Nice article on RIABiz.com about how the Department of Labor (DOL) included in the final rules on fee disclosure regulations a requirement for plan sponsors to fire their advisors if they fail to provide information regarding fees and information about their 401(k) plan within 90 days of a written request. The new provision added a little teeth to the disclosure rules as previous versions indicates that 401(k) plans should fire these advisors instead of requiring them.
Many thanks to the DOL for stating the obvious that plan sponsors are on the hook for plan providers who won’t abide by the fee disclosure regulations and that it is their fiduciary responsibility to fire them.
Plan providers are like doctors, good ones will keep you from harm and bad ones will make you seriously ill. It is incumbent on plan sponsors to keep the good providers and get rid of the bad ones.
Now if the DOL could only convince plan sponsors to make sure they understand their responsibility in picking their plan providers and checking up on them. For plan advisors like me, we are here to help in that fight.