Nevin's Data "Points"

My schedule – and aversion to crowds – means that I rarely see a new movie the first weekend it comes out (a rare exception – Avengers: Infinity War this weekend). While this means that there are times when I’m the only one in the office the following Monday who hasn’t seen the latest blockbuster (and thus can’t offer an opinion), more often than not, it’s also spared me the time, money (and potential aggravation) of rushing out to see a movie that is more likely to be up for a “Razzie” than an Oscar. However, I’ve also found myself in situations where the hype surrounding a new blockbuster is so compelling that it builds up my expectations beyond the reality – leaving me… underwhelmed. Doubtless that was the sense of many in reading the Best Interest Regulation proposal published by the Securities and Exchange Commission last week. Those who had hoped that a uniform fiduciary standard might emerge were surely disappointed, as were those who might have antic...

As I talk to retirement plan advisors and plan sponsors around the country, there seem to be three camps of thought on the Labor Department’s fiduciary reproposal: those who think it will be a big deal; those who think it will be a big deal but manageable (once certain key issues are addressed); and those who are nearly completely oblivious as to the proposal, its potential impact or its current status. Unfortunately for advisors in the first and second category, nearly all plan sponsors seem to be in the third group. Here’s why plan sponsors should care about the proposal. You might have to change your plan education materials. Remember back when your plan education materials only had generic fund references, and your participants struggled to figure out which of the specific funds on their plan menu were supposed to match up with those colored pie chart pieces? Remember how frustrated they were when you couldn’t tell them? And how poor the results were? Perhaps not, bec...