Fiduciary News

To address this requires employers to do more than having a periodic “employee education” meeting. While these can help (see the previous article), more need to be done. Plan sponsors need to consider how they (and, more importantly, their service providers) deliver messages to plan participants.

There’s a fear that those rushing to promote their own PEPs are merely trying to return to the bundle service provider environment the industry evolved away from more than a decade ago. This makes due diligence all the more important.

To address this requires employers to do more than having a periodic “employee education” meeting. While these can help (see the previous article), more need to be done. Plan sponsors need to consider how they (and, more importantly, their service providers) deliver messages to plan participants.

It’s clear that 401k plan sponsors ought to educate themselves when it comes to managing their investment provider relationship. This is the broadest fiduciary liability risk area. If plan sponsors don’t pay close attention, they may find themselves gasping for air.

Do you think five years is too ambitious of a time frame? If so, consider this: five years ago, would you have considered using your phone to buy groceries?