031418 PLANADVISERdash

Newsdash Insight on Plan Design & Investment Strategy from PLANSPONSOR

March 14th, 2018

2018 PLANADVISER Micro Plan Survey

The 2018 PLANADVISER Micro Plan Survey indicates that a mere 20% of plans with less than $5 million in assets automatically enroll participants, and just 13% use automatic escalation. The most common deferral rate for micro plans with auto-enrollment is 3%, used by 45% of them. This is in line with plans of all sizes, as the wider DC Survey shows that 41% auto-enroll participants at a 3% deferral rate. Clearly, more advice is needed. Read more >

COMPLIANCE CONSULT: ‘Principal Protection’ Investments

A recent spate of cases alleging breach of fiduciary duty under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act connected to stable value funds, money market funds and other “principal protection” investment options raises fiduciary compliance questions for plan fiduciaries and advisers. Read more >

HSA Knowledge Gap Offers Clear Adviser Service Role

Health savings accounts are often described as the 401(k) of health care—so it is only natural that retirement specialist advisers can play an important role in educating the public about these important savings vehicles; survey data shows more education and advice is desperately needed. Read more >

Managed Accounts, TDFs and Questions About 'Alpha'

One of the most common approaches to valuing managed account services is to compare historical investment performance with a target-date fund or similar benchmark; Empower Retirement argues there is a better approach that involves considering “an alpha-equivalent measure.” Read more >

Female Advisers Say Women Are Underserved

Seventy percent of female financial advisers say women investors are underserved as a broad demographic group, Edward Jones learned from a survey conducted during its third Annual Women’s Conference. Read more >

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Why Small Business Owners Often Resist 401(k)s

Retirement Industry People Moves

SEC Votes to Propose Updated Fund Name Rules, ESG Disclosures for RIAs

Advicent Reveals NaviPlan Updates Tied to Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

Advisers generally are not qualified to represent their clients before the IRS, and so they generally must shy away from offering tax advice; but that doesn’t mean they can afford to ignore the broad or specific implications of recent tax reforms for their clients. Read more >

Stranded Retirement Accounts a Bigger Problem Among Low Income and Millennials

According to a study report, the strongest predictor of an account not being lost was the respondent’s knowledge of how to contact the company holding the account; accounts held by respondents who reported being able to do this were almost seven times less likely to be lost. Read more >

Empower Launches My Total Retirement Planning and Advice Service

“We will be offering My Total Retirement so that employers and their advisers can help employees with a holistic retirement planning experience that goes beyond savings and investing,” says Edmund F. Murphy III, president of Empower Retirement. Read more >

Market Mirror

Tuesday, the Dow lost 171.58 points (0.68%) to finish at 25,007.03, the NASDAQ closed 77.31 points (1.02%) lower at 7,511.01, and the S&P 500 decreased 17.71 points (0.64%) to 2,765.31. The Russell 2000 was down 9.00 points (0.56%) at 1,592.05, and the Wilshire 5000 fell 183.50 points (0.64%) to 28,680.12. The price of the 10-year Treasury note was up 6/32, decreasing its yield to 2.846%. The price of the 30-year Treasury bond increased 16/32, bringing its yield down to 3.101%.

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