Nevin's Data "Points"

While it’s the celebration following a successful harvest held by the Pilgrims and members of the Wampanoag tribe in 1621 that provides most of the imagery around the holiday, Thanksgiving didn’t become a national observance until much later. Incredibly, it wasn’t marked as a national observance until 1863—right in the middle of the Civil War, and at a time when, arguably, there was little for which to be thankful. Indeed, President Abraham Lincoln, in his  proclamation  regarding the observance, called on all Americans to ask God to “commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife” and to “heal the wounds of the nation.”  We could surely stand to have some of that today.    Thanksgiving has been called a “uniquely American” holiday—and so, even in a year in which there has been what seems to be an unprecedented amount of disruption, frustration, stress, disco...

 What’s the most used and least understood/appreciated acronym in the retirement plan industry? Well, for my money, it’s “TPA”—short for “third-party administrator.” It’s a term that is widely bandied about, but I think misunderstood by many. The origins are plain enough—“administrator” in the sense that a TPA deals with plan administration process and issues. The issues and process, it bears noting, that ERISA (not to mention the IRS and DOL) presumes are the responsibility of the plan fiduciary. We’re talking about things like ensuring that the terms of the plan document are adhered to, that non-discrimination tests are properly applied, and that contributions are timely deposited.  Where things seem to get confused is the “third party” reference. At its simplest, it’s merely an acknowledgement that the entity performing those vital plan administration functions is someone other than the entity responsible under the law. They are, quite simply, a party exter...

Several years ago, we had in mind that it would be fun to get an aquarium for our home, and (even) I got excited at the prospects of filling it with a variety of all kinds and sizes of exotic fish.  Sadly, those hopes were dashed when I discovered that , despite the massive displays of what appeared to be whole schools of fish in similarly sized tanks at the pet store, our specific-sized tank would only support a handful of the fish I had hoped to display. Apparently, the more fish you want to have (that live), the bigger the tank you need. The reason: they need room to thrive and grow. At long last the IRS  last week  announced the new contribution and benefit limits for 2022. Considering the run-up in inflation this year, expectations were similarly high for increases in those limits. And sure enough, among other things, the 401(k) limit was bumped $1,000 (to $20,500) and the defined benefit plan limit rose from $230,000 to $245,000, though the limit...

I recently stumbled across a provocative article in the  New York Times  with that intriguing headline. Honestly, I laughed out loud (drawing my wife’s quizzical attention on an otherwise quiet Saturday morning) when I read it. I’m a (proud) Boomer, of course, and while Gen X basically slipped quietly into the workplace (much to their frustration), Millennials (to my experience) landed with a bang, upending traditional norms of business and meeting etiquette, demanding a voice that seemed well beyond their experience (and, yes, sometimes knowledge)—and, frustratingly (certainly for those of us who played by a different set of rules at their age), getting it.  So the notion that they were now feeling the same kind of pressures from the  next  generation of workers (a.k.a. Gen Z) was somewhat humorous to me in a “so, how do  you  like it?” kind of way.   Yes, having lived through the not-so-subtle eye-rolling of younger co-workers...