On previous episodes of the podcast we've heard from ERISA attorneys, consultants and various other specialists sharing their thoughts on how employers can mitigate their fiduciary risk. Now, I am proud to share that the experiences of a 401(k) expert witness is no longer unchartered territory for us! My guest, Jim Scheinberg, the Managing Partner and Founder of North Pier Fiduciary Management joins me for this action packed episode. We kick things off addressing what role a 401(k) expert witnes...
Aug 25, 2017•1 hr
More and more frequently when I see a news piece or industry article about 401(k) or workplace retirement plans, a key element is invariably fees. Going one step further they also tend to highlight the advantages of low cost index or passively managed investments. Based on my conversations with investment committees and retirement plan fiduciaries, there seems to be a few common reasons for the recent increased popularity in index funds: the industry focus on fees, investment performance of pass...
Aug 18, 2017•58 min
Its episodes like these that were one of my primary motivations for starting the podcast, examining current beliefs or messaging in the marketplace and applying contemporary critical thinking to examine if they are still valid and reliable for both employers and employees in workplace retirement plans. If you sponsor a 401(k) or other workplace retirement plans you have likely been given some off the cuff guidance on how much your employees should be saving for retirement, what is an adequate am...
Aug 11, 2017•52 min
Think for a minute about how much effort you and your retirement service partners have put into encouraging more employees to save and invest properly in your workplace retirement plan. Now, turn the conversation around. How much time and energy have you spent thinking about ways to help employees understand how to use their retirement savings to replace their income when they leave the workforce? To help shed some light on the whole retirement income conversation I’m excited to have Jody Strako...
Aug 04, 2017•53 min
When we get the question of “What is the best strategy for me to save for retirement” and it comes for an entrepreneur, the answer is seldom as simple as it might seem. So, where and how do you start? We thought it would be helpful to cover a few key concepts and then follow the progression of an entrepreneur along their journey from a “solopreneur” with an idea or inspiration for a business to experiencing some success, hiring employees, scaling and eventually selling the business and weave in ...
Jul 28, 2017•1 hr 2 min
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Target Date Funds (TDFs) have grown exponentially within the last few years. As a retirement plan fiduciary, it’s important to understand not only what a TDF is but how to evaluate them and ensure the strategy you have chosen or might be considering is a good fit for your plan. During my conversation with Jeff we provide some core concepts such as glide path construction, too vs. through retirement and open vs. closed architecture design to see if they ...
Jul 21, 2017•1 hr 3 min
We turned the tables for the 75th episode of the 401(k) Friday’s Podcast. Whether you are a regular listener or new to the 401(k) Fridays Podcast, this should give you some good context as you listen to additional episodes. We discuss the inspiration behind the podcast, the process for creating weekly content, how we identify topics and guests, a few philosophies and what we have planned for future episodes. We hope you enjoy the 75th episode of the 401(k) Fridays Podcast! Guest Bio Rick is a pa...
Jul 14, 2017•48 min
This is a replay of my conversation with Nicholas Dobelbower, Vice President and Practice Leader of Lockton's Global Benefits Practice. 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. Whether you have newly acquired international employees or you have been deeply involved with global retirement benefits, or you are ju...
Jul 07, 2017•1 hr 18 min
In our fast-paced world and ever evolving global financial markets, keeping your 401(k) investment menu consistent with the times can be challenging. As the conversation swings to investments with a focus outside the US, the conversation can get complex and downright confusing! With that in mind, Mike Quinn, Senior Client Portfolio Manager at OppenheimerFunds joins me this week to discuss the current state of the global markets, some pros and cons of international investing and his thoughts on w...
Jun 30, 2017•1 hr
Employers and Retirement Plan Fiduciaries have the difficult task of selecting retirement plan advisors. The names and titles alone can be incredibly confusing! Of the 100,000 practicing advisors, 3,000 are active in the retirement market and may be considered "DC Specialists" as my guest Robin Green , SVP & Head of Data & Analytics at Ann Schleck & Company | Fi360 would call them. She breaks down DC specialists into three sub-categories: The Broker, the Cowboy, and the Consultant. A...
Jun 23, 2017•52 min
When I ask employers if they have the information they need on the soon to launch state run retirement plans, I get reactions that range from "What state plans?" to "Great, sounds like another scheme to fix the mess with their pension plans!" These and other responses I have gotten haven’t given me a lot of confidence that information, much less accurate information, is filtering down to employers about these programs. With Oregon launching OregonSaves on July 1st, 2017 and many others likely to...
Jun 16, 2017•53 min
I'll have to admit, when I first heard of Don Barden and the "Perfect Plan" I was pretty skeptical. What does "perfect" mean? Who gets to judge "perfect"? My analytical mind was going crazy. However, as I became more familiar with Don and the concepts and elements he believes in, I felt it definitely made sense to bring him onto the podcast. My hope is that you will take away a few kernels of knowledge to help you rethink what retirement means along some motivation and inspiration! Guest Bio Don...
Jun 08, 2017•1 hr
Debt impacts your employees ability to save for retirement, pursue other financial goals, their productivity and physical health! You might be surprised to hear that based on Fidelity research, there are multiple generations and income levels that struggle with debt which might reframe some of your prior perceptions. Probably most important though, Meghan shares a few ideas for employers who want to explore helping their employees manage, pay down and avoid future challenges with debt. Guest Bio...
Jun 02, 2017•50 min
You ever go into a meeting thinking you are going to talk about one thing, but you pretty quickly realize that the person you are meeting with is going above and beyond your expectations? Well, that was my experience with this episode! My guest, George Castineiras brings a unique perspective to the 401(k) Fridays Podcast as he combines his background running the retirement practice for a large record keeper with his recent experience as an investor in multiple FinTech companies! As I was sketchi...
May 26, 2017•53 min
Over the years, and certainly recently there has been a lot of focus on the Department of Labor and their role in overseeing workplace retirement plans. What some might not realize or fully appreciate is the role if the Internal Revenue Service, better known as the IRS in overseeing retirement plans. To help employers get their arms around things I was excited to have Susan Mehlman, a Director in the National Tax Group and the Compensation and Benefits Practice Leader at Moss Adams join me on th...
May 19, 2017•1 hr 3 min
This is the second episode of today's double header. If you haven't listened to my conversation with Susan Mehlman at Moss Adams about the IRS and your 401(k) Plan, be sure to check that out as well. This episode is an updated version of one of the very first episodes on the podcast. This features my conversation with Sam Henson, an ERISA Attorney and the VP & Director of Legislative & Regulatory Affairs at Lockton Retirement Services. The first portion is our original conversation from ...
May 19, 2017•1 hr 12 min
This episode outlines how the relationship between behavioral finance and retirement plan design has evolved in recent years. Stuart Ritter is fantastic and was definitely one of my favorite guests on the podcast last year. Our conversation is fast paced and full of great stories and examples for employers who are looking to get their arms around behavioral finance and how embracing the concepts can improve your participant retirement outcomes. Guest Bio Stuart Ritter has appeared on television ...
May 12, 2017•1 hr 1 min
With almost 70 podcast episodes to date, we’ve had some amazing guests who have shared their experiences and perspectives to help employers better understand their retirement plans. Out of all our prior episodes, some of our more popular ones have been where we have had business leaders in the retirement industry talk about the current and future trends they see and how they are positioning their organizations to address them. In this episode, Jason Crane, the Executive Vice President and Managi...
May 05, 2017•1 hr 5 min
Automatic enrollment, automatic increases and investment default strategies, you’ve likely heard about these fundamental plan design features either from our prior guests on the podcast, current service partners or conversations with your peers. If you aren’t familiar, we do spend the first couple of minutes of this episode providing a foundation and background. However, my guest Jeff Bograd, a Senior Retirement Plan Consultant with John Hancock then quickly proceeds to blow my mind for the rema...
Apr 28, 2017•1 hr 2 min
Have index funds dropped the proverbial mic, walked off the stage and declared victory in the decades long debate of active vs. passive investment management? My guest, Sean Lewis, a CFA and Institutional Investment Strategist with BlackRock has a few things to say about the topic! He does a great job explaining the current market forces driving the continued growth in index investing, questions employers should be asking of themselves to help strike an appropriate balance between index and acti...
Apr 21, 2017•1 hr 4 min
Ah the good old days, when life was simpler, people retired with pension plans, social security was fully funded and you spent your retirement golden years in relative financial security. Fast forward to today, there is a perception that our retirement system is broken, and we are either already in or headed for a dramatic retirement crisis. Much of the blame for our current state of retirement preparation has been placed on the rise of 401(k) plans. However, does the data support both the roman...
Apr 14, 2017•1 hr 17 min
As a listener to the podcast, you might be "in the know" about the current retirement plan trends and motivated to tackle new ideas or strategies to put your employees on track for better retirement outcomes. But what can you do when not everyone in the company or on your retirement plan committee is on board with you. How do you either get the ball rolling, get the right people to the table or otherwise remove roadblocks that might stand in your way to improving employee retirement readiness? W...
Apr 07, 2017•1 hr 1 min
We have spent a lot of time on the podcast talking about how to make your retirement plan stronger and healthier. Today, we turn the conversation on its head and discuss strategies to make your retirement plan unattractive, to plaintiff’s attorneys and the ERISA lawsuits. With me I have two previous podcast guests, we have our legal eagle Tom Clark, ERISA Attorney with Wagner Law Group and our voice of the retirement industry Josh Dietch. There is laughter, witty banter and even some great sugge...
Mar 31, 2017•1 hr 12 min
Get beyond the eyeball grabbing headlines, the ever present three bullet summaries and hear some well thought out perspectives to help guide conversations and decisions in your workplace retirement plans. Our guest today, Brian Reid, the Chief Economist at the Investment Company Institute or ICI, shares that goal and provides some great food for thought for you. He addresses some recent stories you might have come across such as “Are 401(k) Plans A Failed Experiment”, and were “Employees Better ...
Mar 24, 2017•1 hr 5 min
With all of the 401(k) and ERISA lawsuits floating around these days, we have gotten a fair number of questions from employers about fiduciary liability insurance. We have also made reference on several prior episodes that it is critical to ensure you have a well crafted fiduciary liability insurance. As they say, never bring a knife to a gun fight, so I reached out to the biggest gun I know, Dana Kopper, a Managing Director and an Professional Liability Insurance specialist with Lockton Insuran...
Mar 17, 2017•1 hr 2 min
This is our second episode where we tackle the ins and outs of retirement plan discrimination and compliance testing. The first episode we released a few weeks ago hit on some of the core concepts around discrimination testing and laid five strategies to improve your results. Today, we pick up where we left off with the last episode and address some more complex concepts around discrimination testing. Thankfully, I have Chad Johnson, a fellow admitted 401(k) nerd, and Third Party Administrator w...
Mar 10, 2017•59 min
In prior episodes we have talked about how to " Transition from Financial Education to Financial Wellness ", how " Financial Wellness is a Trend too Big to be Ignored " and we have even talked with Cisco Systems to learn how they designed and rolled out their financial wellness strategy. What we haven’t spent any time on is making sure that as you introduce or expand your financial or general wellness programs, you don’t run into compliance problems along the way! So, I was excited to have Monic...
Mar 03, 2017•58 min
Whether you are aware of it or not, several individual states are getting ready to launch state sponsored retirement plans. Their intent is to help workers who are not eligible for or not offered a retirement plan through their employer. What you also might not know is that in the Pacific Northwest, Oregon, the Beaver State, is likely going to be the first state with a live program with a scheduled launch on July 1st, 2017. For most employers, the reactions and questions have been pretty consist...
Feb 24, 2017•1 hr 21 min
Whether you are passing or failing your discrimination testing, well, this is maybe a bit more timely if you are failing testing, this is a great episode to help get your arms around some of the key concepts and fundamentals behind coverage and discrimination testing. My guest is Doug Van Galder, a Compliance Analyst with the ERISA Law Firm Boutwell Fay, who has worked with countless employers over his 35 year career to help them navigate the sometimes challenging testing waters. We start with t...
Feb 17, 2017•1 hr 3 min
Scott Knowles , the internal architect of the Financial Wellness program at Cisco Systems stopped by the podcast to share his experience to help other employers who are considering going down a similar path. He provides candid perspectives on the why behind their program, how they rolled it out and what they plan to do in the future to keep improving upon their early successes! Before we get started, just a quick reminder to provide your input on the one question you have always wanted to ask yo...
Feb 10, 2017•1 hr 2 min
