I always talk about how plan sponsors need to work with experienced financial advisors, third party administration (TPA) firms, and ERISA attorneys on their plan needs. Like with reasonable fees, I believe that the term...more
When I was 13, I bought my very first computer, an Apple IIe for $2,000, which would be about $4,760 in 2019 money. This year, I bought an Apple MacBook Pro for about $1,800....more
Fidelity is being sued and being investigated for shelf space payments they receive from mutual fund companies for room on their fund platform. They’re not the only provider to receive these fees and I find it totally...more
A few weeks back, I published a blog post on some third-party administrators (TPAs) are not really in the administration business but are in the business of selling insurance and assets. So I used some examples from my past...more
I guess my comments regarding revenue sharing is a bit sarcastic, but I think accurate. While revenue sharing payments from mutual funds to TPA to help defray the costs of administration of a plan sponsor’s plan is legal, it...more
How You Can Stand Out From The Crowd As A Retirement Plan Advisor. It would be a detriment to focus only on this stuff. There are lots of financial advisors who claim they handle retirement plans, but there are...more
When I first started in the 401(k) plan business in 1998, it was a boom time for the stock market and mutual funds. That got plan sponsors wanting daily valued participant directed 401(k) plans and that helped put almost an...more
Everyone has been focused on fees since the implementation of fee disclosure in 2012. It didn’t end retirement plans for everyone, but it put pressure on fees. While the focus on fees have affected those providers that...more
Maybe it’s an insecurity of mine, but I always felt and still do that there are many times that I haven’t been taken seriously. There were family situations and professional situations where that came to be and it wasn’t a...more
What was good yesterday might not be a good today. Asbestos was a great fireproof building material until it was found to cause asbestosis and malignant mesothelioma Thalidomide was a great drug for morning sickness until it...more
One of my favorite movies of all time is Casino, directed by Martin Scorcese. It doesn’t get as much love because it is often compared to GoodFellas, which was another mob movie that was directed by Scorsese, and also...more
Back in the day when I was a kid growing up in Brooklyn (much scarier then in the 1970s and 80s), there was an electronics retailer named Crazy Eddie’s. The commercials were memorable as the sales pitchman Jerry Carroll...more