Author Archives: admin

The 401(k) Plan You Designed Ten Years Ago May Not Fit Your Company Today

A lot can happen to a business in 10 years. The company can grow from 20 employees to 200. Ownership can change. Highly compensated employees can come and go. The workforce can become younger or older. Compensation structures change. Yet … Continue reading

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Your Investment Menu Isn’t a Museum Exhibit

A 401(k) investment menu isn’t a museum exhibit. Investments aren’t supposed to be placed on display and left untouched for decades. Yet that is exactly what some plan sponsors do. At my old fakakta law firm, we had investments on … Continue reading

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Electronic Rollovers: Welcome to the 21st Century

One of the things that has always amazed me about the retirement plan business is how we can manage billions of dollars electronically, yet moving a participant’s 401(k) account from one retirement plan to another can sometimes feel like we’re … Continue reading

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Your 401(k) Plan Doesn’t Run Itself—It Just Looks Like It Does

One of the biggest misconceptions among plan sponsors is that once a 401(k) plan is established, it somehow goes on autopilot. After all, payroll deductions are happening automatically, participant statements arrive every quarter, and the recordkeeper has an attractive website. … Continue reading

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Your Retirement Plan Is Like Your Roof: Ignore Small Problems and You’ll Eventually Replace the Whole Thing

Nobody climbs onto their roof every weekend looking for loose shingles. Yet responsible homeowners know that small leaks have a nasty habit of becoming expensive disasters if they’re ignored. Retirement plans work much the same way. Most fiduciary failures don’t … Continue reading

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The Retirement Plan Business Is Still a Relationship Business

Technology has transformed the retirement plan industry. We have sophisticated recordkeeping platforms, participant websites, mobile apps, artificial intelligence, and automated workflows that would have seemed impossible twenty years ago. Yet despite all of those advances, the retirement plan business remains … Continue reading

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How ERISA Attorneys Decide Which Providers to Recommend

One of the questions I’m asked most often is whether I recommend retirement plan providers to clients. The answer is yes—but probably not for the reasons many providers think. The first thing I look for isn’t price. It isn’t technology. … Continue reading

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Your CRM Isn’t Broken—Your Follow-Up Process Is

Whenever a retirement plan provider tells me they need a better CRM to generate more business, I usually ask one simple question: “How many prospects from six months ago have you called this month?” The answer is almost always silence. … Continue reading

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The Difference Between Being Responsive and Being Proactive

Most retirement plan providers pride themselves on providing great service. They answer emails quickly, return phone calls promptly, and resolve issues efficiently. Those are all good qualities, but they describe a provider who is responsive—not necessarily one who is proactive. … Continue reading

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Saver’s Match Rulemaking Moves Forward: Why Plan Sponsors Should Pay Attention

The Treasury Department and IRS have officially begun the rulemaking process for the Saver’s Match program, which takes effect for the 2027 tax year. While many of the details will be finalized through the regulatory process, one thing is already … Continue reading

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