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Compliance March 15, 2011
Distribution Advice Should Not be Prohibited, Group Says
The DC Plan Investment Council is advocating that advice to
participants by a plan adviser at the time of a
distributable event should not be a prohibited transaction.
Reported by Rebecca Moore
The Council submitted to the Department of Labor (DoL) a statement, “Position on Rollovers from Plan Assets,” urging the DoL to review rules and regulations that limit participant access to advice when the Council says they need the help most. The statement sites quantitative data articulating the benefits of advice, quoting studies by the ING Institute for Research, Charles Schwab and Company and EBRI.
As an alternative to rules and regulations, it proposes professional standards for plan advisers who deliver advice to participants in client plans at the time of distribution.
Advisers to the plan are best placed to provide advice at the time of distribution because they know the participant and the plan better than anyone else, the Council says. For many participants, the plan adviser is the only adviser they have ever met in their career; the one who knows best their situation, facts and circumstances.
“Professional retirement plan advisers could improve the retirement readiness of participants if they were able to help participants without constraint at the time of distribution” said Steve Dimitriou of Mayflower Advisors. He has been involved with the Council since its creation in May 2009 and was named the 2009 PLANSPONSOR Retirement Plan Adviser of the Year.
More information about the Council is at http://www.dcpicadvisors.com.