Author Archives: admin

I’m generally not a big fan of government mandates. In the retirement plan business, however, it’s hard to argue with results when a mandate actually accomplishes what it was designed to do. New research from Gusto shows just how much … Continue reading →

One of the biggest mistakes retirement plan providers make is believing that every prospect has to become a client. They don’t. Sometimes the best thing you can tell a prospect is that they don’t need you. Maybe their current provider … Continue reading →

One of the biggest mistakes retirement plan providers make is assuming that a quiet client is a happy client. Sometimes they’re just quietly looking for another provider. Clients rarely wake up one morning and decide to fire their TPA, advisor, … Continue reading →

Retirement plan providers love technology. They love talking about their new portal, their app, their payroll integration, their participant experience, and whatever artificial intelligence tool they added last Tuesday. Technology is great. It makes our jobs easier and can make … Continue reading →

There is a big difference between a checkup and an autopsy. A checkup is designed to find problems while you still have an opportunity to do something about them. An autopsy tells you what went wrong after it’s already too … Continue reading →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →

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 →