The root of these broader fiduciary concerns lies within the domain of compliance. Everything derives from what the regulators require, what any DOL audit might look at, and what might pique the interest of class-action attorneys.
Tag "plan sponsor"
You cannot understate the fiduciary aspect of lower fees. Most 401k plan sponsors, and especially those in smaller plans, don’t have the time or expertise to administer their company’s retirement plan. If they skimp on fees, are they also skimping on the fiduciary protection those professionals are supposed to provide?
Retirement plan sponsors may also benefit from teaching entrepreneurial skills to their employees. Such lessons could also provide employees with opportunities to begin to practice what they learned directly for their current employer.
Not only do you need to watch the place that holds all the money, you need to watch the pipeline that feeds the money there.
Documentation, due diligence, and other formal compliance matters are critical to reducing the fiduciary liability of 401k plan sponsors. But ultimately, they are responsible for safeguarding the assets of plan participants.
There is an out, of course, but that might eliminate the so-called “institutional pricing” advantage former employees have for staying in the plan in the first place.
Before you get all excited and look to replace your home equity loan with a 401k loan, you should consider these things.
Nobody’s perfect. It’s unfair to expect recordkeepers to be. Everyone makes mistakes—even recordkeepers. The problem is what happens when a mistake occurs.
How do you solve, for example, the problem of integration between the payroll software and the 401k recordkeeper’s website?
A few years ago, this might have been classified as a common “mistake.” Again, “mistake” is in quotes because this is less an issue for certain plans (usually small firms or particular industries) than others.
