From the unexpected derailment of the DOL fiduciary rule to the expanding debate about so-called ‘open MEPs,’ your plan sponsor clients face a tremendous amount of uncertainty in 2018.

Under IRS guidance, participants can select to convert their entire pre-tax balance or a portion of it; they often have a lot of questions about the right amount to convert, and when to make the move.

Matt Matrisian, SVP of strategic initiatives at AssetMark, is passionate about the topic of advisory practice management, enough so that he wrote a 300 page book on the subject; chatting off-the-cuff with PLANADVISER, he argues outsourcing is the way of the future.

Higher education clients with very large 403(b) plans could theoretically benefit from new laws or regulations allowing them to invest participant assets through collective trust vehicles, but for most other non-profit clients, CITs might not make that much sense.

In conversation with PLANADVISER, Northern Trust Asset Management’s head of quantitative research steps through some of the pros and cons of using factor-based portfolios and so called smart-beta strategies; he sees big opportunities, but also warns about the “dilution” phenomenon.

Get to know the winners of the 2018 Plan Sponsor of the Year awards; their stories can help your retirement plan clients generate new ideas and embrace progressive plan design.

“There are strategies of rolling some amount of traditional 401(k) dollars over into a Roth IRA that are potentially advantageous, especially if you have a couple of years where your income is lower,” observes Angie O’Leary, head of wealth planning at RBC Wealth Management. “Having tax diversification available down the line is really helpful in building that paycheck in retirement.”

Experienced ERISA attorneys and retirement industry executives project some possible outcomes of the DOL and SEC conflict of interest reform process; some expect a broad new proposal could emerge as soon as this week from the SEC.

In a guest article written for PLANADVISER, Thomas Dodd, executive director of Pavilion Advisory Group Inc., compares and contrasts common retirement income strategies—including the pros and cons of each method, as viewed from the perspective of participants.

The benefits of an outsourced chief investment officer (OCIO) can lead to cost savings and improved returns.

Experts say sponsors should offer a Roth option so that participants can diversify their tax situation in retirement.

Chuck Coldwell, vice president - national director, Consulting and BOLI Services at Pentegra, believes as an industry, we still have not reached the goal of getting the majority of participants in a good place for retirement—even with auto enroll and escalate.

Instead, programs need to be tailored to each individual’s specific financial goals.

In an exclusive interview with PLANADVISER, PGIM Head of Institutional Defined Contribution Josh Cohen offers some guidance to advisers speaking with plan sponsors about litigation, fiduciary risk and progressive plan design.

The regulator is reassessing its requirements for RIAs to monitor the outside business activities of their reps; one experts argues it is likely that, if the final rule reflects the proposed rule, many plan advisers who serve plans through an independent RIA (as opposed to the broker/dealer’s “corporate” RIA) will seek to renegotiate their compensation arrangements relating to their independent RIA revenue.