401(k) Fridays Podcast

After a quick hiatus in July, we are back and excited about what we have in store! To kick things off, this episode features my conversation with Jeff Holt, CFA and Director, Multi-Asset & Alternative Strategies with Morningstar Research Services and a lead author of the annual Morningstar Target Date Landscape Report.  This is the third time Jeff has been on the podcast and his return does not disappoint.  The broader theme of our conversation was the importance of avoiding oversimplifications when evaluating target date funds.  As you will hear, this ranges from cost, glide path, the classic too vs. through distinction, mutual funds vs. CITs and many more.  With the prevalence of target date funds in workplace retirement plans, I thought this would be a great way to get things going again.   Before we get started, a few tweaks to look forward to going forward.  First, we will provide a transcript on the 401(k) Fridays website for each episode.  Second, also on the website each guest will provide a writt

This episode is a follow on conversation to an episode a few months ago where we talked about the operational aspects of self-directed brokerage accounts in workplace retirement plans.  While you don’t have to listen to the prior episode first, it is definitely worth checking out if you are interested in the topic.  Today, Tom Clark, a Partner and ERISA Attorney with the Wagner Law Group and I jump into the sometimes scary and confusing fiduciary territory of offering self-directed brokerage accounts.  Tom shares great input on the general fiduciary concepts around self-directed brokerage, fee equity issues, discrimination issues, prohibited investments, the DOL’s attitude towards them and much more. Tom also talks about a few left turns employers can take off a cliff when offering self-directed brokerage accounts, a few great responses to participant questions about self-directed brokerage, thoughts on beanie babies  and his take on whether Ralphie will shoot his eye out.   Quick reminder, this will be our l

For the last several years a consistent message in the marketplace for retirement plan sponsors, participants and the industry has been the importance of investment fees. The good news is nearly all investment fees have been on a downward trend.  As the cost of many passive investment options approach zero, is expense still the most important factor when evaluating index strategies?  Today, I am happy to welcome Marty Kleppe, Head of Index Investing at Vanguard to share his thoughts.  With the continued popularity of index funds in retirement plans, Marty shares some timely thoughts about index investing is more than just low cost, what securities lending is and the role it plays and finally how there is skill involved in managing index funds.  This was a great conversation and one to definitely stick with to the end as I give Marty the opportunity to respond to some of comments active managers have shared about index managers over the years. Also, Marty and his team put together a white paper on this topic w

One of the most popular questions we get from employers is what is going on with 401(k) or ERISA litigation, or the close cousin to the question, what is on the horizon that we should be aware of?  To share some perspective on that and much more, I am happy to welcome Carl Engstrom, a partner with Nichols Kaster, a plaintiff’s litigation firm who has secured over $100 million in ERISA settlements in the last few years. During our conversation, Carl does a great job sorting through some headlines and predictions that he agrees with and some that he does not agree with on the future direction of ERISA litigation.  As you will hear, Carl is not shy and shares his candid insights and predictions so I won't steal his thunder.   One thing before we get started, our podcast community continues to grow.  Thank you for sharing the podcast with friends, colleagues or members of your professional network.  As our audience continues to grow, it helps me attract great guests to share helpful insights with you!  Guest Bio

Student loans have gotten a lot of attention recently.  Whether it is due to the sheer number of loans and size of the outstanding debt, or due to the competition for talent, employers are weighing whether they should offer new benefit to help those who have them.  Today, we take a little different view on student loan debt and delve into the impact they might have on the economy and unpack a few popular narratives in the marketplace.  To provide the intellectual muscle to the conversation I was glad to have Scott Kimball, a portfolio manager for BMO Global Asset Management join me today.  Scott does a great job helping explain the impact of student loan debt on the economy and creates the case for why employers should consider their impact on the employees, even if you don’t have a lot of millennials.  Also, don’t miss his take on whether Student Loans are the next sub prime mortgages and stick around for Scott's thoughts on some other things he is concerned about that could pose a threat to the economy.   B

A few years ago, the idea that participants in 401(k) plans were going to keep their money in their retirement plans longer started to gain traction.  Today, my guest Sue Walton, a SVP and Senior Retirement Strategist with The Capital Group shares how that idea got started and more.  I start with sharing a few of my preconceived notions about how retirement plans work for retirees, Sue responds to a few cynical comments and then get into the meat of how to make your workplace retirement plan more retiree friendly and how that could help your company and employees.  With some potential help on the way in the form of legislation, don’t miss our conversation on the current state of retirement income and how employers could integrate that into their plans going forward.  Finally, I stepped all over Sue’s great wrap up, but i think it was worth it.   Quick thought before we get started, next time you are on LInkedIn, be sure to follow the 401(k) Fridays Podcast page.  I use that to announce new episodes, give you

Thought it might be helpful to discuss a core retirement plan fiduciary concept, the duty to monitor.  To lend some muscle to the conversation I was excited to welcome back Jim Scheinberg, the Managing Partner and Founder of North Pier Fiduciary Management.  We kick off with one of the best explanations of what it means to be a fiduciary that I have heard and then we delve into the world what the fiduciary duty to monitor means, best practices for plan sponsors to follow and much more.  Jim also has some interesting points about how M&A in the retirement industry ties into monitoring, and some important differences between the roles of benchmarking, RFIs and RFPs.  Stick around for my wrap up this week to get an interesting story about one thing Jim and I had in common that we didn’t realize. Guest Bio Born and raised in the North Suburbs of Chicago, Jim Scheinberg came to Southern California in 1987 to pursue his B.A. in Political Science at University of California, Los Angeles. He achieved the Certifie

We break new ground today on the podcast as we talk about FOMO, catching falling knives, Uncle Warren and chewing glass.  My guest today is John Allen, CFA the Chief Investment Officer at Aspirant.  We also hit on some other great concepts such as why it is important to understand vs. observe what your investment managers are doing, thoughts on the impact of investment bubbles in the short, medium and long term.  I also have a new word for my vocabulary, conflate, John makes some insightful observations about how that term applies to risk and return for some people which dovetails nicely into some other thoughts on whether some traditional guidance 401(k) participants get, still makes sense. Finally, John makes some not so rosy predictions for what the next seven to ten years could look like for investors and why that matters to 401(k) plans and participants. Not always fun to consider, but definitely worth the listen.   Before we get started, a lot of the topics John and I cover on the podcast came from the

This episode is a companion episode to a similar one we released a few weeks about which focussed on the equity side of the conversation.  Not require listening, but if this one caught your eye, you should check that one out as well. My guest today, John Bellows, PhD, a Portfolio Manager with Western Asset Management and a member of their US Broad Strategy Committee, the Global Investment Strategy Committee and the Global Portfolios team. We jump into the recent market action right out of the gate to help interpret some recent events and how they could impact fixed income investments in workplace retirement plans.  We also hit on some topics that can cause confusion such as do we want inflation which makes things more expensive and want to avoid deflation which makes things less expensive.  With the background set, John then shares some great input on evaluating the fixed income portion of investment menus.  Be sure to stick around for his comments towards the end about the index vs. active conversation in th

The title for this episode might seem a little confusing, but after you listen to my conversation with Don Trone, CEO and Co-founder of 3Ethos it will make a lot more sense.  This is Don’s second visit to the podcast, if you missed his first one, Building a Stronger Retirement Plan Fiduciary, it is a great listen as well. Today we kick off with a quick post mortem on the DOL fiduciary rule and thoughts on the movements within some states to create their own version of a fiduciary rule.  We also tackle a bigger question of whether you can regulate or legislate someone into being a good fiduciary, interesting response to an interesting question.  Don also shares what he feels the future of fiduciary holds and shares input on robo-fiduciaries and if fee compression is impacting the fiduciary world.  Finally, we also discuss how plan sponsors can keep their fiduciary roles in perspective while keeping their important day jobs.   Guest Bio Don Trone is the CEO and one of the Co-founders of 3ethos, which conducts o

Today I welcome back Marcia Wagner, ERISA Attorney and founder of the Wagner Law Group, to tackle the not so straightforward lifecycle of a 401(k) or workplace retirement plan document.  Logically we start at the beginning on what it takes to create a 401(k) plan document, and move through common steps to maintain a document and things that happen along the journey, and close with terminating a retirement plan.  With several changes in rules, IRS programs and some general confusion in many of these areas, this was a fun and informative conversation that hopefully helps you as much as it did me!  Guest Bio Marcia S. Wagner is the founder of The Wagner Law Group, a certified woman-owned and operated business and one of the nation’s largest and most highly regarded boutique law firms, specializing in ERISA, employee benefits, executive compensation, employment, labor, human resources, personal law (estate planning, family and immigration) and investment management law.    Ms. Wagner has been practicing employee

This episode is inspired by some recent conversations I have had with workplace retirement plan or fiduciary committees and some hesitancy they have had in speaking with managers of invests they offer in their plans.  My guest today is John Forrest, Head of the Research Practice at Russell Investments, and to say the least, he has a little experience in this area.  In my experience, some members of retirement plan committees have avoided speaking with managers as they don’t feel equipped to ask questions, or don’t feel they would be able to understand what a manager would share.  John does a great job sharing why it is valuable to speak with investment managers, questions you can ask, and things to listen for that can shed light on their people, process and perspectives.  We also talk about different questions or things to listen for when speaking with an equity vs. a fixed income manager, how the numbers or results are important but not the whole story, and why it might be more important than ever to take ti

This week we take our first glimpse into self directed brokerage or brokerage accounts linked to workplace retirement plans.  Historically this has been a confusing and polarizing topic amongst retirement plan sponsors and the retirement industry.  To help with the conversation, I have Nathan Voris, Managing Director for Business Strategy of Charles Schwab Retirement Plan Services.  During our conversation, we tackle a statement popularized in a movie classic that probably applies to how some people view these accounts, we discuss the basics and mechanics of self-directed brokerage accounts, some creative things that plan sponsors are doing with them and trends to keep an eye out for in the future.  This episode focuses mostly on the operational side, my conversation with Nathan also has inspired me to bring back to popular podcast guests to discuss the fiduciary and regulatory side of the conversation in the near future.  Guest Bio Nathan Voris joined Schwab Retirement Plan Services in 2016. He is responsibl

Numerous guests have hinted at the capital market forecasts they or others have made with the common theme of anticipating lower returns than we had in the last decade. I thought it might be timely and helpful to steer into this and talk about what that could mean for workplace retirement plan investment menus.  With me today, I have Andy Pyne, Executive Vice President and Equity Strategist at PIMCO to dive into the equity piece of the conversation.  We start with a quick discussion on the go forward predictions about growth and what that means for the markets, what late cycle means, address some of the challenges active managers had in the last decade and what the next decade could mean for them and whether plan sponsors as well as participants are performance chasers.  Andy also shares some specific investment concepts workplace retirement plans should consider going forward.   Guest Bio Mr. Pyne is an executive vice president and strategist in the Newport Beach office, focusing on PIMCO’s equity strategies

Today we explore the changing landscape of Third Party Administrators, better known as TPAs.  With me, I am excited to have Jerry Bramlett, Head of TPA Solutions for Acensus.  During our wide ranging and insightful conversion we cover the current realities and challenges of TPAs, why consolidation wave has begun and how will the business and service models of TPAs either change or stay the same going forward.  We also hit on a few questions I received from listeners such as the impact of fee compression on TPAs, whether their will be any local TPAs going forward and how do things like ERISA 3(16) fiduciary services and payroll integration evolve.  Fun stuff! Guest Bio Jerry Bramlett was the Founder, President and CEO of The 401(k) Company (1983), which was sold to Charles Schwab in 2007. At the time of the sale, The 401(k) Company had 350 employees and served over 100 clients with approximately $25 billion in plan assets and more than 425,000 plan participants. After the sale of The 401(k) Company Mr. Bramle

The worst nightmare of many retirement plan fiduciaries is to find themselves the target of a class action ERISA or 401(k) lawsuit.  My guests today, are intimately familiar with that feeling and more importantly, lived to tell about it.  Returning to the podcast I have Jamie Fleckner, ERISA Litigation Chair at Goodwin and Diane Gallagher, the Chair of the American Century Corporate Retirement Plan Committee. During this fascinating conversation you will hear how the 401(k) class action against American Century got started, what the plaintiffs were alleging, what it was like to be personally named in a multi-million dollar lawsuit, defending fiduciary decisions at trial and much more.  This episode is probably one of the more timely, informational and even emotional ones to date, enjoy!   Guest Bios Diane Gallagher is the Chair of the American Century Investments Corporate Retirement Plan Committee.  She is responsible for developing content and value-add programs for clients and is also a spokesperson on ret

Maybe its just that time of year again, but a few articles have popped up recently about how we need to overhaul 401(k) plans, or how we need to scrap the 401(k), you get the picture.  However, my guest today, Sarah Holden, Senior Director of Retirement & Investor Research at the Investment Company Institute has some powerful data which tells a different story.  While few would suggest that 401(k) plans are perfect, Sarah and ICI have spent years delving into  what people really think about their 401(k) plans.  I won’t spoil this too much, but safe to say Sarah will leave you feeling good about 401(k) plans and the benefits they offer employees and the positive feelings they evoke even from people who don’t have one yet.   Guest Bio Sarah Holden, Investment Company Institute (ICI) senior director of retirement and investor research, leads the Institute’s research efforts on investor demographics and behavior and retirement and tax policy. Holden, who joined ICI in 1999, heads efforts to track trends in ho

It’s been a little while since we have focussed an episode on plan design of behavioral finance.  So, no time like the present to make that happen!  To provide the mental muscle behind the conversation I was excited to have Steve Shu, a Managing Principal at Digitai and a Researcher, at the City University of London.  As an expert in behavioral science and someone who has worked with the likes of Schlomo Bernartzi and other pioneers in the field, he brings some current and unique insights on how behavioral finance continues to drive retirement plan design, technology and influences retirement outcomes.  We start with an update on the auto features, move to nudges, predictive technology, deaccumulation, digital fiduciary concept and much more.  Be sure not to miss Steve’s thoughts on democratizing of behavioral science.   Guest Bio Steve Shu specializes in incubating new initiatives and business lines with a primary focus on services, technology, and behavioral science. He serves as a Managing Principal at Dig

Whether you are passing or failing your discrimination 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 the basics, discuss strategies to improve testing results and believe it or not, we don’t even mention the concept of safe harbor until the very end!  As you’ll hear, its all about getting the  math to work in your favor!   Guest Bio Douglas Van Galder is a Compliance Analyst who is committed to the favorable tax-qualified status and success of the private and public pension systems in America. Therefore, Doug assists Boutwell Fay LLP Clients and their service providers in properly administering retirement plans that remain compliant and deliver the intended benefits. Boutwell Fay

Today we gaze into the future and explore how retirement service providers business models and product offerings to employers and employees could evolved in the coming years.  My guest, Dick Darian, the founder and CEO of Wise Rhino Group brings his tremendous enthusiasm for the topic and his years of diverse experience leading firms like BlackRock, MFS and ING, now Voya to the conversation.  Be forewarned, there is definitely some inside baseball and with as busy as Dick is these days, I had to corner him on his cell phone so the audio is good, but not great.  However, his insights, the most important part are fantastic.  We hit on the ongoing impact of technology in retirement services, how private equity and venture capital could disrupt the industry, whether outside players could enter the business and what that would mean, and the ultimate customer the retirement industry is after.  Guest Bio Dick is the founder and CEO of Wise Rhino Group, which provides M&A Consulting and Advisory services to fi