Nevin's Data "Points"

Next week we will launch our eighth annual search for the nation’s best retirement plan advisers. Each year, we receive a number of inquiries from advisers about the awards, many that fall into a category I tend to think of as “exploratory”—feelers as to what we are looking for. Well, at its core, what we hope to acknowledge—and, thus, what we are looking for—hasn’t changed at all from when we first launched the award in 2005: advisers who make a difference by enhancing the nation’s retirement security, through their support of plan sponsor and plan participant information, support, and education. And, since its inception, we’ve focused on advisers who do so through quantifiable measures: increased participation, higher deferral rates, better plan and participant asset allocation, and delivering expanded service and/or better expense management. Now, we’ve always tried to be very transparent about the award, and the process that underlies the selection. That said, I know that some ...

In a business notorious for change, it nonetheless seems fair to say that the past twelve months have been extraordinary ones indeed. In short order, we have had to absorb and assimilate the mandates of the Pension Protection Act, grapple with the portents of qualified default investment alternatives, gird ourselves for the impact of final regulations on deferred compensation plans and 403(b)s—and all this at a time when revenue-sharing practices are drawing an unprecedented level of scrutiny from all quarters. There is nothing like tumultuous times to highlight the value of, and reinforce the need for, expert help for plan fiduciaries. It is also the kind of challenging environment that tends to separate the chaff from the wheat—that sorts out the committed from the merely intrigued. And, yes, it surely plays to the advantage of a profession dedicated to helping plan sponsors construct the right programs, and participants make the best of them. That is why, in 2005, we launched our ...