Nevin's Data "Points"

  “You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout…” Those are, of course, the opening lyrics to that holiday classic, “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” And while the tune is jaunty enough, the message — that there’s some kind of elfin “eye in the sky” keeping tabs on us has always struck me as just a little bit…creepy. That said, once upon a time, as Christmas neared, it was not uncommon for my wife and I to caution our occasionally misbehaving brood that  they  had best be attentive to how their (not uncommon) misbehaviors might be viewed by the big guy at the North Pole. In support of that notion, a few years back — well, now it’s quite a few years back — when my kids still believed in the (SPOILER ALERT) reality of Santa Claus, we discovered an ingenious website [i]  that purported to offer a real-time assessment of their “naughty or nice” status. Indeed, no amount of parental threats or admonishments — in fact, nothing we ever said or did —  EV...

“You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout…” Those are, of course, the opening lyrics to that holiday classic, “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” And while the tune is jaunty enough, the message—that there’s some kind of elfin “eye in the sky” keeping tabs on us—has always struck me as just a little bit… creepy. That said, once upon a time, as Christmas neared, it was not uncommon for my wife and I to use those images to caution our occasionally misbehaving brood that they had best be attentive to how their (not uncommon) misbehaviors might be viewed by the big guy at the North Pole. In support of that notion, a few years back—well, now it’s quite a few years back—when my kids still believed in the (SPOILER ALERT) reality of Santa Claus, we stumbled across an ingenious website that purported to offer a real-time assessment of their “naughty or nice” status. Indeed, nothing we said (or did, or threatened) ever had the impact of that website—if not on the...

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...

A few years back – when my kids were still “kids” – and believed in the reality of Santa Claus – we stumbled across an ingenious website. This was a website that purported to offer a real-time assessment of one’s “naughty or nice” status. Now, as Christmas approached, it was not uncommon for us as parents to caution our occasionally misbehaving brood that they had best be attentive to how their actions might be viewed by the big guy at the North Pole. But nothing we ever did or said 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, distraught that he’d find nothing under the Christmas tree that year but the lump of coal and bundle of switches he surely “deserved.” Naughty Behaviors? When one cons...

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 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 that he’d find nothing under the Christmas tree but the lump of coal he so surely “deserved.” In similar fashion, must of those responding to the ubiquitous surveys abou...

I can remember as a kid paging through the pages of various Christmas catalogues, earmarking the pages that contained the various things that I hoped Santa Claus (or his emissaries, my parents) would take as hints. These days such things have been replaced by online “wish lists” – and if they’re not quite as much fun to page through, they’re doubtless more effective. So, in the spirit of the holiday season, here are some “presents” that I hope participants find in their retirement plan “stockings” during the coming year: Automatic reenrollment for longer-term workers. New hires, regardless of age, are these days routinely defaulted into some type of qualified default investment alternative, whether it be a managed account, target-date fund, or balanced fund. However, workers who have been in the plan for awhile are generally not accorded that courtesy. Rather, ostensibly on the premise that they have, at some previous point in their careers, made an affirmative election to be ...

A few years back — when my kids still believed in the reality of Santa Claus — we discovered an ingenious website. This was a website that purported to offer a real-time assessment of your “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 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, and he knew it) was on the verge of tears, worried that he’d find nothing under the Christmas tree but the nuggets of coal in his stocking he so surely deserved. Bad Behaviors? With so many reports purporting to chronicle the sorry state of retirement confidence...

One of the things I enjoyed most about writing/publishing NewsDash over a 16-year span (12 years at PLANSPONSOR, and four before that as an internal email) was doing a weekly survey – on a wide variety of topics, both serious – and not-so-serious. My favorite of the “regular” surveys (and there weren’t many that repeated, even over all that time) was the annual survey of holiday movies. And while there were certain perennial favorites, it seemed like every year there was a real “battle” for the top slot among readers. As for this year – well, the survey was admittedly a bit ad hoc – but the results were just as fun. So, here’s the top 5: Christmas Vacation (26.1%) It’s a Wonderful Life (15.2%) Elf (13.0%) How the Grinch Stole Christmas (4.3%) A Charlie Brown Christmas (4.3%) …asked to choose a second favorite, It’s a Wonderful Life and Elf tied for first, with 14% of the vote. You can check out the NewsDash survey from 2010 at http://www.plansponsor.com/SURVEY_SAYS_What_is_Your_Fa...