here’s a list of some of the most common missteps: 1. Not using the plan’s definition of compensation correctly for all deferrals and allocations. The term “compensation” has several different applications in qualified retirement plan operations, depending on the particular compliance goal. For example, a plan may use one definition of compensation to allocate employer contributions and a separate, distinct one for testing whether employee salary deferrals are nondiscriminatory. Note that one of the top plan compliance concerns identified by the IRS is a failure to identify and apply the correct definition of compensation in a particular scenario. Note that while plans often use different definitions of compensation for different purposes, it’s important...

Financial literacy has long been touted as something of a “silver bullet” in helping workers make better financial decisions – and now there’s a call to make it a mandatory employment offering.  Now, we all know that lots of workers get their first (and for many only) exposure to financial markets via their workplace retirement plan. Ditto their only education about investing, diversification, or even mutual funds. Little wonder that those who are tasked with delivering those lessons have long championed the need for some basic level of financial education in school curricula. The issue was most recently raised earlier this year in a paper titled “ Defined Contribution Plans and the Challenge of Financial Illiteracy .” Authored by Jill Fisch of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, as well as financial literacy icon Annamaria Lusardi and Andrea Hasler from George Washington University School of Business, the paper compares the relative financial acumen of w...

Most of the surveys and research in our industry focus on the shortcomings – a lack of savings, of diversity in investment, of failure to maximize the employer match, or to have access to the programs that support those opportunities. There is, however, a shortfall that doesn’t garner much attention. I’m talking about time. And while time is often treated as an “enemy” of retirement planning (sometimes under the “longevity” label), certainly when there is a concern about outliving one’s resources, or perhaps when too little time remains to make preparations, there is another aspect: a retirement cut short.    This is heavy on my mind of late – not just because this week marks the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, though that’s certainly a factor. My recollections  of that awful day notwithstanding, I’ve been particularly mindful of the untimely passing of three individuals of my acquaintance in recent weeks: a relative, a colleag...

Those “kids” who were just dropped off at college for the first time? By their sophomore year, their generation will constitute one-quarter of the U.S. population. How will their retirement be different? That’s according to the authors of the so-called Mindset List – now housed at Marist College, having relocated from Beloitt College – has been published each August since 1998 . Originally created as a reminder to faculty to be aware of dated references, the list provides a “look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college.” Not to mention those who will go on to be workers and – eventually – retirees. This fall’s college class of 2023 is the first class born in the 21st Century (2001) – and thus lack a personal memory of the September 11 attacks. According to the authors of the Mindset List: This group has never used a floppy disk (heck, they’ve probably never even seen one, except at that “save” icon). Their phone has a...

I don’t know about you, but I’ve always had a certain ambivalence about what are generally termed “Hallmark holidays.” You know the ones I’m talking about – the ones that seem crafted for the sole purpose of generating sales for greeting card sellers. Of course, after a while you no longer question their existence – and if one still struggles to remember exactly when “Grandparent’s Day” is, well, we’ve pretty much got Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and Valentine’s Day down to a science (one that might not be on your calendar is National Slap Your Irritating Co-Worker Day, October 23). Indeed, these days there are months on the calendar devoted to a whole series of acknowledgements and remembrances. There are also a number of occasions set aside to recognize the importance of saving ( America Saves Week –February ), the importance of planning for retirement (National Retirement Planning Month – July, and National Retirement Planning Week – April), and the issue of retiremen...

Retirement planning can be a complicated process – and surveys suggest that most workers haven’t even attempted a guess. But even those who have can overlook some pretty significant factors that can have a dramatic impact on retirement readiness. Here are some critical factors that are easy to get “wrong.” The Cost of Inflation Twenty or 30 years from now, prices are likely to be different than they are today, and for many, those prices will increase – and perhaps particularly costs of critical life aspects like health care. Consider that, overall, the average inflation rate for 2018 was 1.9%. It’s not that all prices will always go up – but they often do, and might increase faster than your income. Think of it as the “magic of compounding’s” evil twin… There’s a calculator that you might find interesting at  http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/ . The Cost of Taxes A key part of the incentive for retirement saving in a 401(k) is the ability to postpone payin...

We really hadn’t been focused on making a change, though the subject had come up from time to time.  In fact, considering how long we had been thinking about making a change without actually doing anything about it, the change itself felt almost accidental in its suddenness. So sudden, in fact, that, in hindsight, I found myself wondering if we were “hasty” – perhaps too hasty. Make no mistake – we had been happy enough with our current provider, certainly at first. In fact, we had been with them for a number of years and had, over time, expanded that relationship to include a fully bundled package of services. That made certain aspects simpler, of course – though we discovered pretty quickly that the “bundle” was presented as being more seamless than it actually was. Still, net/net, we were ahead of the game financially, and certainly no worse on the delivery side; we were just a bit disappointed in the disconnect between the sale and the service levels. And...