A Long Island business newspaper once named my old law firm\u2019s administrator as its Chief Financial Officer of the year and the first thing I asked at the time was: \u201cHow big was the ad?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s because my old law firm was a regular advertiser for this publication and I appeared in it a handful of times when I was there and I\u2019m sure because my firm helped pay that newspaper\u2019s bills. Maybe that law firm administrator is a really great CFO, I only thought his expertise was self-promotion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The point is not to make fun of Right-Said Fred, but the point is that awards and recognition can be bought and sold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So when looking for plan providers as a plan sponsor, don\u2019t be over wowed by some of these publication awards like the \u201c100 Most Important People in the 401(k) industry\u201d or some unknown certification because these credentials can be bought and sold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you don\u2019t know the criteria for selection or the group of selecting it, you have no idea if the award or credential is real or not. It\u2019s like Kosher food; there are now over 400+ different organizations that certify Kosher food. If you are an observant Jew, you\u2019re not going to eat something certified by an agency where you have no idea who is doing the certification because some Rabbis are less reputable than others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So when a plan provider is giving you their credentials and there are some credentials that aren\u2019t from an organization you heard of, take it with a grain of salt or do some digging to determine whether that credential means something or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Otherwise, you may be stuck with a CFO who claims he\u2019ll help your practice, except he\u2019s too busy writing articles about his work and using law firm resources to publish them.<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A Long Island business newspaper once named my old law firm\u2019s administrator as its Chief Financial Officer of the year and the first thing I asked at the time was: \u201cHow big was the ad?\u201d That\u2019s because my old law … Continue reading