Employers and Retirement Plan Fiduciaries have the difficult task of selecting retirement plan advisors. The names and titles alone can be incredibly confusing! Of the 100,000 practicing advisors, 3,000 are active in the retirement market and may be considered "DC Specialists" as my guest Robin Green, SVP & Head of Data & Analytics at Ann Schleck & Company | Fi360 would call them.  She breaks down DC specialists into three sub-categories: The Broker, the Cowboy, and the Consultant. 

Additionally, we discuss:

• Three types of fiduciaries and what it means when an advisor claims 3(21), 3(38), and participant level fiduciary status.
• Three important questions to ask your current advisor in light of the new DOL rule.
• Weighing the difference between cost and value, and
• How model portfolios, retirement solutions, fees and expertise should be considered while benchmarking and selecting advisory services. 

Episode Guest

Robin Green is Senior Vice President and head of Data & Analytics at Ann Schleck & Co., an Fi360 company.  She is responsible for the proprietary databases that track on DC Specialist advisor practice management, fee, service and overall business trends.  She is responsible for the Fee Almanac®, Fee Benchmarker®, IRA Fee Evaluator and the FI360 Fiduciary Score.  Robin specializes in developing useful patterns, ideas and insights based on data and more than 20 years of retirement industry experience.  She is a research board member at DCIIA and a frequent speaker at industry conferences.  Robin has a BA from Concordia University where she graduated Summa Cum Laude.

401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview

Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over seventy prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

When I ask employers if they have the information they need on the soon to launch state run retirement plans, I get reactions that range from "What state plans?" to "Great, sounds like another scheme to fix the mess with their pension plans!" These and other responses I have gotten haven’t given me a lot of confidence that information, much less accurate information, is filtering down to employers about these programs. With Oregon launching OregonSaves on July 1st, 2017 and many others likely to follow, I thought it might be a good time to revisit the topic! 

I was excited to have Katie Selenski, the first Executive Director of California Secure Choice, the new state sponsored retirement plan for private sector workers in California join me on the 401(k) Fridays Podcast! During our conversation, we start with the basics of why California and other states are launching retirement plans, then move onto some recent developments on the federal level and how states plan to digest them and give Katie an opportunity to address some of the questions, misperceptions and concerns surrounding the California plan. 

If you have employees in California, you should definitely check this out. If you don’t, well, there are over thirty other states that are in the process of launching retirement plans so much of what we talk about will likely apply!

Guest Bio

In April 2017, Katie Selenski was appointed by California State Treasurer John Chiang to serve as the first Executive Director of the pioneering California Secure Choice Retirement Savings Investment Board, which governs the Secure Choice Program. The program will provide a path to retirement security for the seven million Californians who currently lack access to a retirement savings account via their employer, by allowing workers a simple, low cost way to save their own money and participate in professionally managed investments.

Prior to taking the helm at Secure Choice, Ms. Selenski was the State Policy Director for public pension policy at The Pew Charitable Trusts in Washington, D.C., where she managed Pew’s efforts to help fiscally distressed states and cities undertake data-driven pension system improvements. Previously, she was a senior manager with the nonpartisan public sector consulting firm Harvey M. Rose Associates, based in San Francisco, where she advised policymakers on a wide array of budget, management, and policy matters, including pensions. Previously, she worked as a municipal bond rating analyst, a legislative fellow in the California Assembly, and the director of an historic statewide nonpartisan youth voter turnout initiative. Ms. Selenski has previously served on the boards of multiple nonprofit organizations.

She is a graduate of the University of Chicago and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview

Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over seventy prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

I'll have to admit, when I first heard of Don Barden and the "Perfect Plan" I was pretty skeptical.  What does "perfect" mean?  Who gets to judge "perfect"?  My analytical mind was going crazy.  However, as I became more familiar with Don and the concepts and elements he believes in, I felt it definitely made sense to bring him onto the podcast.  My hope is that you will take away a few kernels of knowledge to help you rethink what retirement means along some motivation and inspiration!

 Guest Bio

Don Barden is a classically trained economist who earned his M.B.A. in Global Technology Management and International Business with an undergraduate B.B.A. in Economics and Finance. He is ABD in doctoral studies with a Ph.D. in Finance. He resides in Atlanta Georgia and is fluent in international business affairs.

Don’s work challenges and motivates people to think deeply about their beliefs, and reveals a plan to consistently achieve maximum communication and sales. His “unfair advantage” theories are revolutionary in today’s economy as he leads you on a journey that exposes the myth of modern sales and communication techniques. He awakens your creative energy, and identifies the path to cultural change.

Expertly mixing humor, academic capital, and time-tested systems, Don engages audiences through his highly personal and interactive speaking style. Don has the unique ability to break down toxic barriers and build an irresistible and motivated force of empowered team talent.

As an author, speaker, advisor and corporate executive, Don Barden’s counsel is highly sought after by some of the world’s most successful businesses. His experience and record-setting sales success have drawn him to corporate and political leaders who want to tap into his real-world experience in order to move their organization to higher levels of sales and cultural achievement.

Don personally averages over $1 billion in annual sales. He is highly noted for his ability to see “three sides” to every coin. He also serves as the past Board President for The Summit Counseling Center in Atlanta, Georgia, a unique multidisciplinary, multispecialty personal and family counseling center that provides over 8,000 hours of counseling each year.  Additionally, he is a leading advisor to several private schools, businesses and faith based organizations.

Don is also a passionate supporter of the US Military, especially the 1^st Ranger Battalion out of Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Ga., and is a Special Advisor to the Sua Sponte Foundation.  RLTW!

401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview

Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over seventy prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

Debt impacts your employees ability to save for retirement, pursue other financial goals, their productivity and physical health!  You might be surprised to hear that based on Fidelity research, there are multiple generations and income levels that struggle with debt which might reframe some of your prior perceptions.  Probably most important though, Meghan shares a few ideas for employers who want to explore helping their employees manage, pay down and avoid future challenges with debt.  

Guest Bio

Meghan Murphy is a Director on Fidelity’s  Workplace Investing Thought Leadership team and is responsible for the development and delivery of data driven points of view on retirement savings and financial wellness trends. This work is leveraged by employers and their employees, advisors, policy makers and the media. Additionally, she is a media representative in the retirement space, helping to bring data based stories to life for the general public. Meghan has been with Fidelity since 2000 and has served in various leadership positions across the organization. 

401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview

Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over sixty prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

You ever go into a meeting thinking you are going to talk about one thing, but you pretty quickly realize that the person you are meeting with is going above and beyond your expectations? Well, that was my experience with this episode! My guest, George Castineiras brings a unique perspective to the 401(k) Fridays Podcast as he combines his background running the retirement practice for a large record keeper with his recent experience as an investor in multiple FinTech companies! 

As I was sketching out this episode in my head, I figured we would talk about Robo Advice and how that is impacts both employers and employees in workplace retirement plans. That likely would have been interesting, timely and impactful, but as you will hear, George had bigger ideas! He took my robo advice premise and added in machine learning, artificial intelligence and other current and emerging technology trends employers should be aware of that will influence the workplace retirement plan market!

Guest Bio

Widely recognized as an industry leader and innovator, Mr. Castineiras was Named “Top 100 Most Influential People in the Retirement Industry” and one of the “Top 25 Hispanic Executives” by respected industry publications, was Founder and CEO of 4 innovative companies and Chairman of the Board of Directors of 3 businesses affiliated with Prudential Financial, and holds 3 patents and 16 trademarks.

George is currently on a research sabbatical focused on the operating velocity and consequences of established, young, and nascent companies in banking, insurance, and retirement. Prior to his sabbatical he was the Managing Director of Gibraltar Ventures, the innovation lab and venture capital group of Prudential Financial, which is focused on exploring emerging business models, investing in ideas, and developing unique solutions for meeting unaddressed client needs. Under his guidance, Gibraltar made strategic investments in nine organizations and continually sourced deals and performed due diligence on new opportunities that meet the needs of Prudential’s customers.

Prior to his recent position, George, as Senior Vice President, was selected to architect and lead the turnaround of Prudential’s underperforming Total Retirement Solutions business unit with $180 billion of assets under administration and more than 6000 institutional clients nationwide. Providing strategy, tactical execution, and cross-functional leadership, he was successful in driving sales growth from $2.7 billion to $7.18 billion (2011 – 2014), reduced operating expenses by $45 million annually, raised profit margins above industry averages, improved client retention, and positioned the unit to achieve $10 billion in sales in 2015. Earlier successes with Prudential included the origination and building of the Stable Value Investment Only business from zero to $50 billion in 4 years post the 2008 market correction and leading an innovation team that launched the first defined contribution in-plan income solution, the most successful solution of its kind in the U.S., which positioned Prudential as a thought leader and innovator in the industry.

Prior to his outstanding 14-year career with Prudential Financial, he was Vice President and National Sales Director for Metropolitan Insurance, where he established leadership positions in three market segments and directed a national sales organization that consistently surpassed organizational revenue goals.

Mr. Castineiras is currently serving on the Board of Advisors of Pallantius, a start-up data-driven management consulting firm with talent from Harvard, MIT, and Stanford, and previously served as Chairman of the Boards of Directors of MullinTBG Insurance Agency Services LLC, MullinTBG Advisor Services LLC, and Global Portfolio Strategies, Inc. from 2011 through 2014.

He earned his MBA at the MIT Sloan School of Business and BA in Finance and Economics at Loyola Marymount University. Today, George resides in Farmington, Connecticut, with his wife of 21 years, Meg, and their three children.

401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview

Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over sixty prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

Over the years, and certainly recently there has been a lot of focus on the Department of Labor and their role in overseeing workplace retirement plans.  What some might not realize or fully appreciate is the role if the Internal Revenue Service, better known as the IRS in overseeing retirement plans.  To help employers get their arms around things I was excited to have Susan Mehlman, a Director in the National Tax Group and the Compensation and Benefits Practice Leader at Moss Adams join me on the podcast!  During our conversation we highlight the different focusses of the IRS and the DOL in policing workplace retirement plans, how employers end up in the crosshairs of the IRS and some tips and strategies to help minimize the risk of an IRS audit or investigation.  

This week also marks a first on the podcast as we also re-released one of our very first podcast episodes which focussed on the role of the DOL.  I thought this might make a natural follow-up from my conversation with Susan.  While that episode was recorded early in 2016, the content is just as relevant today as it was last year.  As an added bonus, don’t miss the last twelve minutes of the podcast where we do have a fresh update on what to expect from the DOL now that we have a new Secretary of Labor, the status of the Fiduciary Rule and other helpful information for employers who sponsor workplace retirement plans!  Once you finish this episode on the IRS, be sure to check out the one on the DOL!

Guest Bio

Susan leads the Compensation and Benefits Practice for Moss Adams and has provided qualified and nonqualified plan design and consulting  services since 1987. She delivers a wide range of tax solutions, including health and welfare plan tax consulting, to both public and privately held businesses. 

Susan has managed services to plans of all sizes from newly formed, small, single-employer plans to large employer plans with over 70,000 participants and assets in excess of $2 billion. She works directly with clients on tax compliance issues including responding to IRS and DOL audit inquiries and coordinates closely with various industry groups and employee benefit plan auditors within the firm. Her responsibilities include managing the client relationship through all aspects of plan design and implementation, assisting plan sponsors in setting objectives, and monitoring the success of these strategies.

401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview

Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over sixty prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

This is the second episode of today's double header.  If you haven't listened to my conversation with Susan Mehlman at Moss Adams about the IRS and your 401(k) Plan, be sure to check that out as well.  This episode  is an updated version of one of the very first episodes on the podcast.  This features my conversation with Sam Henson, an ERISA Attorney and the VP & Director of Legislative & Regulatory Affairs at Lockton Retirement Services.  The first portion is our original conversation from back in early 2016 and the last 12 minutes or so features our more recent conversation providing a few updates based on the DOL during the Trump Administration and the new Secretary of Labor.  Our conversation is full of great information about how the DOL operates, how DOL investigations are triggered and important steps you should take if you receive a  letter notifying you of a DOL investigation.  

Guest Bio

Sam Henson is the Vice President and Director of Legislative & Regulatory Affairs for Lockton Retirement Services.  Sam also brings a unique perspective to our discussion today as prior to joining Lockton, he spent almost 10 years with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), where he conducted more than 150 civil and criminal investigations of employee retirement and benefits plans, service providers, and fiduciaries.  He capped off his career at the DOL as the 2011 recipient of the Secretary of Labor’s Exceptional Achievement Award.  Needless to say, we are glad we have Sam on our side now and he is not out there banging down the doors of employers any more!

401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview

Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over sixty prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

This episode outlines how the relationship between behavioral finance and retirement plan design has evolved in recent years.  Stuart Ritter is fantastic and was definitely one of my favorite guests on the podcast last year.  Our conversation is fast paced and full of great stories and examples for employers who are looking to get their arms around behavioral finance and how embracing the concepts can improve your participant retirement outcomes.

Guest Bio

With almost 70 podcast episodes to date, we’ve had some amazing guests who have shared their experiences and perspectives to help employers better understand their retirement plans.  Out of all our prior episodes, some of our more popular ones have been where we have had business leaders in the retirement industry talk about the current and future trends they see and how they are positioning their organizations to address them.  In this episode, Jason Crane, the Executive Vice President and Managing Director of Transamerica Retirement Solutions stopped by to share some of his thoughts on the growing trend in the retirement industry of providing a more comprehensive suite of products and services to help employees on their journey to retirement.  During our conversation we hit on the impact of rapid changes in workforce demographics, the evolving definition of both retirement plan success and retirement readiness and whether employers are ready for some of the recent industry offerings.  Finally, don’t miss Jason’s thoughts on how the retirement services industry is preparing for the likely that the first person to live to 150 years old is alive today. 

Guest Bio

Automatic enrollment, automatic increases and investment default strategies, you’ve likely heard about these fundamental plan design features either from our prior guests on the podcast, current service partners or conversations with your peers.  If you aren’t familiar, we do spend the first couple of minutes of this episode providing a foundation and background.  However, my guest Jeff Bograd, a Senior Retirement Plan Consultant with John Hancock then quickly proceeds to blow my mind for the remainder of the episode with some new and cutting edge plan design strategies that in my opinion truly represent the next frontier.  While some of the ideas and concepts we discuss may not be right for your plan, many of them should give you some food for thought during future conversations about your retirement plan design.

Guest Bio

Jeff Bograd is the Director, Senior Retirement Plan Consultant for John Hancock Retirement Plan Services and has been with the company for more than 27 years. In this role, Jeff serves as a technical resource to John Hancock’s client service and sales teams, plan sponsors and financial advisors on complex compliance matters and optimal plan design. He provides ERISA and fiduciary training classes to John Hancock employees, plan sponsors and financial advisors and speaks at industry conferences on legislative and regulatory matters and achieving financial independence through plan design. Prior to his current role, Jeff managed the ERISA Consulting Group, served as an ERISA Consultant and managed the ERISA Compliance Department, responsible for all compliance testing, Forms 5500, and IRS and DOL plan audits. Jeff received a B.A. in Economics, cum laude, from Middlebury College. In addition, he is a Registered Representative and maintains his FINRA Series 6 and 63 registrations. Outside of work, Jeff enjoys reading about behavioral economics and personal finance, and playing and coaching lacrosse.

401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview

Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over fifty prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

Have index funds dropped the proverbial mic, walked off the stage and declared victory in the decades long debate of active vs. passive investment management?  My guest, Sean Lewis, a CFA and Institutional Investment Strategist with BlackRock has a few things to say about the topic!  He does a great job explaining the current market forces driving the continued growth in index investing, questions employers should be asking of themselves to help strike an appropriate balance between index and active management and what asset classes tend to favor index or active management.  Sean also reveals that not all index funds are created the same, a few tips to evaluate them, whether its harder to index equity or fixed income securities and how to tell if you have a plain boring index or one that is trying to do something more than just track their benchmark.  

As you listen to our conversation, if it causes you to think a little more about how your retirement plan investment menu is constructed, as a reminder last year we released a three part podcast series on the fundamentals of 401(k) investment menu design.  You can find it by either scrolling through your favorite podcast app or on the web at 401kfridays.com/podcasts.   

Guest Bio

Sean Lewis, CFA, Vice President, is an Investment Strategist within BlackRock's US and Canada Defined Contribution group. He is responsible for representing BlackRock's Defined Contribution ("DC") capabilities to institutional investors, investment consultants and advisors. The team also partners with Research and Product Development to evolve DC solutions, and works closely with the distribution teams to provide thought leadership and client analytics.

Mr. Lewis' service with the firm dates back to 2013. Prior to joining BlackRock, he was a Vice President at Bank of America Merrill Lynch responsible for managing credit relationships for a portfolio of mid and large-cap clients.

Mr. Lewis earned a BS degree in Agricultural Finance from the University of California at Davis in 2009. He is a CFA charterholder.

401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview

Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over fifty prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

Ah the good old days, when life was simpler, people retired with pension plans, social security was fully funded and you spent your retirement golden years in relative financial security.  Fast forward to today, there is a perception that our retirement system is broken, and we are either already in or headed for a dramatic retirement crisis.  Much of the blame for our current state of  retirement preparation has been placed on the rise of 401(k) plans.  However, does the data support both the romanticized vision of the past and the bleak picture of our present and future?  To help sort through things I have Andrew Biggs, a Resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute with me today.  His research on retirement preparation, social security and his relentless focus on data lends for an interesting conversation and perspective on some popular narratives in the media about workplace retirement plans.  

Guest Bio

Andrew G. Biggs, Ph.D., is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, DC. Prior to joining AEI he was the principal deputy commissioner of the Social Security Administration (SSA), where he oversaw SSA's policy research efforts and led the agency's participation in the Social Security Trustees working group. In 2005 he worked on Social Security reform at the National Economic Council and in 2001 was on the staff of the President's Commission to Strengthen Social Security. Andrew’s work at AEI focuses on Social Security reform, state and local government pensions, and comparisons of public and private sector compensation.

His work has appeared in academic publications as well as outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and Washington Post, and he has testified before Congress on numerous occasions. He holds a Bachelors degree from the Queen's University of Belfast, Masters degrees from Cambridge University and the University of London and a Ph.D. from the London School of Economics.

401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview

Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over fifty prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

As a listener to the podcast, you might be "in the know" about the current retirement plan trends and motivated to tackle new ideas or strategies to put your employees on track for better retirement outcomes.  But what can you do when not everyone in the company or on your retirement plan committee is on board with you.  How do you either get the ball rolling, get the right people to the table or otherwise remove roadblocks that might stand in your way to improving employee retirement readiness?  Well, Laraine McKinnon, a Retirement Readiness Strategist with BlackRock has worked with numerous employers to do just that and shares her strategies and experiences on the podcast! 

Guest Bio

Laraine McKinnon is a retirement readiness expert who works with major employers and advisors to help improve participant outcomes and drive employee engagement.

Laraine advocates for retirement readiness through her thought leadership including breakthrough research on retirement engagement and innovative new tools to help quantify the implications of participants' savings and investment decisions on future outcomes. She also frequently speaks on retirement at conferences for industry groups, financial advisor firms and plan sponsor forums.

Laraine's tenure at BlackRock dates back to 1994. A retirement readiness strategist at BlackRock, she also served as a fiduciary on the BlackRock Retirement Savings Plan. Her experience also includes roles at BlackRock's legacy firms: Barclays Global Investors (BGI) where she managed multi-billion dollar relationships and Wells Fargo Nikko Investment Advisors (WFNIA) where she supported index and asset allocation products, including LifePath, the industry's first target date fund.

Laraine is also an advocate for women's leadership. She helps women in in Silicon Valley accelerate their careers and fulfill their personal potential through an incubator program and sits on the Board of The CLUB Silicon Valley.

Laraine earned a BA degree, cum laude, in political science and women's studies from Wellesley College. Her hobbies include hiking and sailboat racing. She lives in Silicon Valley with her husband and two daughters.

401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview

Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over fifty prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

We have spent a lot of time on the podcast talking about how to make your retirement plan stronger and healthier.  Today, we turn the conversation on its head and discuss strategies to make your retirement plan unattractive, to plaintiff’s attorneys and the ERISA lawsuits.  With me I have two previous podcast guests, we have our legal eagle Tom Clark, ERISA Attorney with Wagner Law Group and our voice of the retirement industry Josh Dietch.   There is laughter, witty banter and even some great suggestions you can take away and bring to your next retirement committee meeting.  

Before we get started, we will soon announce our next live webinar to our email subscribers coming up in May.  Thank you again to everyone who voted!  I am happy share that our next topic will be, drum roll, “Should Your Employees Consider Your HSA Plan as a Retirement Plan?”.  Again, stay tuned for the email soon to come email announcement.  As a reminder, if you are not an email subscriber, you are missing out on valuable podcast updates, opportunities to submit ideas for topics to explore, questions to future guests, timely white papers and invitations to our webinars and other live events.  If you are not part of our growing community, go to www.401kfridays.com/subscribe today and you can get that taken care of.  

Guest Bios

Tom Clark is Of Counsel with The Wagner Law Group, a law firm specializing in ERISA & Employee Benefits, Estate Planning, and Employment, Labor & Human Resources Law. His expertise encompasses all aspects of employee benefits programs, including the design, implementation and compliance of retirement plans, health and welfare plans, and executive and incentive compensation arrangements. He also has a robust practice assisting industry service providers in meeting their ERISA compliance and general business needs. Tom is also a well-seasoned ERISA litigator. Earlier in his career, he worked for the law firm of Schlichter, Bogard & Denton including on such landmark cases as Tibble v. Edison, which was heard this year by the U.S. Supreme Court. Tom is Editor-in-Chief of the Fiduciary Matters Blog, a blog visited over 150,000 times since its first publication in March 2013. He also teaches ERISA Fiduciary Law as an Adjunct Professor at the Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, his alma mater.

​

Josh Dietch joined Chatham Partners in 2005 and is a Managing Director. In this capacity, Joshua manages research and consulting engagements that focus on client retention and new business development processes. Prior to joining Chatham, Joshua was Director, Product Marketing and Management with ADP Retirement Services managing product development and marketing for ADP's defined contribution and executive deferred compensation products. Earlier in his career, Joshua was a consultant with Cerulli Associates, helping financial service firms with both business strategy and new product development, and previously worked for a subsidiary of the Principal Financial Group. He has been quoted on financial issues for leading publications such as the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Pensions and Investments, Investment News and several trade publications, and has also appeared on CNBC. Joshua received his B.A. in History from Bates College.

401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview

Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over fifty prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

Get beyond the eyeball grabbing headlines, the ever present three bullet summaries and hear some well thought out perspectives to help guide conversations and decisions in your workplace retirement plans.  Our guest today, Brian Reid, the Chief Economist at the Investment Company Institute or ICI, shares that goal and provides some great food for thought for you.  He addresses some recent stories you might have come across such as “Are 401(k) Plans A Failed Experiment”, and were “Employees Better off Under Pension Plans”.  He also provides some context on the other side of the conversation we had a few episodes ago about State Run Retirement Plans.  As I said in that episode, not everyone is convinced that they are ready for prime time.  Now, you may or may not agree with all of his points, but what I really appreciated is that Brian is armed with research, facts and he does a great job keeping the conversation engaging and thought provoking!

Guest Bio

Brian K. Reid is chief economist at the Investment Company Institute (ICI). Reid oversees the Institute’s statistical collections and its research on the US and global funds, financial markets, US retirement market, and investor demographics. His research and analysis focuses on financial institutions and markets, investor trends, and the impact of regulation on funds, their investors, and the markets. Before joining the Institute, Reid worked as a staff economist in the Monetary Affairs Division at the Federal Reserve Board. Reid graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison with honors and holds a PhD in economics from the University of Michigan. 

401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview

Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over fifty prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

With all of the 401(k) and ERISA lawsuits floating around these days, we have gotten a fair number of questions from employers about fiduciary liability insurance.  We have also made reference on several prior episodes that it is critical to ensure you have a well crafted fiduciary liability insurance.  As they say, never bring a knife to a gun fight, so I reached out to the biggest gun I know,  Dana Kopper, a Managing Director and an Professional Liability Insurance specialist with Lockton Insurance Brokers.  After nearly forty years in the business, handling thousands of claims, being integrally involved in countless settlements, Dana shares some of his insights on how fiduciary risk management, insurance and indemnification all work hand in hand to protect both employers and their retirement plan fiduciaries.  He also dispels a few myths, shares some stories and offers a few thoughts on what not do when it comes to fiduciary liability insurance.  

Don’t forget, for each podcast episode we have a dedicated website page with guest bios, photos, episode descriptions, helpful links and even a built in podcast player!  For this episode, we even have a recent white paper with more information on fiduciary liability insurance.  Check it out at 401kfridays.com/kopper

Guest Bio

Dana Kopper is a Managing Director with Lockton Companies, LLC, Directors & Officers and Governance Risk Management Group. Lockton is the world’s largest privately-held risk and insurance management services firm with 4,450 employees operating out of offices in 39 countries. 

Dana has provided a broad range of governance and risk management consulting and transactional services to public, private, for-profit, and not-for-profit organizations for the past 38 years. 

He is one of the country’s leading D&O and professional liability brokers – a noted expert (court qualified expert witness) in the areas of international directors’ and officers’ legal liability, investment management professional liability, governance infrastructure design, board effectiveness, director accountability, organizational compliance efficacy, and associated risk mitigation strategies. Dana was recently selected as the AIG 2012 Broker of the Year. 

Dana has lived and worked throughout the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. He is actively involved with international directors’ and officers’ liability and corporate governance including recent emphasis on U.S. exchange listed Chinese firms in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and other cities. 

Prior to his career in risk and insurance management, Dana was a federal agent with the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI) – criminal investigations, counterintelligence and counterterrorism. 

401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview

Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over fifty prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

This is our second episode where we tackle the ins and outs of retirement plan discrimination and compliance testing.  The first episode we released a few weeks ago hit on some of the core concepts around discrimination testing and laid five strategies to improve your results.  Today, we pick up where we left off with the last episode and address some more complex concepts around discrimination testing.   Thankfully, I have Chad Johnson, a fellow admitted 401(k) nerd, and Third Party Administrator with Plan Design Consultants to help us out.  Over the years I have had numerous conversations with retirement service providers of all shapes and sizes on M&A, Control Groups, Grace Periods and Discrimination testing.   In my humble opinion, I think Chad provided one of the better explanations of all this that I have heard! 

Let me know if you agree, disagree or if we missed something you have questions about, shoot us an email at info@401kfridays.com.  

Guest Bio

Chad Johansen is a self-proclaimed retirement-plan-aholoic. As a frequent speaker at the 401(k) Academy, Retireholi(k)s and other national venues, Chad is passionate about helping advisors and plan sponsors understand the intricacies of the 401(k) market place. Chad takes great pride in translating complicated retirement into 401(k) EasySpeak with the goal of creating educated and confident decisions.

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Chad joined Plan Design Consultants, Inc. in March 2010. As an Internal Retirement Plan Consultant, Chad was assigned to advisor support throughout Northern California. Chad was also responsible for producing the PDC comprehensive retirement plan comparative analysis and aided in vendor research, product knowledge and PDC marketing efforts. In January 2011, Chad made the transition as our External Retirement Plan Consultant covering the California territory.  In 2014 Chad joined in ownership of the firm and was promoted to Sales Director now acting as a player/coach to the PDC Sales Team.

​Chad also sits on the Board of Directors for The Kyle MacFarlane Foundation. In partnership with legendary bike builder Arlen Ness, Stanford Medical and Victory Motorcycles the foundation is teaming up to build a “Hands on Nutrition”  motorcycle to raise awareness to the many stomach conditions plaguing Americans.

Chad earned his Bachelors of Science Degree in Business Administration from William Woods University in Fulton, Missouri. While attending WWU on a baseball scholarship Chad excelled in both business and finance. He was honored as Business Student of the Year and graduated summa cum laude. 

Chad and his wife Brooke live in San Jose, California and recently welcomed their second child. They enjoy being outdoors, golfing and skiing/snowboarding.

401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview

Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over fifty prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

In prior episodes we have talked about how to "Transition from Financial Education to Financial Wellness", how "Financial Wellness is a Trend too Big to be Ignored" and we have even talked with Cisco Systems to learn how they designed and rolled out their financial wellness strategy.  What we haven’t spent any time on is making sure that as you introduce or expand your financial or general wellness programs, you don’t run into compliance problems along the way! So, I was excited to have Monica Novak, an ERISA Attorney with Drinker Biddle & Reath join me on the podcast.  Monica does a terrific job sharing her experience working with employers on questions and concerns on both financial wellness and more traditional physical wellness programs.  As much of our conversation does focus on what can go wrong with wellness programs, I did want to share that Monica is a big fan of wellness and didn’t want some of the doom and gloom we chat about to scare anyone away from pursuing workplace wellness!

Guest Bio

Monica A. Novak assists clients with a range of employee benefits matters, including health and welfare benefits, tax-qualified retirement plans and nonqualified plans. She routinely counsels clients on implementing employee wellness programs that comply with the various nondiscrimination regulations applicable to wellness programs – HIPAA, ADA, and GINA.  In addition she helps counsels clients regarding the design, implementation and administration of benefit plans to ensure consistency with plan terms and compliance with the Internal Revenue Code and ERISA requirements, as well as the requirements under Health Care Reform.

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Monica has spent the last eight years with Drinker, Biddle & Reath and prior to that graduated from Harvard Law School.  

401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview

Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over fifty prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

Whether you are aware of it or not, several individual states are getting ready to launch state sponsored retirement plans.  Their intent is to help workers who are not eligible for or not offered a retirement plan through their employer.  What you also might not know is that in the Pacific Northwest, Oregon, the Beaver State, is likely going to be the first state with a live program with a scheduled launch on July 1st, 2017.  For most employers, the reactions and questions have been pretty consistent, why are the states going down this path, how will the programs work, if we already offer a retirement plan what does this mean to us?  Well, it wouldn’t be like me to leave you guessing on what all this means so I was excited to have Joel Metlen, the Public Engagement Manager from the Oregon State Treasury Department and the OregonSaves retirement plan join me to address these questions and much more.  Even if you don’t have an office or employees in Oregon, much of what we talk about is broadly applicable to what’s going on in other states around the country.  As you might imagine, not everyone thinks these programs are a great idea, so I do take time to address some of the bigger concerns and objections we have heard from other employers, the retirement industry and now the federal government.  There are a lot of opinions, information and misperceptions circulating right now about state run plans.  My hope is that after you listen to our conversation you will be more informed, understand how this may or may not impact your company and will have the framework to process future developments rationally. 

Guest Bio

Joel Metlen, Public Engagement Manager, manages outreach and stakeholder engagement for Oregon State Treasury’s OregonSaves program. He has 13 years of public service experience. He worked in New York City as the Deputy Director of the Revenue Division of the NYC Parks Department, and he was the Business Operations Manager for foodservice at DC Public Schools. Prior to joining Treasury, Joel was the Communications and Legislative Manager for the Oregon Health Insurance Marketplace. He has a B.F.A. from New York University and an M.A. from Johns Hopkins University.

401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview

Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over fifty prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

Whether you are passing or failing your discrimination testing, well, this is maybe a bit more timely if you are failing testing, this is a great episode to help get your arms around some of the key concepts and fundamentals behind coverage and discrimination testing.  My guest is Doug Van Galder, a Compliance Analyst with the ERISA Law Firm Boutwell Fay, who has worked with countless employers over his 35 year career to help them navigate the sometimes challenging testing waters.  We start with the basics, discuss strategies to improve testing results and believe it or not, we don’t even mention the concept of safe harbor until the very end!  As you’ll hear, its all about getting the  math to work in your favor!

Just a quick reminder to provide your input on the one question you have always wanted to ask your employees but have been afraid to.  We have received some great questions already, but definitely want to hear from some more employers.  Go to 401kfridays.com/question to learn more and for the link to the survey.  

We did have a couple gremlins who disrupted the clarity of our connection in a few spots early on, while everything is a understandable, we will do our best to keep them contained in the future.

Guest Bio

Douglas Van Galder is a Compliance Analyst who is committed to the favorable tax-qualified status and success of the private and public pension systems in America. Therefore, Doug assists Boutwell Fay LLP Clients and their service providers in properly administering retirement plans that remain compliant and deliver the intended benefits.

Boutwell Fay LLP is a highly rated, women-owned law Firm specializing in employee benefits and ERISA. We have seven Attorneys with Offices in Newport Beach, CA and New York City, NY. Boutwell Fay LLP is the only boutique law firm in Orange County, CA that focuses exclusively on employee benefits and ERISA. The Firm provides high quality legal services normally associated with large law firms, while its smaller size allows us to be more accessible to our Clients and more responsive to their needs. The Firm helps Clients with legal issues that arise in the context of: Qualified and Non-Qualified Plans, Health and Welfare Plans, Plan Corrections and Government Audits, ERISA and Fiduciary Consulting and ERISA Claims and Disputes.

In his capacities as a Compliance Analyst, Third Party Administrator (TPA), Record Keeper, Executive, Plan Sponsor/Trustee and Fiduciary Administrator, Doug has amassed 34 years of experience in the intricate business development, compliance and consulting aspects of retirement plans. Most recently, Doug was an Executive Vice President with both QBI, LLC and Fiduciary Administration, LLC serving as Defined Contribution Practice Leader and a Fiduciary Administrator, respectively. He previously founded and was the President of Strategic Pension Services, Inc. (SPS), where he led expert teams of Consultants and Administrators. SPS was acquired by QBI, LLC in January of 2015.

Doug is an Enrolled Retirement Plan Agent and earned the American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries' designation of Qualified Pension Administrator. He is also the President for the Orange County Chapter of the Western Pension & Benefits Council.

401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview

Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over fifty prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

Scott Knowles, the internal architect of the Financial Wellness program at Cisco Systems stopped by the podcast to share his experience to help other employers who are considering going down a similar path. He provides candid perspectives on the why behind their program, how they rolled it out and what they plan to do in the future to keep improving upon their early successes!

Before we get started, just a quick reminder to provide your input on the one question you have always wanted to ask your employees but have been afraid to.  Go to 401kfridays.com/question to learn more and for the link to the survey.  

Also, we plan is to conduct at least another three or four employer interviews on the podcast this year.  If you have done something interesting in your retirement plan that you feel other employers or for that matter the retirement industry could benefit from knowing about, shoot me an email at info@401kfridays.com, we would love to hear more about it and potentially have your or someone from your team join me on the podcast!  

Guest Bio

Scott is the Senior Manager of Global Benefits, Financial Wellness and Long-Term Savings at Cisco Systems.  Over the last 11 years he has worked to:

• Design and execute Cisco's Financial Wellness strategy providing our employee's with a productive, personalized experience that enables them to create their own journey to optimal financial health that's most relevant to them and their family. 

• Execute program strategy and design, administration, compliance, communications, participant experience, vendor management and benchmarking of the Cisco 401k, non-qualified deferred compensation and acquired defined benefit programs. Identify marketplace trends and best practices to maintain a best in class program that meets Cisco’s benefits philosophy. 

• Facilitate quarterly fiduciary Cisco 401k Administration Committee meetings consisting of senior level executives from across the business functions. 

• Serve in a consultative role supporting country HR managers related to compliance, administration, and communications of the Canadian and Puerto Rico retirement savings programs. 

• Participate in the development and rollout of a global retirement governance structure across Tier 1 countries in several theatres including AsiaPac, LatAm and EMEA. Utilized an external global consultant to assist with gathering marketplace intelligence and best practices. 

• Strategically align and influence program needs and requirements with various business partners including Treasury, Payroll, Finance, Accounting, Strategic Spend Management and Human Resources IT departments. 

• Manage complex implementation timelines involving multiple work streams resulting from the selection of new vendors for key benefit programs. Led the vendor search project which included cross-functional team participation.

• Responsible for the post integration of target organization retirement program resulting from an acquisition. Requires ability to manage multiple projects, technical and compliance knowledge of plan terminations or mergers, ability to manage external vendors, and employee communications. 

Prior to Cisco he was provided HR consulting at Deloitte, was a consultant with PwC and a 401(k) Plan Administrator with Watson Wyatt.  

401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview

Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over fifty prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

Regardless of how you feel about visiting the doctor, after you listen to my conversation with Dr. Greg Kasten, the Founder and CEO of Unified Trust Company and if you follow a few of his prescriptions or strategies they could help you make a lasting impact on the future of your retirement plan and workforce!  There are a lot of memorable takeaways for anyone looking to explore some new concepts to get different results.  Personally I liked when Dr. Kasten:

• Compared how selecting a retirement plan service provider because of their great technology is like picking a hospital because it has a really nice parking lot! 

• Observed how unfortunately most employers think a retirement plan must be a good investment plan and why that thinking needs to be changed

• Described key employee savings behaviors and tendencies and how you can use that knowledge to help them get better results without making them lift a finger! 

• Suggested it might help plan sponsors better fulfill their fiduciary responsibility by analyzing value by calculating outcomes divided by cost

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Before we get started, a quick update that our research project is officially underway! The first step is where I am personally asking our listeners to get involved.  It’s pretty simple, what’s the one question you have always wanted to ask your employees about your retirement plan but you have been afraid to.  Don’t send us easy questions, we want to hear about a fork in the road you have come upon, a plan design change you are struggling with or a big project you are considering and you don’t know how it might be received by your workforce and what the potential human capital impact of your business could be.  As we are expecting some juicy questions, we will keep your name and company private.  After we compile the responses, sort to the most popular and interesting questions we will ask them to real participants and record their raw reactions.  In April we will share the results with you in a podcast episode and a white paper.  To participate, go to www.401kfridays.com/question where you can explore more information and privately submit your question!

Guest Bio

Dr. Gregory W. Kasten serves as founder and CEO of Unified Trust Company. Following graduation from Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in 1980, he completed an internal medicine internship and anesthesiology residency at the university of Kentucky Medical Center and is a board certified anesthesiologist. He received a master of business administration degree with an emphasis on finance and investment management from the University of Kentucky College of Business Graduate School. Dr. Kasten was awarded the Accredited Investment Fiduciary Analyst designation by the Center for Fiduciary Studies, the Certified Financial Planner designation by the Denver College of Financial Planning, and the Certified Pension Consultant designation by the American Society of Pension Actuaries.

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He has published more than 100 papers on financial planning and investment-related topics in various financial and business journals; written two editions of the book Retirement Success; and in 2005 he co- authored the first place winning paper entitled: “Post Modern Portfolio Theory” and presented the paper at the Financial Planning Association National Meeting. Dr. Kasten has given dozens of lectures on fiduciary best practices to pension professionals and Federal banking regulators.

In 2007-2009, Medical economics listed Dr. Kasten as one of “the 150 Best financial advisers for doctors” in the country. Dr. Kasten was inducted into the advisor Hall of fame by research Magazine in 2011 and in 2013 was named Retirement Plan Adviser of the Year by Employee Benefit Adviser Magazine. He has more than thirty years of investment experience and has been with the company since he founded it in 1985.

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Dr. Kasten developed the Unified Fiduciary Monitoring Index® as a method of measuring mutual fund and predictive performance factors when observed from a fiduciary standpoint. In 2007-2010, Dr. Kasten oversaw development of the revolutionary UnifiedPlan®. The UnifiedPlan creates a “pension-like” experience for each 401(k) plan participant, and greatly improves their retirement success. Beginning in 2006, CEFEX, the Centre for Fiduciary Excellence, LLC, has annually certified Unified Trust to the Fiduciary Practices for Investment Advisors. Unified Trust was among the first Investment advisors globally to successfully complete the independent certification process, and was the first trustee certified in the United States.  Unified Trust was certified for its discretionary investment services provided in a trust environment for trustee-directed and participant-directed DC plans and individual investors. Created as a discretionary trustee fiduciary service, Unified Trust Company’s goal is to always provide loyalty and expert standard of care to all clients. 

401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview

Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over fifty prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

As a retirement plan sponsor, you are constantly bombarded with sales calls, articles, new products, updates on litigation and much more. This information overload can make it challenging to filter through the noise and bright shiny objects to focus on what’s really important to your retirement plan and your participants. With that in mind, I was excited to have Tom Kmak, CEO and co-founder of Fiduciary Benchmarks rejoin me on the podcast to offer some perspective.  By way of background, Tom is consistently recognized as one of the most influential people in the retirement industry, prior to founding the incredibly successful firm Fiduciary Benchmarks he was the CEO of JP Morgan Retirement Plan Service.  During our conversation, he pulls from his over three decades of experience to comment on how current “trending topics” such as financial wellness, the focus on fees, ERISA litigation, commoditization and few others can draw attention away from helping retirement plan participants retire successfully.   Also, If you missed our first conversation on the podcast be sure to check out, “401(k) Plan Fees: Benchmarking Value & Reasonableness” it was our most popular episode for 2016. 

Before we get started, I have mentioned on the last few episodes that we are launching an exciting research project on February 1st.  Here’s a quick preview to get you thinking, we will be posing the following question to employers, “What have you always wanted to ask your employees about your retirement plan but have been afraid to?”  That’s it!  To be clear, we are looking for questions that you would be uncomfortable asking your own employees, but knowing the answers would help you make more informed decisions about your retirement plan and the potential human capital impact on your business.   More to come, and the only way to participate is if you’re an email subscriber, connected with me on LinkedIn or following me on twitter.  So don’t delay, go to 401kfridays.com/subscribe and you can take care of all of those in one stop.

Without further ado, i hope you enjoy my conversation with Tom!

Guest Bio

CEO and co-founder of Fiduciary Benchmarks, 2007 to current.  Fiduciary Benchmarks (FBi) is a premier and patented benchmarking service (U.S. Patent 8,510,198) for defined contribution plans that uses various mathematical models to help fiduciaries determine whether the fees they are paying to their service providers are reasonable in light of the value being received.  Through their construction and presentation, FBi reports give plan decision makers the context necessary to improve decisions and positively affect the measures of long-term plan success.  FBi reports are available primarily through advisor/consultants, recordkeepers, TPAs and other plan service providers. 

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Prior to founding FBi, Tom Started the JPMorgan Retirement Plan Services business in 1990 with American Century.  Upon leaving in October 2007, that business employed 1,100 people serving 200 large plan sponsors with over 1.5 million participants and more than $115 billion in assets.

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During his 18 years with Retirement Plan Services, the company initiated numerous industry firsts including no blackout conversions and the innovative employee education program, Audience of One.  Tom also served on the Executive Committee for JPMorgan’s asset management business.

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Named by Ingram’s magazine as one of Kansas City’s inaugural class of “Forty most influential people under Forty,” Tom is a recognized expert in the retirement services industry who has been a featured speaker at various conferences and has published articles in some of the most well-known periodicals in the industry.

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Graduated Phi Beta Kappa from DePauw University with B.A. degrees in Economics and Computational Mathematics.  He is also the first graduate of the Management Fellows Program and 3 year letterman in inter-collegiate basketball.

401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview

A weekly podcast where Employers, Retirement Plan Sponsors and Fiduciaries come to hear candid insights from retirement industry leaders on important trends, topics and current events. Each episode is designed to explore a specific topic and leave our listeners with concrete ideas and strategies to enhance fiduciary protection, streamline plan operations or improve participant retirement readiness.  

With over 50 episodes we’ve had the good fortune chat with attorneys, authors, investment managers, professors, business leaders and fellow employers to explore a wide range of topics including fiduciary best practices, investment commentary, legal and regulatory updates, plan design trends, employee engagement strategies and much more! Be sure to check previous episodes at www.401kfridays.com/podcasts.

Today is inauguration day and depending on your political leanings, it represents the beginning, the end, the beginning of the end or some other variation on that theme!  However, what I am excited about is sharing my recent conversation with Bob Holcomb, ERISA Attorney and Vice President of Legislative and Regulatory Affairs at Empower Retirement where we discuss what employers should expect from retirement plan policy during the Trump Administration.  Now, despite what I just said a minute ago, Bob does a really nice job of providing a thoughtful and rationale view of the landscape to help you digest information and plan accordingly.  Our   conversation starts with what impact the President has on retirement policy, moves to initiatives in Congress, potential changes in tax policy that could impact both retirement plan sponsors and your participants, then on to the Department of Labor and closes with some predictions of what the future holds. 

Before we get started, as a reminder we are getting ready to launch a podcast and social media research project where I am will be asking employers to to share your input on one question, thats it.  However, your answers to one simple question will produce a really interesting body of work which we will share verbally on the podcast and in a white paper with our email subscribers.  We’re kicking things off in February and fair warning, the only way to participate is if you’re an email subscriber, connected with me on LinkedIn or following me on twitter.  So don’t delay, go to 401kfridays.com/subscribe and you can take care of all of those in one stop. 

Guest Bio

Robert Holcomb is Vice President of Legislative and Regulatory Affairs for Empower Retirement. In this role, Mr. Holcomb oversees retirement policy efforts on behalf of Empower Retirement and meets with members of congress, regulatory agencies and other policy makers on pension related matters. In addition, he interprets pension-related legislation and regulations, consults with clients and internal partners on legislative and regulatory issues. He currently is Chairman of the American Benefits Council (ABC) and works with other industry advocacy groups. Prior to joining Empower, Mr. Holcomb was employee benefit counsel for a national bank.  A frequent speaker at industry conferences, Mr. Holcomb has been in the retirement business for more than 25 years serving in client management, operations, technical consulting and sales support roles. He is a graduate of the University of  Kansas School of Law.  

401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview

A weekly podcast where Employers, Retirement Plan Sponsors and Fiduciaries come to hear candid insights from retirement industry leaders on important trends, topics and current events. Each episode is designed to explore a specific topic and leave our listeners with concrete ideas and strategies to enhance fiduciary protection, streamline plan operations or improve participant retirement readiness.  

With over 50 episodes we’ve had the good fortune chat with attorneys, authors, investment managers, professors, business leaders and fellow employers to explore a wide range of topics including fiduciary best practices, investment commentary, legal and regulatory updates, plan design trends, employee engagement strategies and much more! Be sure to check previous episodes at www.401kfridays.com/podcasts.

If you are interested to learn how thinking differently about your company culture and employee benefits could help you win the battle for talent today and in the future, then you don't want to miss this episode!  And if that wasn't enough, we also reveal that we are in the midst of a complete revolution in the nature and composition of the workforce which occurs every four generations while sharing some great strategies for employers who might be struggling to adapt!  Full disclosure, there’s not a lot of talk about retirement plans in this episode.  My guest is Jamie Notter, the Founding Partner of WorkXO, a startup that helps organizations map their Workplace Genome and turn workplace culture into a tangible business tool that drives growth. Jamie also co-authored When Millennials Take Over, Preparing for the Ridiculously Optimistic Future of Business and shares some great tidbits from his research as well.  

We are also getting ready to launch a podcast and social media research project where I am going to need some quick and easy input from employers.  We’re kicking things off in February and fair warning, the only way to participate is if you’re an email subscriber, connected with me on LinkedIn or following me on twitter.  Don’t delay, go to 401kfridays.com/subscribe and you can take care of all of those in one stop.  I’ve talked with a few of my clients about what we are working on and they loved it so I look forward to unveiling it soon!

As this episode is a bit outside of our typical retirement themed topics, after you are done listening I would love feedback on whether you would like more of these from time to time, or should we stick with retirement centric topics, send me an email with your thoughts to info@401kfridays.com.  

Guest Bio

Jamie Notter is a founding partner at WorkXO where he helps leaders drive growth through cultural alignment. He brings 25 years of experience in conflict resolution, generational differences, leadership, and culture change to his work at WorkXO, a startup that helps organizations map their Workplace Genome and turn workplace culture into a tangible business tool that drives growth. Author of two books (When Millennials Take Over, and Humanize), Jamie has a Master’s in conflict resolution from George Mason and a certificate in OD from Georgetown, where he serves as adjunct faculty.

401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview

A weekly podcast where Employers, Retirement Plan Sponsors and Fiduciaries come to hear candid insights from retirement industry leaders on important trends, topics and current events. Each episode is designed to explore a specific topic and leave our listeners with concrete ideas and strategies to enhance fiduciary protection, streamline plan operations or improve participant retirement readiness.  

With over 50 episodes we’ve had the good fortune chat with attorneys, authors, investment managers, professors, business leaders and fellow employers to explore a wide  range of topics including fiduciary best practices, investment commentary, legal and regulatory updates, plan design trends, employee engagement strategies and much more! Be sure to check previous episodes at www.401kfridays.com/podcasts.