Monthly Archives: March 2026

I’ve Met the Enemy in 401(k) Plans and It’s Usually a Spreadsheet

I’ve been doing this long enough to know that the biggest threat to a 401(k) plan isn’t the Department of Labor, trial lawyers, or even bad investments. It’s a spreadsheet that someone created in 2017 and has been copying ever … Continue reading

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Plan Providers Are Therapists Who Also Do Census Testing

Plan providers are therapists who also happen to do census testing. Nobody puts that in a job description, but it’s the truth. When people think about our work, they imagine compliance calendars, investment menus, and spreadsheets with more tabs than … Continue reading

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Why Most Plan Providers Don’t Lose Clients, They Abandon Them Slowly

The Long, Quiet Goodbye Most plan providers don’t wake up one morning and get fired. It’s not a dramatic breakup with yelling, lawyers, and a new recordkeeper waiting in the lobby. It’s quieter than that. Clients leave the way a … Continue reading

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Why Your 401(k) Worked Fine for 20 Years—Until It Didn’t

For many plan sponsors, the story is the same. The plan was set up years ago. Employees participated. Contributions flowed. Nobody complained. From the sponsor’s perspective, the 401(k) worked exactly as intended. And for a long time, that was true. … Continue reading

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Late Deposits Aren’t Moral Failures, They’re Process Failures

When a plan sponsor hears the words “late deposit,” they react like they’ve been accused of shoplifting. Faces turn red, voices get defensive, and someone inevitably says, “We would never steal from employees.” The truth is less dramatic and more … Continue reading

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Trump Accounts: Will Employers Make This a Real Benefit or Just Another Glossy Bullet Point?

If you’ve been watching the headlines, you’ve probably heard about the new Trump Accounts—a savings vehicle created by federal law that lets kids start building tax-advantaged investment accounts early in life and gives eligible children a federal seed contribution. Employers … Continue reading

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What Plan Sponsors Really Need to Know About the New IRS Rollover Notices

If you thought your rollover notice obligations were settled a few years ago, think again. The IRS has released two new model rollover notices—one for Roth distributions and one for non-Roth distributions—and they are effective immediately. That means every plan … Continue reading

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