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Conflicts of Interest
By Christopher Carosa, CTFA | August 23, 2010
The current economic setting only heightens fiduciary liability. Last year, the DOL logged more than 4.5 corrected violations per business day. With aggressive litigators using technology to sniff out these violators and others, what’s a 401k plan sponsor to do?
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Posted in Compliance | Tagged 401k, Compliance, Conflicts of Interest, Due Diligence, Fees, fiduciary, Fiduciary Solutions, investment, liability, litigation
By Christopher Carosa, CTFA | July 12, 2010
Why some target date investors should be furious, why expecting 401k plan sponsors to comment on a change they don’t understand would be asking far too much and just see what he says about 12b-1 fees.
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Posted in Conflicts of Interest | Tagged 12b-1, 401k, Alfred, BrightScope, Conflicts of Interest, DOL, Fiduciary Standard, Investment Advice Rule, SEC, target date fund
By Christopher Carosa, CTFA | June 21, 2010
These three issues linger like a ticking time bomb. They’re out there. They’re going to go off at some point. We just don’t know when. Plan fiduciaries need to get ready for them.
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Posted in Education | Tagged 12b-1, 401k, Conflicts of Interest, Department of Labor, Education, ERISA, Fees, fiduciary, Fiduciary Solutions, Fiduciary Standard, Investment Advice Rule, Plan Diagnostic, SEC
By Christopher Carosa, CTFA | June 15, 2010
These next three months may prove a watershed for 401k plan sponsors as new rules will dramatically alter how 401k plan sponsors manage their companies’ retirement plans.
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Posted in Education | Tagged 12b-1, 401k, Conflicts of Interest, Congress, Department of Labor, DOL, ERISA, Fees, fiduciary, Fiduciary Standard, Investment Advice Rule, liability
By Christopher Carosa, CTFA | April 27, 2010
Too many accept the definition of “fees” without deliberation. Yet, even by looking solely at the fees associated with investment choice, the fiduciary can land in a state of confusion. This only increases liability. How can we fix this?
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Posted in Fees | Tagged 12b-1, Conflicts of Interest, expense ratio, Fees, fiduciary
By Christopher Carosa, CTFA | February 26, 2010
The question now on the mind of every 401k fiduciary: Will the DOL’s new rule increase my personal fiduciary liability?
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Posted in Conflicts of Interest | Tagged 401k, active, computer model, Conflicts of Interest, Department of Labor, DOL, fee, fiduciary, Fiduciary Standard, Investment Advice Rule, investment adviser, Labor Department, level-fee, liability, passive, Phyllis Borzi, plan sponsor, Seth Harris
By Christopher Carosa, CTFA | February 9, 2010
Many feel the DOL rightly reversed earlier rules that allowed for too many potential conflicts-of-interest. But, will any new DOL guidelines only encourage a “cookie-cutter” approach, doing the investor more harm than good?
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Posted in Compliance | Tagged 401k, conflict of interest, Conflicts of Interest, Department of Labor, DOL, ERISA, Goal-Oriented Target, GOT, Investment Advice Rule, Mar Mensack, Mensack, Phyllis Borzi, Piedmont Investment Advisors, The Emperor Exposed, Tri-State HR Management Association
By Christopher Carosa, CTFA | February 1, 2010
Sometimes something that appears too good to be true really is. Professionals have long known the potential pitfalls of ETFs. Only recently have these facts become more widely known. Don’t be surprised if, like a tube of toothpaste, squeezing one problem away only creates a bulge in a different problem.
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Posted in Due Diligence | Tagged 12b-1, 401k, bid-ask spread, commission, conflict of interest, Conflicts of Interest, discount, ETF, expense ratio, fiduciary, illiquid, index fund, liquidity, mutual fund, premium, unitization
By Christopher Carosa, CTFA | January 25, 2010
SEC’s Mary Shapiro: “When it comes to 12b-1 fees, there is a need for more fundamental change than mere disclosure reforms and a name change.” FiduciaryNews’ exploration of this hot potato reveals a surprising misconception.
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Posted in Conflicts of Interest | Tagged 12b-1, 3(21)(A), Ary Rosenbaum, broker, compensation, conflict, conflict of interest, Conflicts of Interest, Congress, Consumer Federation of America, Department of Labor, disclosure, DOL, ERISA, Fees, fiduciary, Fiduciary News, FiduciaryNews, Financial Services Conference, Frank Russell, Frost National Bank, Hastings, LinkedIn, Mary Schapiro, Meyer Suozzi English & Klein, mutual fund, PNC Bank, Schapiro, SEC, Securities & Exchange, Securities and Exchange Commission, transperancy, Washington, Washington DC
By Christopher Carosa, CTFA | December 8, 2009
The SEC does the right thing, and some 401k fiduciaries may find they’ve been doing the wrong thing.
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Posted in Conflicts of Interest | Tagged 12b-1, 12b-1 fees, 12b1, 401(k) plan, 401k, adviser, annuities, Annuity, broker, Christopher Cox, conflict of interest, Conflicts of Interest, Cox, fiduciary, ICI, investment, Investment Company Institute, Investment News, liability, Mary Schapiro, mutual fund, Reuters, salesman, Schapiro, SEC, Securities and Exchange Commission
