Nevin's Data "Points"

My wife and I recently celebrated our wedding anniversary—it was a “big” one, one of those that almost takes your breath away thinking about how rich your life together has been. If someone had asked on my wedding day if I thought I’d still be alive and married this many years hence, I’m sure that I would have expressed confidence, likely strong confidence, in both outcomes. However, if someone on that same day had asked me to guess then where I would be living now, what I would be doing for a living, or what my income would be (or need to be)—well, my responses would likely have been much less certain—and trust me, I would have been… wrong. Not that there haven’t been bumps along the road—life is a series of zig-zags, after all—and no matter how carefully you try to plan—well, life is what happens to you while you’re making other plans, right? There was the wedding limo with faulty air conditioning on the hottest July day in history, the flat tire in the middle of nowh...

Every plan has participants—and, sooner or later, will therefore have “ex” participants—and sometimes those participants go…missing. And that can be a real problem for retirement plan fiduciaries. While most are likely aware of the fiduciary obligation to keep accurate records, many are less aware that there is also an obligation to take “appropriate steps” to ensure that the participants and beneficiaries are paid their full benefits when due. But what are the “appropriate steps”? Why It Matters This is a growing concern of regulators; in fact, (now former) Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Employee Benefits Security Administration Jeanne Klinefelter Wilson has noted that, “In fiscal year 2020 alone, EBSA’s investigators helped missing and nonresponsive participants recover benefits with a present value in excess of $1.4 billion.” The good news is, the Labor Department has published some guidance on the subject—in fact, it’s a triple dose of g...

A couple of Saturdays back I discovered that one of my online accounts had been “hacked.”  The good news is that I “discovered” this via transaction emails confirming what appeared to be purchases—a half dozen of them… for various, small-ish (though not small) amounts… all about 4:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning. And trust me, while the pandemic has certainly fueled my online purchases, both the number and the timing were  not  normal behaviors (nor was the Chinese text in those emails). The even better news was that I was able to flag those transactions via the provider—and via my credit card company— almost  immediately (apparently the foreign hackers and I were the only ones awake at that hour). Even though there was no damage done by this incursion (aside from some temporary heartburn), it brought home to me again the importance of protecting  all  of my online accounts. Like many, perhaps most, of you, I have long found managing the sheer v...

I was discussing the subject of retirement over the long holiday weekend with family.  There was a lot of talk about Social Security (or the looming lack thereof), the impact(s) of inflation, and how the markets (stock and housing) had boosted prospects, but ultimately decided we weren’t sure when that would happen, we weren’t even positive that it  would  happen (the so-called “ great resignation ” notwithstanding), or if it might consist of a gradual slowdown/pullback. Moreover, we really didn’t know what “it” would be like if and when it did happen, or where we might be living even if and when. Finally—it had been a pretty hectic week, after all—I somewhat playfully suggested that the best definition of retirement would be the absence of time-critical deadlines and Zoom meetings. Ah, now  that’s  something to look forward to! However, and as those who are already ensconced there can attest, retirement has its own set of pressures, and they go wel...

The study of history is a passion of mine, and while it seems a bit trite, the old adage that those who don’t remember the past are doomed to repeat it seems more apropos by the day. Regardless, I never cease to be touched by the experience of walking the grounds where famous individuals or great historic events took place.  A few years back I had the opportunity to be in Philadelphia for a few days beyond the customary speaking event “fly-by,” and was thrilled to be able to tour Independence Hall where, in 1776, the Continental Congress crafted what we will shortly celebrate as the Declaration of Independence. Those who think that partisan divides, cynical self-interest, and political acrimony are recent “innovations” in government would perhaps be shocked to learn that regional tensions have always been part-and-parcel of our republic… even before it was a republic.  The room was smaller than I had imagined—and I couldn’t imagine what it must have felt like o...