Info

401(k) Fridays Podcast

The 401(k) Fridays Podcast features a weekly conversation with an expert guest to help employers and their service partners keep up with workplace retirement plan topics and trends. Listen today, improve your retirement plan tomorrow!
RSS Feed Subscribe in Apple Podcasts
401(k) Fridays Podcast
2023
March
February
January


2022
December
November
October
September
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2021
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
March
February
January


2020
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2019
December
November
October
September
August
June
May
April
March
February
January


2018
December
November
October
September
August
June
May
April
March
February
January


2017
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February
January


2016
December
November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
February


Categories

All Episodes
Archives
Categories
Now displaying: June, 2018
Jun 29, 2018

We are taking a brief summer hiatus. Enjoy this episode from the archives. New episodes will resume again in August. Enjoy!

This episode is fresh out of the 401(k) Fridays Podcast experiment lab.  Today my guest JD Carlson, the President & CEO of the legendary Third Party Administration firm Plan Design Consultants and Host of the Retireholi(k)s show we poke a little bit of fun with 401(k) speak.  Each of us took the time to prepare a few statements that are full of retirement plan terms, or maybe not, and then put the other person on the spot to determine if the statement is Jargon, Gibberish, or Jumbled.  We had a lot of fun recording this but want to make sure we weren’t the only ones.  Please share your feedback on whether this was entertaining, informative or both or neither.  Shoot us an email to feedback@401kfridays.com or leave a comment on LinkedIn to me, Rick Unser or JD Carlson.  If the feedback we get is encouraging, we will tackle some additional retirement plan related topics using this format with future guests.  The fate of Jargon, Gibberish or Jumbled  is in your hands!

We also have another first with this episode, we have video!  If you want to check that out, go to YouTube and search Plan Design Consultants.  Or go to www.401kfridays.com/jgjand I will have a link towards the bottom of the page.    

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 one hundred prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

Jun 22, 2018

Employers consistently want to know what other employers are doing in their 401(k) plan. In this episode we drill into the decisions employers are making about plan design, investment options, fiduciary process and employee retirement outcomes. The heavy lifting is done by Derek Wallen, a SVP at Fidelity and architect of their annual Plan Sponsor Attitudes Survey.  Derek does a nice job highlighting the key finds of this years survey which is hot off the presses and comparing result to prior years.  He also does all of this in a way that is easy to understand and compare contrast what is going on in your plan. 

If you would like a copy of the survey go to 401kfridays.com/wallen and we will have a link. Or, if you are an email subscriber we will send that out to you. If you are not an email suscriber, go to 401kfrisays.com/subscribe today to get that taken care of.  

Finally, we are going to take a little summer hiatus so this will be the last new episode for a few weeks. Don’t forget we have over 120 episodes in the archives you can explore and we will repost a few prior episodes while we are on break.  When we come back with new episodes we will also have a fancy new website and a few other surprises to be sure to check it out!

Guest Bio

Derek Wallen is senior vice president and head of Defined Contribution Investment Only (DCIO) Sales at Fidelity Institutional Asset ManagementSM (FIAMSM), Fidelity Investments’ distribution and client service organizationdedicated to meeting the needs of consultants and institutional investors, such as defined benefit and defined contribution plans, endowments, and financial advisors.

In this role, Mr. Wallen oversees the DCIO team distributing Fidelity Investment asset management capabilities through advisors, advisory firms, and record keepers focused on serving the small and mid-sized defined contribution marketplace.

Prior to assuming his current position in 2011, Mr. Wallen managed institutional insurance sales for the eastern region of the United States. He joined Fidelity in 1991 as a sales executive responsible for the Chicago, New York, and Boston marketplaces.

Mr. Wallen graduated from Villanova University. He has also completed the Leadership Development Program at the Center for Creative Leadership and the Securities Industry Institute.

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 one hundred prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

 

Jun 15, 2018

Its getting to be that time of year again, no not that time of year, its time to plan for benefits open enrollment. Over the last several years all the changes and activity in health plans has grabbed the headlines and the lions share of the focus of employee meetings. This year, and going forward where does the 401(k) plan fit?

To shed some light on this I am happy to have Peg Knox who today is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of DCIIA. But not so long ago she was the global retirement plans manager at Bechtel Global Corporation, where she worked to generate and implement new ideas for Bechtel retirement plans to enhance retirement security for its employees. She shares some great thoughts right out of the gate on 401(k) plans and open enrollment. We also delve into the hot topics of financial wellness, whether HSAs should be tied to health plans or retirement plans and much more.

Guest Bio

Peg Knox is Chief Operating Officer (COO) of DCIIA. Prior to joining DCIIA, she was the global retirement plans manager at Bechtel Global Corporation, where she worked to generate and implement new ideas for Bechtel retirement plans to enhance retirement security for its employees. Previously she had served as Bechtel’s treasurer, where she ensured efficient global treasury operations including cash management and investments, debt and credit lines, foreign exchange services and other treasury functions to support the company's business lines. Peg has an MBA from Saint Mary’s College and is based in San Francisco.

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 one hundred prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

Jun 8, 2018

There has been vast improvement by retirement plan fiduciaries when it comes to reviewing fees and investments.  We even see more retirement plan committee who check the box on other important fiduciary tasks. But does that mean they have a good governance process?  With that said, what is fiduciary governance, what does good governance look like and can you be a top notch fiduciary but leave yourself exposed to risk with poor governance?

We tackle this and more today in my conversation with Andy Larson, Director of Retirement Education at the Retirement Leaning Center.  Right out of the gate Andy shares what he feels the key missing ingredient to good governance is. We also tackle many common questions we get from employers about governance such as who should be on a fiduciary committee, how often should you meet and what should you address every year. Stay tuned because some answers you have heard in the past have been updated based on what we have learned from ERISA litigation and other trends.  You will also here that Andy shares my love for analogies, and there are some good ones!

Guest Bio

With 35 years of experience in the financial services industry, Andy is a respected authority, frequent lecturer and author on industry topics. Andy’s background includes managing and consulting with major recordkeeping platforms, extensive product design for plan sponsors and advanced sales support for intermediaries who work with plans.

As a retirement industry executive, he ran the recordkeeping and consulting practice for Universal Pensions, Inc. (UPI), and headed the BISYS Corporate University. He has served as an adjunct professor for the Central Lakes College system in Minnesota, and provides expert witness services on numerous industry topics. Andy is co-author of RLC’s book, Retirement Resource Guide:  Essential ERISA Education & Best Practices for Financial Advisors. He is a graduate of the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, and maintains a Certified Pension Consultant (CPC) designation from the American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries.

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 one hundred prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

Jun 1, 2018

Believe it or not, but it has been over six months since we have tackled about financial wellness on the podcast. Today, Chris Whitlow, the Founder & CEO of Edukate, address the red hot topic. In our conversation today we tackle an interesting thought on financial wellness, despite nearly everyone talking about it, are employers actually embracing it? We share some thoughts on that along with four steps to start an effective financial wellness program, if financial wellness is a product or process, how to evaluate VOI & ROI and thoughts for employers to knock down silos between their physical wellness and financial wellness programs and embrace a program based on overall wellbeing.  Chris and I also had a few good laughs as he picked away at my compound questions.

Guest Bio

Chris Whitlow is the founder and CEO of Edukate, a workplace financial wellness provider on a mission to give every person access to expert financial guidance. Chris works with the Edukate team to solve problems that ease the financial stress most Americans experience each day. Using cutting edge technology, Edukate helps employers provide the best financial wellness benefits, thus helping employees manage their financial stress, increase their productivity, and live happier, healthier lives.

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 one hundred prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

 

1