For all the talk of risk in the academic world, it’s the real world that provides the best answer to what risk really is and how to avoid it. How do your thoughts on this compare with others?
Due Diligence
This elegance earned a Nobel Prize for several smart professors. You must forgive them, though, for they had a far limited toolkit to work from. Still, this was the original source from which “risk” sprang.
Today, many 401k plan participants have their retirement savings on “set-it-and-forget-it” autopilot. In a low inflationary environment, that might be OK. However, when the pendulum swings back towards inflation, this can leave them ill-prepared. What, exactly, can a 401k plan sponsor do within its fiduciary capacity to help plan participants incorporate inflation into their retirement planning calculus?
While some may consider this heresy, the best option for a fiduciary managing a portfolio is to include a consistent percentage of assets outside the equity markets and in assets that preserve capital.
Familiarity may breed contempt, but it also makes you sloppy. Do you know plan sponsors that have forgotten they need to address these matters?
It is the world we inhabit right now. Your company is good for the world because you say so. And no one can legitimately argue with your feelings.
As you’ll see in a moment, there are situations when it does make sense to sell short that are consistent with one’s fiduciary duty. Still, the dangers are there and it’s best to proceed into this financial minefield only with the most expert of advice.
In the end, though, you must remember the PEP is brand new. Not all offerings will offer the same advantages. Some may be designed specifically to forego one advantage to emphasize another.
Here things get a little familiar for companies with pre-existing stand-alone 401k plans (but may need to be discovered by those without plans).
Most 401k investment menus retain the “style box” mentality of the 1990s. Who doesn’t have a kitchen from the 1990s that they don’t want to remodel? Your 401k investment menu is no different.
