If there’s one thing I’ve learned in more than twenty-five years dealing with retirement plans, providers, fiduciaries, and the occasional TPA who still thinks a “plan document” is optional, it’s this: the 401(k) business is never boring. Confounding? Absolutely. Frustrating? Every day. But never boring. That’s part of the reason I wrote That 401(k) Plan Provider Handbook, coming out January 6th, the first Monday of the new year, because nothing says “excitement” like starting 2026 with a 250-page book about plan administration. But the Handbook isn’t just a dry recitation of regulations. It’s my attempt to give plan providers a survival guide, a mix of the lessons, stories, and “don’t-try-thisat-home” moments that make this industry what it is. And in the spirit of the book, here are a few tales that didn’t make it into the final draft, a preview, if you will, things that shaped my perspective, scarred me emotionally, and occasionally made me rethink my life choices.
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