401(k) Roundtable

This episode is a perfect example of one where I get to use the podcast as my own research lab and learn right along side of you. Environmental, Social & Governance investments, or ESG or is it ES&G strategies, is a new topic here on the podcast and one that i have been looking forward to exploring. Their popularity seems to have ebbed and flowed in the 401(k) investment world, but as a strategy it is defiantly here to stay. My guest, Sean Kenney, A CFA and Managing Director for MFS Investment Management is, as you will hear, incredibly knowledgable and passionate about all things ESG. We hit on a few familiar themes such as whether the decision to add an ESG strategy or strategies to your workplace retirement plan should be done by evaluating different products or through a broader process. We also discuss who in your population ESG might appeal to, the fiduciary and regulatory implications for offering ESG investments in your plan and close with some solid takeaways and next steps for employers.

Guest Bio

Sean M. Kenney, CFA, is a managing director and head of Defined Contribution at MFS Investment Management® (MFS®). He leads a team focused on selling MFS investment products through retirement plans, advisors, consultants and recording keeping platforms.

Sean joined MFS in 2004, first working in the Retirement Services Division. He subsequently held various distribution roles within the firm. From 2008 to 2017, he served as a managing director of Institutional Sales. In this role, he was responsible for leading the firm's sales efforts involving institutional investors in the eastern United States.

Sean graduated magna cum laude from Assumption College with a major in economics. He earned an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation and is actively involved in numerous industry groups.

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!

Guest Bio

Kevin Murphy is a senior vice president and Head of the Defined Contribution Strategic Accounts team for Franklin Templeton's US Investment-Only division. He is responsible for directing and expanding sales of mutual funds and sub-advised portfolio products in employer-sponsored retirement plans. In addition to leading the team of Strategic Account Managers, his primary focus is on mid-market advisory firms with a national footprint, and serves as the primary liaison with these firms at their home offices. Mr. Murphy also leads the firm's Health Savings Account (HSA) initiative.

Mr. Murphy's primary objective is to help more Americans achieve optimal retirement outcomes. He approaches this by offering thought leadership in retirement plan services and investments and working diligently as a key business partner to retirement plan advisory firms, consultants and retirement plan sponsors. His expertise spans qualified plans, investments, current industry trends and Franklin Templeton products and services.

Mr. Murphy began his career in the financial services industry in 1999 and joined Franklin Templeton Investments in 2011. Prior to that, he was a regional vice president on Columbia Management's Defined Contribution Investment Only team. He also served as vice president and regional sales director of corporate retirement plans at Wachovia Retirement Services.

Mr. Murphy holds a B.Sc. in Agriculture from the University of Delaware. He was selected by National Association of Plan Advisors (NAPA) for its list of the Top 100 Defined Contribution Wholesalers in the industry in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. Among his sales accolades, Mr. Murphy was named Franklin Templeton's Investment-Only Specialist of the year in 2012 and 2014. Kevin, his wife Shannon and their four children reside in Kinnelon, NJ. He is a FINRA registered representative.

We have talked about financial wellness on the podcast before, but not like this. My conversation today with Bill Harmon, President of Retirement Corporate Markets for Voya Financial illustrates how a thoughtful approach to financial wellness can help you become the employer of choice in your market and make a meaningful difference in the battle to attract and retain key talent. As you will hear, Bill shares a very personal and emotional story about how he found comfort in leaving his prior employer of nearly 30 years to join Voya in large part due to their approach in one key area of wellness. He also hits on a few other high value low cost wellness strategies for your consideration. Despite this being the most heartfelt episode I have done, there is a surprising amount of concrete and relevant data as well.

Guest Bio

William Harmon is president of Retirement Corporate Markets for Voya Financial.

In his role, Harmon oversees all aspects of the Corporate 401(k) market, including sales, relationship management, strategy and profitable growth for all segments of the market — from small- and mid-sized companies to some of the nation's largest corporate employers. He and his team support Voya Retirement's efforts to deliver next-generation customer experiences and solutions that drive positive retirement outcomes.

Harmon is a member of CEO of Retirement Charlie Nelson's leadership team, as well as Voya's Operating Committee.

Most recently, Harmon served as senior vice president, Core Markets, for Empower Retirement, where he was responsible for the segment's overall success. During his 29-year tenure at Empower, the U.S. retirement business of Great-West Lifeco, he contributed to significant growth in plan sales, assets and earnings.

For 11 years, including five as president, Harmon served on the board of Adam's Camp, a group of non- profit organizations providing a variety of intensive, personalized, and integrated therapeutic programs for children with special needs and their families. He has also been closely involved with organizations supporting the special needs community including Special Olympics and Rocky Mountain Down Syndrome Association.

Harmon holds a bachelor's degree in Marketing from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.

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!

This episode was a real treat for me and hopefully will be for you. I am excited share my conversation with The Honorable Phyllis Borzi, the former Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Employee Benefits Security Administration under President Obama. We covered a range of topics that regardless of your involvement with workplace retirement plans should keep your interest. I am also proud that while we talked about her time at the DOL, the majority of our focus was looking forward and exploring how her experience can help employers today and those who want to shape the future of the workplace retirement system. We also hit on two pieces of unfinished business Phyllis wished she had more time to work on while she was at the DOL, what the Perez Principle is and whether employers also suffer from choice overload in retirement plans. Finally, we cover a few topics near and dear to her heart and what she thinks of some of the current retirement proposals in front of congress today to reform the retirement system. Be prepared for some candid insight and some very different perspective than frankly what I expected going into the conversation. And don't miss our call to action at the end.

Guest Bio:

The Honorable Phyllis C. Borzi served as the Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), an agency that oversees approximately 700,000 private-sector retirement plans, approximately 2.3 million group health plans, and a similar number of other welfare benefit plans that provide benefits to approximately 150 million Americans. As agency head, she oversaw the administration, regulation and enforcement of Title I of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA).

​

Among her other duties as Assistant Secretary of Labor, she represented the Department of Labor in overseeing implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) insurance market reforms and other ACA rules affecting employer-sponsored group health plans and she was instrumental in the development of various pension regulations, including the Department's rule requiring individuals providing financial advice to plan sponsors and retirement investors to act as ERISA fiduciaries.

​

Ms. Borzi also represented the Secretary of Labor in the Secretary's role as statutory trustee for the Social Security (OASDI) and Medicare Trust Funds and in the Secretary's capacity as chair of the Board of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC).

Previously, Ms. Borzi was a research professor in the Department of Health Policy at George Washington University Medical Center's School of Public Health and Health Services. In that position, she was involved in research and policy analysis involving employee benefit plans, the uninsured, managed care, and legal barriers to the development of health information technology. In addition, she was of counsel with the Washington, D.C. law firm of O'Donoghue & O'Donoghue LLP, specializing in ERISA and other legal issues affecting employee benefit plans, including pensions and retirement savings, health plans, and discrimination based on age or disability.

​

From 1979 to 1995, Ms. Borzi served as pension and employee benefit counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives, Subcommittee on Labor-Management Relations of the Committee on Education and Labor. In 1993, she served on working groups dealing with insurance reform, workers' compensation and employer coverage in connection with the Clinton Task Force on Health Care Reform.

​

Ms. Borzi is a charter member and former President of the American College of Employee Benefit Counsel and served on its Board of Governors from 2000-2008; former member and former co-chair of the Advisory Board of the BNA Pension & Benefits Reporter; former member of the Advisory Committee of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation; and former member of the Advisory Board of the Pension Research Council, The Wharton School, The University of Pennsylvania; and former member of the Board of the Women's Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER). In 2007, she was appointed by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio and served as a public member of the Administrative Committee for the Goodyear retiree health trust until 2009.

​

Ms. Borzi has published numerous articles on ERISA, health care law and policy and retirement security issues and has been a frequent speaker to legal, professional, business, consumer and state and local governmental organizations both in the United States and internationally. An active member of the American Bar Association, Borzi is the former chair of the ABA's Joint Committee on Employee Benefits. She holds a Master of Arts degree in English from Syracuse University and a J.D. from Catholic University Law School, where she was editor-in-chief of the law review. Ms. Borzi currently is a member of the Board of Visitors of the Catholic University Law School. She is a member of the District of Columbia Bar and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court.

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!

Maybe I'm a little early with the football analogy, but it seemed to fit. Today, we welcome back Tom Clark, an ERISA Attorney and Partner at The Wagner Law Group as we discuss five 401(k) fiduciary fumbles we see plan sponsors make. As a return guest who I have gotten to know pretty well, we have a little fun and share some insight along the way. Whether it is clarifying the importance of fiduciary analysis vs. process, mistakes to avoid when "outsourcing" fiduciary responsibility, or the inevitable fumbles around fees. Oh, and Tom gives us his feedback from the front lines as to whether the tide has been turning in favor of employers or plaintiffs in ERISA litigation.

Guest Bio

Tom Clark is a partner at The Wagner Law Group, a law firm specializing in ERISA & Employee Benefits. He leads the firm's St. Louis office. 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 covered service providers in meeting their ERISA compliance needs. Tom's vast litigation experience complements the firm's strong and growing ERISA and employment litigation department and has included work on landmark ERISA cases involving complicated ERISA fiduciary duty issues, such as Tibble v. Edison.

Tom has been quoted extensively as an ERISA and employee benefits expert by outlets such as Reuters, the Associated Press, Bloomberg, and Forbes. He teaches ERISA fiduciary law as an Adjunct Professor at The Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, his alma mater. He is also a co-author of the forthcoming second edition of ERISA: Principles of Employee Benefits Law, the only treatise of its kind that provides an overview of the regulation of employee benefit plans by highlighting the central principles and competing policies of employee benefits law in a compact and accessible format for a broad audience of readers.

Tom earned his JD and LL.M. degrees from Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, MO. He is a member of the bar in Missouri and Illinois.

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!

Welcome back to new episodes of the 401(k) Fridays Podcast! After taking a little hiatus in July I am really excited about what we have in store for the remained of the year. Also, during our little break I updated the podcast intro, if you skipped it go back and give it a quick listen. We also updated the website, thank you Jonah and Annie at Puddlecreative. Go to 401kfridays.com and check that out, and while you are there don't forget to subscribe to our email list. All done with housekeeping, now onto the episode at hand.

Its always fun to welcome back a returning guest. Jeff Bograd was one of my favorite guests from last year, if you haven't listened to his episode scroll down on your podcast app and look for Retirement Plan Design The Next Frontier it is a good one. Today, we tackle some thoughts for employers as they plan for 2019. Recent tax reform brought about a few changes to 401(k) plans that everyone should be aware of. Also, we hit on a few plan design options to think about as you consider changes to your plan for next year. And, since wellness is such a popular topic we hit on a few ideas to dip your tow in the water on financial wellness with simple enhancements to your retirement plan.

Guest Bio

Jeff Bograd is the Vice President, Senior Retirement Plan Consultant for John Hancock Retirement Plan Services and has been with the company for more than 28 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 one hundred prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

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 [email protected] 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!

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!

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!

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!