How 3(38) Advising Profits Clients
Common Mistakes Advisers Make That Should be Avoided
Experts outline several ways advisers can ensure they keep the loyalty of their clients.
What to Expect From a Biden Appointee-Led SEC
A former Securities and Exchange Commission litigator who was at the regulator during the transition from the Clinton administration to the Bush administration considers what might happen when Democratic President-elect Joe Biden takes office.
Arkansas Is Latest State to Consider NAIC Annuity Sales Standards
The state’s Insurance Department Rule 82, which may soon be updated to match a suitability framework recently adopted by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, seeks to address conflicts of interest among annuity providers and their proxies.
How COVID-19 Volatility and Near-Zero Rates Benefit Annuities
In the current market environment, safe assets simply do not pay what they once did, but that doesn’t mean annuities have become less attractive. In fact, on a relative basis, annuities currently make a lot of economic sense.
Salesforce Ruling Offers Key Lessons About Revenue Sharing, Fee Litigation
Salesforce Defeats ERISA Excessive Fee Litigation
A district court in California has proven to be skeptical of claims suggesting that active management funds are categorically imprudent retirement plan investments; the ruling also defends the use of revenue sharing.
New Excessive Fee Suit Alleges Familiar 401(k) and 403(b) Plan Breaches
Allegations in the lawsuit against Barnabas Health closely parrot other proposed class action complaints filed in the past year against health care systems by the law firm Capozzi Adler.
Future Trends in CIT Product Development
Although collective investment trusts hold a fraction of the total assets in retirement plans, with ongoing changes in the broader intermediary landscape, they appear to be poised for continued growth.
SEC Staff: COVID-19 Creates New Compliance Considerations
Market volatility related to COVID-19 may have heightened the risk of misconduct in various areas that the SEC staff believes merit additional attention from advisers and compliance professionals.
Quest Diagnostics Faces Additional ERISA Litigation
The medical testing company is already facing scrutiny for its use of actively managed investments within its retirement plan; it is now the subject of a broader excessive fee lawsuit.
State Securities Charges Highlight Potential for REIT Sales Issues
A registered representative of NEXT Financial Group is accused of manipulating key figures and data used to monitor sales of real estate investment trusts to certain client groups, allegedly rendering the monitoring efforts “meaningless.”
Consider How CITs Can Fit Into Your Practice
Some Parties Question PE’s Role in DC Plans
It is common to hear that private equity (PE) has been the best performing asset class in recent years for institutional investors, but a new academic analysis challenges that idea.
Excessive Recordkeeping Fees Cited in Oshkosh ERISA Challenge
The lawsuit points to a variety of alleged fiduciary breaches related to the Oshkosh Corp.’s retirement plan’s investment and recordkeeping fees.
CIT Expertise Puts Advisers in the Driver’s Seat
Knowledge about and connections to the collective investment trust marketplace can be a key selling point for retirement plan advisers in 2020 and beyond—especially when serving small and mid-sized clients.
CITs Fit Well With Best Interest Service
Among the attractive but less-often-discussed features of collective investment trusts is the fact that the sponsoring trustee—a bank or trust company—must commit to acting in the best interest of unit holders.
LT Trust Launches Enhanced Service Suite
Among other enhancements, clients can now add Fingage’s managed account solution for a small fee.
Crafting Annuity Confidence and Clarity Is Hard Work
With New ‘Sensible Fees,’ Westwood Seeks Active Fund Disruption
According to the firm, “Sensible Fees” funds will enable investors to pay a low index or ETF-like base fee—only seeing a higher active management fee when fund performance objectives exceed the benchmark.