Nevin's Data "Points"

It’s been a busy year, a crazy summer – and we’ve still got a presidential election to go. It has been years since things actually slowed down in the summer (at least in the way we all seem to remember it), but this summer has been busier than any I can remember. Not only has everybody been making preparations for the implementation of the Labor Department’s fiduciary regulation (and it’s affecting different business models very differently), we’ve had the looming prospects of litigation regarding the legality of the regulation itself, and the authority of the Labor Department to undertake it. The challenges to that regulation share certain critical aspects, and yet each has its own unique flavor – and let’s not forget that they are filed in three different federal venues (four, counting the one filed just last week ). Could one prevail in convincing a federal judge to grant a preliminary injunction to stop the rule’s implementation? Could such a ruling actually serve to maintain t...

I’ve long enjoyed John Oliver’s take on the world. He has a gift for bringing humor to subjects that aren’t generally seen as funny, and in the process not only helps make complex topics more approachable, he gives voice to the frustration that millions surely feel at the world around us. That said, when he decides to weigh in with his style of biting commentary on  your  profession – well, let’s just say that you’re likely to be in for a bumpy ride. And so it was this weekend,  when he took on  retirement savings, retirement advisors and the process of setting up a small plan 401(k). Now, it wasn’t as biased as some media treatments of the retirement plan profession have been. Oh, they brought in the exaggerated math on fees from that  2013 PBS Frontline special , copied (and doubled down on)  their dismissal of active management  …and he  did  reference  termites . But all in all – and while continuing to emphasize throughout th...