As Halloween approaches, and thoughts turn to ghosts,goblins and things that go bump in the night, Nevin (Adams) & Fred (Reish) turned their focus to things that SHOULD have the attention of (and perhaps even scare) plan fiduciaries.

Now, there are lots of things that require careful attention, selection and monitoring of plan assets and services by planfiduciaries; advisors and plan sponsors alike. But there are some things that may sneak up on even the most attentivefiduciary – things like:

Your target-date fund glidepath(s) – Is it “to”retirement or “through” retirement, is it appropriate for your participant base, and do THEY know what it is (particularly at the projected date of retirement)?

The degree of personalization in a “managed” account– How personalized is it, what data elements are considered, is the cost (relative to a target-date fund alternative) reasonable for the value provided, and who pays it?  Is it structured as a qualified default investment alternative (QDIA)?

Cybersecurity – What provision(s) have your providersmade in securing participant data (particularly in view of the sample questions provided by the Labor Department), and are you prepared to deal with those questions in a DOL audit?   

Participants that leave their accounts “behind” – Whatprocedures do you have in place to communicate with, and in some cases track down for distributing benefits?  Are youable to appropriately track and administer required minimum distributions (RMD)?

Ignorance of fees – Do you know what fees are being paid by the plan, to whom, for what, and how?

Personal liability – Plan fiduciaries are personally liable for the actions they take (or don’t) with regard to plan administration.  Traditional organizational insurance policies don’t cover that, nor does the fiduciary bond required. What provision(s) have you made to insure against that possibility?

Episode Resources

5 Things That (Should) Scare Plan Fiduciaries

Target- Date Funds

DOL: Target Date Retirement Funds - Tips for ERISA Plan Fiduciaries

Cybersecurity

DOL Cybersecurity Program Best Practices

Tips for Hiring a Service Provider with Strong Cybersecurity Practices

Cybersecurity tips for participants

Participant “Leave Behinds”

National Registry of Unclaimed RetirementBenefits: https://www.unclaimedretirementbenefits.com/

A nationwide, secure database listing of retirement planaccount balances that have been left unclaimed by former participants of retirement plans.

Retirement Savings Lost and Found Database: https://lostandfound.dol.gov/

EBSA is helping America's workers and beneficiaries searchfor retirement plans that may still owe them benefits by establishing a public Retirement Savings Lost and Found Database through the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022. This database serves as a centralized location to find lost or forgottenbenefits and get information on how to obtain those funds.

Fiduciary Insurance

5 Dangerous Fiduciary Assumptions

The value of fiduciary liability insurance How plan fiduciaries can protect themselves from litigation Fiduciary liability insurance offers protection from claims | Invesco US