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Retirement Plan Fees Fiduciary Duty

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Same Old Song, Same Bad Fiduciary Practices

Here we go again. Another jumbo 401(k) plan, another lawsuit, another round of alleged fiduciary misconduct that reads like a broken record for those of us who’ve been watching this space since before fee disclosure was a...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Overpaying for Underperformance: A Fiduciary Breakdown in Plain Sight

A massive new study by Abernathy-Daley covering nearly 58,000 corporate 401(k) plans delivered a simple—but startling—message: virtually every plan suffers from overpriced, underperforming funds. In fact, 99% of plans have at...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Fee Savings from CITs in 403(b)s Could Cover 6 Months of Retirement—If Fiduciaries Pay Attention

Vanguard’s latest report makes a blunt point: allowing collective investment trusts (CITs) in 403(b) plans could save the median plan participant about 0.08% to 0.09% annually compared to mutual fund fees—translating into...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Another Year, Another Reminder: Fees Still Matter – Especially for Small Plans

The just-released 25th Edition of the 401k Averages Book confirms what many of us on the fiduciary side have known—and preached—for years: fees continue to fall, but not evenly. While this is welcome news, it’s also a wake-up...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Empower to offer 401(k) private equity investments to participants

Empower recently made headlines by announcing a bold new initiative: giving defined contribution (DC) retirement plan participants access to private market investments. On the surface, it sounds like a win—more choice,...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Picking the cheapest provider can be a breach of fiduciary

When it comes to health and fitness, you constantly hear studies about what foods fight or cause cancer. Of course, those studies are then debunked. I remember how oat bran was cited to cut down on cholesterol and how...more

Littler

Michigan Court Dismisses ERISA Class-Action

Littler on

Fiduciaries of 401(k) and other retirement plans continue to be targeted by class action lawsuits brought under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) challenging fiduciary decisions regarding investment options...more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Fees need to be benchmarked

Competing plan providers hear it all the time from prospective clients all the time, about how their current provider would never overcharge them. Unless a plan sponsor benchmarks the fee they are being charged (which is...more

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP

Managing IRAs: Charging Different Fees for Different Investments

Registered investment advisers, including dual registrant broker-dealers (collectively “advisers”) who provide discretionary investment management services to individual retirement accounts (IRAs), are fiduciaries under the...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

Ninth Circuit Revives Fee Challenge to Salesforce.com 401(k) Plan

On Friday, the Ninth Circuit became the first circuit court to rule in a 401(k) plan fee and investment litigation following the Supreme Court’s January 2022 decision in Hughes v. Northwestern University, 142 S. Ct. 737...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Is Crypto Too Cryptic for Your 401(k) Plan?

Jackson Lewis P.C. on

It started sometime last year and, in hindsight, was inevitable. Clients with 401(k) plans and a crypto-savvy employee population began asking whether they could offer cryptocurrency as a plan investment option. In the...more

Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP

Plan Sponsors on Alert After Recent Supreme Court Decision

On January 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down an important decision affecting plan fiduciaries who select investment options available to participants in a self-directed employee retirement plan (such as a 401(k)...more

Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP

SCOTUS ERISA Fee Litigation Update: Hughes et al. v. Northwestern University

On January 24, 2022, in a rare, unanimous 8-0 decision (Justice Barrett recused herself from the case), the Supreme Court of the United States (the “Supreme Court”) vacated a Seventh Circuit affirmation of the dismissal of...more

Holland & Knight LLP

Supreme Court Stresses Importance of Ongoing Monitoring of All ERISA Plan Investment Options

Holland & Knight LLP on

In Hughes v. Northwestern University, current and former participants in Northwestern University's defined-contribution retirement plans filed litigation on behalf of the plans' participants asserting that the University, its...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

District Court Issues First Post-Northwestern University 401(k) “Fee” Decision

Dorsey & Whitney LLP on

Just this month, the Supreme Court issued its much anticipated decision in Northwestern University, the first time the Court has been called upon to examine a lawsuit alleging that a 401(k) plan’s investment and fees were...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Supreme Court Give Plaintiffs a Narrow Win in 401(k) Fee Case

Dorsey & Whitney LLP on

Since the first round of cases were filed in 2006, plaintiffs’ counsel have raised hundreds of lawsuits challenging the prudence of fees and investments in 401(k) plans. One of the critical issues in those cases is what needs...more

Holland & Hart - The Benefits Dial

The Tide is High…Keep Holding On For More Retirement Plan Fee Litigation

The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling this week in Hughes v. Northwestern University will do nothing to stem the rising tide of retirement plan fee litigation. But the ruling doesn’t mean fiduciary breach claims are more likely to...more

Miller Canfield

Important Reminder from the U.S. Supreme Court - Just Giving Plan Participants Options Is Not Enough to Satisfy the Duty of...

Miller Canfield on

KEY TAKEAWAYS - ..Plan fiduciaries have a duty of prudence to independently evaluate on an ongoing basis investments offered in a plan’s menu of options and remove any imprudent ones. ..Plan participants’ ultimate...more

Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

U.S. Supreme Court Says Retirement Plan Must Scrutinize Expenses Even if It Offers Lower-Fee Options

In recent years, participants in 401(k) and similar employer-sponsored retirement plans have filed class action suits alleging that the plans contain overly expensive investment options. On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Supreme Court Struggles to Apply “Twiqbal” in Retirement Plan Fee Cases

Jackson Lewis P.C. on

Monday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Hughes v. Northwestern University, No. 19-1401, just one of about 150 similar class action suits filed around the country in the last few years. The case was brought by...more

Jackson Lewis P.C.

Ohio District Court Dismisses ERISA 401(k) Performance and Fee Putative Class Action

Jackson Lewis P.C. on

The District Court for the Southern District of Ohio recently dismissed an ERISA putative class action lawsuit asserting fiduciary duty claims based on allegations of unreasonably high administrative fees and relatively...more

Proskauer - Employee Benefits & Executive...

District Court Partially Dismisses ERISA 401(k) Fee and Performance Claims for Lack of Standing

A federal district court in New York recently granted Omnicom Group Inc.’s (“Omnicom’s”) motion to dismiss, for lack of Article III standing, claims challenging the offering of investment options in Omnicom’s 401(k) plan in...more

Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti,...

Preventative Medicine For Your 401(K) And 403(B) Plan

Multiple new lawsuits have been filed since the start of 2020.  Complications caused by the Coronavirus have not slowed the onslaught of 401(k) fee litigation across the country. Last month, Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. was...more

Best Best & Krieger LLP

Understanding the Fees Paid by Your Governmental Retirement Plan

There are several fundamental principles and concepts that governmental plan sponsors and fiduciaries need to bear in mind as they select and monitor their plan providers and the fees that these providers charge....more

Ary Rosenbaum - The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C.

Contractor pleads guilty to TPA skimming operation

I always say that you have better chances not getting caught by robbing a bank than you do by stealing money as a plan fiduciary. Yet, people still do it and come up with some amazing ways to get away with it. This new story...more

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