Regardless of how you feel about visiting the doctor, after you listen to my conversation with Dr. Greg Kasten , the Founder and CEO of Unified Trust Company and if you follow a few of his prescriptions or strategies they could help you make a lasting impact on the future of your retirement plan and workforce! There are a lot of memorable takeaways for anyone looking to explore some new concepts to get different results. Personally I liked when Dr. Kasten: Compared how selecting a retirement pla...
Feb 03, 2017•1 hr 8 min
As a retirement plan sponsor, you are constantly bombarded with sales calls, articles, new products, updates on litigation and much more. This information overload can make it challenging to filter through the noise and bright shiny objects to focus on what’s really important to your retirement plan and your participants. With that in mind, I was excited to have Tom Kmak, CEO and co-founder of Fiduciary Benchmarks rejoin me on the podcast to offer some perspective. By way of background, Tom is c...
Jan 27, 2017•1 hr 6 min
Today is inauguration day and depending on your political leanings, it represents the beginning, the end, the beginning of the end or some other variation on that theme! However, what I am excited about is sharing my recent conversation with Bob Holcomb, ERISA Attorney and Vice President of Legislative and Regulatory Affairs at Empower Retirement where we discuss what employers should expect from retirement plan policy during the Trump Administration. Now, despite what I just said a minute ago, ...
Jan 20, 2017•1 hr 2 min
If you are interested to learn how thinking differently about your company culture and employee benefits could help you win the battle for talent today and in the future, then you don't want to miss this episode! And if that wasn't enough, we also reveal that we are in the midst of a complete revolution in the nature and composition of the workforce which occurs every four generations while sharing some great strategies for employers who might be struggling to adapt! Full disclosure, there’s not...
Jan 13, 2017•1 hr
Well here we go, kicking off another year and I couldn’t be happier that the first episode of 2017 features my conversation with Meghan Murphy, Director of Thought Leadership at Fidelity Workplace Investing. While I won’t steal Meghan’s thunder, I will tell you that she shares a lot of valuable information for employers that should be very helpful to your retirement plan and participants this year and well into the future. Before we get started, not only is this the first episode of 2017 but it ...
Jan 06, 2017•1 hr 3 min
Happy New Years and I hope that 2017 gets off to a great start for you both perennially and professionally! After a wild 2016, I am happy to say that this is the last episode of the year which is rebroadcast of a prior episode before we release the first of many exciting new episodes in 2017! This episode with Dr. Joe Coughlin, the founder and director of the MIT AgeLab is one of my personal all time favorites. Not only was he a great guest, but he shared a lot of interesting insights on generat...
Dec 30, 2016•58 min
Happy Holidays everyone! As a little treat here are two of our more popular episodes bundled into one for your listening pleasure. Both episodes feature Jason Roberts, ERISA Attorney and the Founder and CEO of the Pension Resource Institute which provides strategic consulting and training to retirement plan service providers and fiduciary education to plan sponsors. In the first part of the podcast we discuss how current 401(k) and ERISA litigation is shedding new light on fiduciary responsibili...
Dec 23, 2016•1 hr 11 min
If one of your New Year’s resolutions is evaluating your retirement consulting or 401(k) broker relationship, this is a must listen episode. My guest Trisha Brambley, is the CEO of Retirement Playbook. Her firm’s sole focus is working with retirement plan sponsors and fiduciaries who are interested in benchmarking their advisor or in conducting a plan advisor search. Over the past several years, Trisha and her firm have helped hundreds of employers of all shapes and sizes. And as you’ll hear, sh...
Dec 16, 2016•58 min
If you were curious or brave enough to check out this episode, I promise you it does not disappoint! For background, the most common theme we heard from our guests on our recent three part podcast mini series on 401(k) investment menu design was that investment committees should consider investment strategies outside of traditional stock & bond offerings other wise know as alternative asset classes, or the third pillar. To help everyone get their arms around things I could not have asked for...
Dec 09, 2016•1 hr 6 min
Ok, so you offer a 401(k) plan for your employees, you review participation and contribution rates, analyze your investments and negotiate plan fees. You should feel good that you have taken many of the steps to be a diligent retirement plan fiduciary. But, if you truly want to provide your employees with a 401(k) that is more than a just a savings plan, if you want to develop a benefit that both your employees and company will value, there is more work to be done to make that leap to provide a ...
Dec 02, 2016•1 hr 4 min
We have been getting a lot of questions about what the future holds for the global economy and financial markets in the wake of the US elections. So, I was excited to have Dr. David Kelly, a CFA charterholder and the Chief Global Strategist and Head of the Global Market Insights Strategy Team for J.P. Morgan Asset Management join me on the podcast. I have always appreciated Dr. Kelly’s ability to take complex and confusing economic and market concepts and relay them in a way that is easy to foll...
Nov 25, 2016•1 hr 3 min
This is the final installment of our three part mini-course on investment menu construction. Each of the three episodes were designed to help employers and their retirement plan committee members understand the current thinking on investment menu design. If you missed part one where we discussed investment menu design trends or part two where we covered how to select individual asset classes and investments, you may listen to them on demand by searching 401(k) Fridays on your favorite podcast ap...
Nov 18, 2016•1 hr 3 min
Episode Description When I first started to research this episode, the idea of talking about financial wellness with what I thought of as a tax or accounting firm seemed a bit off the mark. However, after my first conversation with our guest Kent Allison, a Partner and National Leader of PwC’s Employee Financial Wellness Practice all my concerns quickly went away! As you will hear, not only does Kent and his team advise large multi-national organizations on financial wellness strategies, but he ...
Nov 11, 2016•1 hr 14 min
Episode Description Thanks to my parents diligently setting aside money in savings bonds and my decision to attend an in-state school I was very fortunate to graduate from college nearly twenty years ago without the burden of student loan debt to repay. However, for many people over the years and especially today, that is not the case. My guest, Tony Aguilar, the co-founder and CEO of Student Loan Genius does a great job of laying out the realities and challenges for many of your employees who h...
Nov 04, 2016•58 min
Episode Description You might be asking yourself, what else is there and why should I consider any investment vehicle other than a mutual fund? Well, if those thoughts passed through your head, this episode is a great way to get answers to those questions! To explore the topic I have Jeff Kletti, a CFA and the Senior Vice President of Investments at Wells Fargo Institutional Retirement Trust with me today. With all of the attention and focus on 401(k) plan fees and the rapid improvements in tech...
Oct 28, 2016•1 hr 9 min
Episode Description I am proud to say that this episode, well except for the title, was greatly influenced by input I received from our email subscribers! To everyone who shared feedback on what you wanted me discuss with Tom Clark, ERISA Attorney and Of Counsel at the Wagner Law Group, thank you! As a reminder, as an email subscriber you get advance notice of many of our podcast guests and the opportunity to submit questions and topics for me to cover with them. If you have not subscribed to ou...
Oct 21, 2016•1 hr 3 min
Episode Description Alright, let me know if you have heard this one, a lawyer, an insurance broker and a retirement consultant walk into a bar, oh that’s right this is for the podcast. We’ll have to save that one for another time However that does resemble the motley crew we have assembled to discuss the evolving world of cyber risk or cyber threats and how they can impact 401(k) and other employer benefits plans. The lawyer in our conversation is Brian Finch, a partner at Pillsbury Law and memb...
Oct 14, 2016•1 hr 8 min
Episode Description This episode is part two of our three part mini course on constructing a 401(k) investment menu. In part one, we covered current thinking, trends and benchmark data on investment menu design, questions to ask your service providers before you start and much more! If you have not listened to that episode, I would encourage you to check it out on iTunes or your favorite podcast app! Now, back to part two where we discuss the next steps of investment menu design, determining the...
Oct 06, 2016•52 min
Episode Description You have likely had someone pitch or discuss with you the idea of introducing financial wellness to your employee population, or if you haven’t, the conversation is undoubtedly coming soon! In this episode we tackle the not so simple questions of what is financial wellness, how do we know if someone is financially healthy and is Financial Wellness here to stay or is this another passing fad in the benefits arena. To help explore the topic I have Doug Murray, EVP and Mary Holl...
Sep 30, 2016•1 hr 7 min
Episode Overview Have you ever wondered why other employers and plan sponsors either stay with or make changes to their retirement service providers? Has it been a little while since you have been out to the market to evaluate your retirement service partners and want to what your peers are looking for in record keepers and consultants? If so, then my conversation with Josh Dietch, Managing Director at Chatham Partners should be helpful! Who is Chatham Partners and how can they speak credibly ab...
Sep 23, 2016•1 hr 11 min
Episode Summary If you have ever felt like there is more you can do with or learn from your 401(k) plan data, this is the episode for you! To help explore the topic I am excited to have both John Fitzsimmons, Vice President of Reporting and Analytics and Bryan Hallock Director of Customer Analytics, both with Fidelity Workplace Investing. Despite the focus on what some might consider a dry topic, we had a fast moving and informative conversation. We tackled topics such as why its important for e...
Sep 16, 2016•55 min
Episode Description Just a preview of things to come, your 401(k), it doesn’t work outside the U.S.! So, let’s go for a trip around the globe to discuss the topics, trends and concepts employers who have employees outside the US should be aware of. With me I have Nick Dobbelbower, PhD, CEBS, DipIEB, GPHR, Vice President and Regional Practice Leader in Lockton’s Global Benefits Practice. Whether you have newly acquired international employees or you have been deeply involved with global retiremen...
Sep 09, 2016•1 hr 18 min
Episode Description Constructing an investment menu is something all 401(k) plans need to do. And, like most things, to get a good outcome for your plan and participants, the devil is in the details! To help you as a plan fiduciary I am excited to introduce our first three part mini-course of the podcast! This episode is Part One where we discuss fundamentals and key building blocks of investment menu construction. To help provide perspective I invited Matt Sommer, Vice President and Director of...
Sep 01, 2016•1 hr 6 min
Episode Description Don’t worry, you didn't join the wrong podcast. Yes, HSA plans are typically associated with the health portion of an employee benefits package. However, there has been much discussion in the industry about what you will hear my guest Ana Sabatino, Vice President and Consumer Driven Health Plan Specialist at CIGNA, refer to as the cross functional purpose of HSA plans in helping improve both employee decisions and outcomes in health and wealth. With the growth of HSA plans at...
Aug 25, 2016•57 min
Episode Summary If you have been involved in working with retirement benefit plans over the last several years, you have probably been told more times than you can remember that your 401(k) plan comes with fiduciary responsibility. You also have likely noticed the proliferation of 401(k) lawsuits, and that the DOL has released their new Conflict of Interest rule which redefines how one can become a fiduciary. With all of this going on, and the questions that have ensued, I thought it would be a ...
Aug 18, 2016•1 hr 8 min
Episode Overview As an employer, how do statements such as money is not as big of a deal as it used to be, the younger generation want to work for companies they believe are contributing to the greater good and the workforce of the future is going to require new investment to just stay competitive with where you are today? To address these questions and many more, I was excited to have Dr. Joe Coughlin, the founder and director of the MIT AgeLab as my guest on the podcast. During our conversatio...
Aug 11, 2016•58 min
Episode Description As we sit here just past the midpoint of 2016, the 401(k) industry continues to get a lot of attention in the media, with regulators and certainly from employers and their employees. However, what is not talked about very much is how the business of being a record keeper works and what employers should understand about the business models of their service providers. To help shed some light on this topic, I invited Bill Yoerger, President of OneAmerica Retirement Services. Bil...
Aug 05, 2016•59 min
Episode Description You would have to have been living under a rock for the past few years if you are an employer who sponsors a retirement plan and you haven't notice the dramatic increase in the number and pace of 401(k) lawsuits. There is even a 401(k) case that went to the Supreme Court! To help employers understand what is driving 401(k) lawsuits, common themes in current litigation and ways employers can manage risk, I invited David Levine, Principal and ERISA Attorney at Groom Law to the ...
Jul 29, 2016•50 min
Episode Description: In this installment of our Industry Profile series we focus on topics, trends and thoughts specific to employers in higher education and their retirement plans. As you will hear from my guest, Patricia Harte, head of TIAA’s institutional relationship management team, while many of the core values embraced by institutions and reflected in their retirement plans have stayed the same, the strategies, tools and conversations are evolving! Patty pulls from her roughly 25 years of...
Jul 07, 2016•1 hr 7 min
Episode Summary For most employees, making the transition into retirement means they have to come to grips with how they are going to live without a paycheck for arguably the rest of their life. While this is a highly personal and individual decision, if you are their employer at the time, the decision about when and if they are ready to make the transition into retirement can have a big impact on you! To help get more familiar with the struggles and challenges in preparing as well as the partic...
Jun 24, 2016•1 hr 8 min
