I was an associate at a semi-prestigious law firm. I asked the 401(k) trustees to look at our plan. One trustee was the human resources director and the other one was a law firm partner.

The plan didn’t have a financial advisor. The investment options weren’t updated in 10 years. Plan participants weren’t being provided with any investment education, whatsoever. These were glaring problems and I told the trustees what needed to be done. Then they no longer listened to me. They hired an advisor I didn’t recommend and changed the third-party administrator without any input. Years after I left the firm, I learned they had a huge compliance problem, which didn’t make sense for a plan that should have been a safe harbor 401(k).

The plan was a mess and, in my mind, the people responsible for it should have walked the plank. Continuing to have the same bad decision-makers in place, makes zero sense. People who make bad decisions, usually always make bad decisions. If you want to change how you operate, eliminate the people that got you in the mess, first.