Nevin's Data "Points"

   Last week, I shared a   list of things that make me “mad as hell”   — things that those in our industry generate, promote and often share as fact without any application of common sense, and no apparent appreciation for the damage done by their complicity in sharing such nonsense.  Here’s the rest of the list:  Reporting on average  —  well, anything (see  Why an Average 401(k) Balance Doesn't 'Mean' Much ) . You name it, if it involves numbers from widely varied sources, individuals, or different time periods, somebody in this industry will report it as an arithmetic average. This industry continues to insist on reporting average 401(k) balances, average fees, average estimates on retirement needs, and more recently “forgotten” average account balances. I get it. Averages are widely considered to be a middle of the pack assessment of reality. But that’s only true when you are averaging things that are similar, and more importantly real. I...

  Did you hear the one about how nearly all U.S. retirement plans have “at least one regulatory or fiduciary ‘red flag’ violation”? Well, here’s hoping you haven’t. Because this so-called “analysis” of Form 5500 filings claims to have discovered that 84% of all (that’s right ALL) retirement plans in the United States have “at least one likely Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) red flag from a regulatory and/or fiduciary violation.” Now, having grabbed your attention, you probably won’t be surprised to find in the fine print of the press release an opportunity to “schedule a cost-free benchmarking audit.” But before you do so, you might want to take a look at the criteria this firm designates as a “red flag.” From their  press release , “Abernathy-Daley defines red flag violations as either ‘infractions, fineable offenses, fiduciary failure, or plan malpractice’ and are separated into two main categories: Regulatory Infraction Red Flags (RIRF) and Egregious Plan Mi...