Columnists
IMHO: PPA’s Sway
These days, the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA) is sometimes referred to as the “Pension Destruction Act.″
IMHO: For the People, By the People
Last week, no fewer than a dozen industry trade organizations put their collective heads together and tried to help the Department of Labor—which has been working on a...
IMHO: Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics
I am fortunate enough to have access to a vast array of studies, research, and surveys about this business.
IMHO: Question “Marks″
Without question, asset-allocation solutions—particularly target-date fund solutions—are well on their way to becoming a dominating force on retirement plan menus.
IMHO: Other People’s Money
I was on a panel at our recent Plan Designs conference, and the topic of qualified default investment alternatives (QDIAs) came up.
IMHO: “Might″ Makes Right?
Last week the Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a 67-page report titled “Conflicts of Interest Involving High Risk or Terminated Plans Pose Enforcement Challenges.″
IMHO: Fighting Words
“[T]he complaint is a rambling 38 page collection long on legal argument, public policy rhetoric and repetition, but vague in its allegations of facts which might be relevant...
IMHO: Caveat Emptor
A couple of weeks ago, my better half told me that she thought it was time that we traded in two of our aging vehicles – one a...
IMHO: Moving Targets
In nearly 30 years working with employer-sponsored retirement plans, I am hard-pressed to call to mind a product innovation that has been adopted with as much vigor as...
IMHO: Life Lines
A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled across a paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research titled “New Estimates of the Future Path of 401(K) Assets.″
IMHO: Starting Blocks?
There’s little question that automatic enrollment “works,″ at least in terms of turning employees into participants—just as there is little doubt that, left to their own devices, too...
IMHO: A Prospective Perspective
Plan sponsors (and advisers) who think the Pension Protection Act’s automatic enrollment safe harbor represents an easy solution to disappointing participation rates may have another “think″ coming, according...
IMHO: Treating Attention Deficit Disorder
We have long been concerned about the attention deficit of participants when it comes to their 401(k) plans.
IMHO: The Deification of DB-ification
Last week, I stumbled across another of those “DC plans are becoming like DB plans″ articles—you know, the “DB-ification″ of 401(k)s?
A Different Kind of "Investment"
As the parent of a daughter away at college for the first time, the events in Blacksburg, Virginia, last week had a particularly horrific effect.
IMHO: “Self-Fulfilling″ Prophecies
The Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) and Matthew Greenwald&Associates published the 17th Annual Retirement Confidence Index last week – and, for the very most part, it’s probably safe...
IMHO: The 80/20 Rule
Sooner or later in your career, you are exposed to the 80/20 rule or, as purists term it, the Pareto principle.
IMHO: Another One Bites the Dust?
When Fidelity announced this last week that it was dropping its pension plan, it drew my attention.