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.

Justin Sibears, with Newfound Research, also cites their proliferation into so many specific areas of the market as a benefit of ETFs.

“If the whole DC plan advisory industry could have a do-over from say, 20 years ago, I think there would probably be much more of an emphasis from a lot of different firms on the 3(38) arrangement,” says CAPTRUST CEO Fielding Miller; in an exclusive interview, he describes in detail the firm's success building scale in the 3(38) fiduciary advice market.

In an exclusive interview with Bill Meyer, founder and managing principal of Social Security Solutions in Leawood, Kansas, PLANADVISER hears about some serious shortcomings in the conventional thinking on Social Security claiming strategies—and a failure to coordinate these effectively with the drawdown of DC plan assets.

Our series of exclusive interviews with retirement plan service providers, new and established, continues with Transamerica—which just recently announced a requirement that all new plans coming onto the platform with less than $3 million in assets must employ a retirement specialist TPA.

Tax reform has only increased the incentive to accelerate contributions to defined benefit plans, and there will still be incentives in the future, but plan sponsors won't benefit if they don't lock in those gains.

Our series of exclusive articles featuring retirement industry “disruptors” continues with another growing provider in the small- and mid-market, promising 50% lower costs than the traditional competition through the exclusive use of fixed fees.