"It is impossible for ideas to compete in the marketplace if no forum for
  their presentation is provided or available."           Thomas Mann, 1896

Author: Vince Giovinazzo
Contributed by: 401(k) Advisors, Inc.

Fiduciaries of qualified plans are required “to act with the care, skill, prudence and diligence under the prevailing circumstances that a prudent person acting in a like capacity and familiar with such matters would use.”  Over time this has evolved to become known as the “prudent expert” rule.  Fiduciaries lacking this type of knowledge (conceivably making them an “expert”) are directed by the regulations to hire one.  Unbeknownst to them, this is where many fiduciaries have failed to meet the mark, due to the widely held acceptance that registered representatives and/or registered investment advisors (RIA’s), are “experts”, when, in fact, the standards they must meet are minimal in scope and content.

Authored by: Fred Reish, Esq. & Bruce Ashton, Esq.
Reish, Luftman, Reicher & Cohen
Contributed by: 401(k) Plan Advisors, Inc.

The 401(k) market sometimes ignores the central social and legal purpose of these plans: to provide retirement benefits to employees. Sponsoring a plan is not primarily about providing investments, even sound investments (though that is certainly important); instead it is about the adequacy and quality of benefits that participating employees are accumulating for retirement. Fiduciaries in participant-directed 401(k) plans are responsible for managing that process in a careful, skillful, knowledgeable and prudent manner.