Nevin's Data "Points"

  After years of anticipation — and months of litigation — the Department of Labor’s latest attempt to expand the definition of fiduciary investment advice is now dead. That said, and with apologies to Mark Twain, reports of the “death” of the fiduciary rule are somewhat exaggerated. The 2024 version — the so-called Retirement Security Rule — was  vacated , which, in legal terms, means we treat it as if it never existed. But ERISA’s fiduciary framework remains very much alive. Indeed, for advisors already serving as fiduciaries for retirement plans under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, the practical impact of the recent court ruling is minimal. Advisors serving as 3(21) fiduciaries or 3(38) investment managers were — and remain — subject to ERISA’s duties of prudence and loyalty.  Many advisory firms, frankly, had already adopted procedures and business models that would likely have satisfied even the Obama-era fiduciary rule. Where the rule...

One of my favorite parts of the NAPA 401(k) Summit is a comprehensive annual survey we do of advisors in attendance at the Summit I call the Summit Insider . It’s a unique opportunity to get the perspective of hundreds of retirement plan-focused advisors in a unique window of time. A chance, if you will, to see what’s on the collective minds of a very special group of individuals. Like the networking experience of the Summit itself, it’s a chance to see what is actually on the minds and driving forces for the nation’s leading advisors. Sometimes it’s a validation—sometimes a repudiation—but it’s always insightful, all the more so in view of this year’s (record-breaking) response to the Summit Insider questionnaire. Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve shared some insights in the NAPA-Net daily—but if you’re looking for a quick sense of the advisor perspective(s) on business practices, industry trends, team building, or future focus—well, here you go: There have been BIG...

 Most of the attempts to affix a value to having an advisor tend to focus on investment returns or cost savings. Both are valid, objective measures that can have a real, substantive impact on retirement security—but, at least with the best advisors—there’s usually more. Indeed, years ago as a fiduciary of another firm’s 401(k) plan, and while I had always felt comfortable with the decisions the plan committee had made, as our little company grew to be less little, I was increasingly aware of the personal liability associated with my role, and the small amount of time I was able to dedicate to the task alongside my “day job.”  That advisor delivered in all the ways I had hoped he would—but there was value well beyond that in terms of the structure he brought not only to our discussions, but to our process. Things like: The Discipline to Meet Internally driven committee meetings are frequently a casualty of whatever crisis emerges on any particular day. As huma...

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 – ...

By any measure, the just-concluded NAPA 401(k) Summit  was an incredible, record-breaking success – with so much good content and networking that it was hard to choose between sessions. For those who weren’t able to be there – or who were unable to be everywhere at once – here are some random thoughts, insights and perspectives from that event. Health savings accounts could wind up being a big deal. One man’s loophole is another man’s incredibly important tax preference. The most important thing is not what happened, it’s what’s going to happen. Online gambling didn’t kill Vegas – and robo-advisors won’t kill 401(k) advice. In tax reform, everything is about trade-offs. 84% of Millennials surveyed want their investments to make the world better. Retirement plans are about 1/50th of what a plan sponsor does. Fees are still a major factor in landing a new client. Most people want to do the right thing, but they don’t know how to do it. When the market go...

It’s time to put your money where your mouth is. In just a few weeks, many of you will be at the NAPA 401(k) Summit in Las Vegas. This will be my third Summit since joining the organization, though I have been to, and spoken at, a good number of them over the years. This year, as in years past, the steering committee, agenda team and NAPA leadership have been hard at work for months, developing the program, fleshing out the agenda, lining up speakers, and this year assigning session “owners” to make sure that you get maximum bang for your buck in terms of information and session quality. We’ve taken your feedback on topics and format, expanded the peer-to-peer networking, and added a brand new component called “super” sessions. We’ve got some amazing keynote speakers, enhanced our plan sponsor panel, and, for the first time ever, incorporated a new networking opportunity called “Summit After Dark” which will include some incredible entertainment in world-class environs. Sure, you...

I was recently asked by a reporter if the new fiduciary regulation was “needed.” The question caught me a bit off guard, because having been in “figure out how to deal with this” mode for most of the past year, I had long since moved past “why” and “if” to “when” and “how.” I was reminded of our last home purchase – which we bought in a bit of a rush. Oh, it wasn’t like we didn’t know we were moving – but our ability to actually hone in on a new home was hindered by the fact that our current home had to sell first. And, as is often the case in such things (or has been for us), we had gone a long time with nary an offer, much less a viable one. Once that offer came, of course, we had to move quickly (literally). And so, the planning that we had done mentally in anticipation of that day was thrust into overdrive. Ultimately we settled on a house that wasn’t the best we had seen, but it was the best available at the time (within the price and commuting distance restraints we placed up...

When is a plan not a plan? When you have a retirement plan at work, apparently. The good news is that the 2015 Retirement Confidence Survey  shows a strengthening of retirement confidence — at least among those who had some kind of retirement plan (DB, DC or IRA). Indeed, among that group, the number saying they were very confident has doubled since 2013. The bad news? Well, there doesn’t seem to be much in terms of substantive savings accumulations 1 or planning behaviors to account for this uptick in confidence. Consider that fewer than half (48%) of workers report they and/or their spouse have tried to calculate — even a single time — how much money they will need to have saved by the time they retire so that they can live comfortably in retirement, a level that has held relatively consistent over the past decade. In other words, while many have (or had) a retirement plan, they don’t seem to have a plan for retirement.  On the other hand, workers reporting that t...

New nonpartisan data has uncovered a major uptick in retirement confidence, as millions of Americans with access to workplace retirement plans finally took advantage of the wide array of resources long available to them. Those tools included the use of online calculators and the help of plan advisors . “I was always too busy to take advantage of these resources,” noted survey participant Jack V. Copeland. “Frankly, with all the negative coverage about retirement shortfalls and such, I didn’t see much point.” Not that the new research, published by the Oxford Newfound Institute of Nihilism (ONION), didn’t uncover retirement savings shortfalls among survey participants. However, with workers now taking the time to assess their personal situation, savings rate and projected retirement income needs, developing plans to address the situation rather than simply worrying about their dim prospects for retirement savings success became the order of the day. Previous research had shown that...

Thanksgiving has been called a “uniquely American” holiday, and one on which it seems fitting to reflect on all for which we should be thankful. Here’s my 2014 list: I’m thankful that retirement plan coverage and participation is up, if slightly, and that there seems to be a expanding national dialogue about how to expand that. I’m thankful that a growing number of policy makers are willing to admit that the “deferred” nature of 401(k) tax preferences are, in fact, different from the permanent forbearance of other tax preferences — even if the governmental accountants and academics remain oblivious. I’m thankful that so many employers offer access to a retirement plan in the workplace — and that so many workers, given an opportunity to participate, do. I’m thankful that most workers defaulted into retirement savings programs tend to remain there — and that there are mechanisms in place to help them save and invest better than they might otherwise. I’m thankful that thos...

Last week a reporter asked me what finding in the 2013 Retirement Confidence Survey¹most surprised me, before acknowledging that maybe there wasn’t anything to be surprised about in a survey that has now been conducted for nearly a quarter century.Sure enough, finding that retirement confidence is (still) at an all-time low stands out when you consider that is based on sentiments over a 23-year period.² Of course, you’re also able to note that it wasn’t that long ago (2007) when those sentiments were at an all-time high. As it turns out, the finding that stood out most to me in this year’s RCS was the response to a new question. While we have long asked about individual savings levels, and how much workers thought they would need to have accumulated by retirement in order to achieve a financially secure retirement, this year we also asked what percentage of their total household income they thought they would need to save each year from now until retirement so that they could live co...