Background - As ESG (environmental, social and governance) investing recently has drawn the attention of governmental agencies that oversee the administration of qualified retirement plans and their trillions of dollars...more
As we previously reported, there have been five lawsuits challenging the U.S. Department of Labor’s new fiduciary rule. On July 8, 2016, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) filed its first formal response to these...more
The Struggles Of Being A Retirement Plan Provider And How To Manage It. What you have to deal with. Any good retirement plan financial advisor will tell you that relationships in the retirement plan business mean...more
Editor's Overview - This month we feature three key developments. First, we review the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Gobeille v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 136 S. Ct. 936, 947 (2016) wherein the Supreme Court held that a...more
After much controversy and criticism, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued a final conflict of interest rule on April 6th (the “Final Rule”) which expands the definition of a fiduciary for an “employee benefit plan,” as...more
On April 8, 2016, the Department of Labor (DOL) released the much anticipated final regulation to broaden the scope of fiduciary status under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and the Internal...more
Wisconsin is home to over 10,000 registered broker-dealers, all of whom currently operate without owing federally imposed fiduciary duties. Unlike some of their peers in other states, Wisconsin broker-dealers generally do not...more
Included in the definition of a fiduciary in Section 3(21) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (“ERISA”) is someone who provides investment advice for a fee. Regulations issued in 1975 by the U.S. Department of...more
I had a few advisors who asked me about offering investment education as it pertained to the fiduciary rule, but it’s clear that the Department of Labor wants it offered when it made a carve out to the final rule to allow for...more
Employers and plan sponsors must comply with numerous filing and notice deadlines for their retirement and health and welfare plans. Failure to comply with these deadlines can result in costly penalties. To avoid such...more
The United States Department of Labor (the “DOL”) announced on March 18, 2015, a “direct” final rule (the “Final Rule”) extending the time in which annual disclosures must be provided by fiduciaries of participant-directed...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) published a request for information (the “RFI”) regarding the use of brokerage windows, self-directed brokerage accounts, and similar arrangements (collectively referred to in this article...more
Earlier this month we reminded you that plan administrators of participant-directed ERISA defined contribution retirement plans (e.g., 401(k) plans, 403(b) plans, profit sharing plans and money purchase plans) had to...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released Field Assistance Bulletin (FAB) 2013-02 on July 22, 2013, which provides plan administrators of individual account plans with participant-directed investments (such as 401(k) and...more