Fiduciary Focus: Managing Your Plan's Fees White Paper

The upcoming revision to ERISA Section 408(b)(2) is going to bring greater transparency to plan costs. This White Paper gives a plain-English explanation of plan fees and discusses actionable strategies that may help you to ensure that your plan fees are reasonable.

 Benchmark the Defined Contribution Plan - Interactive Input Form (553 KB, PDF)
A growing number of retirement plan sponsors are finding that their plan has changed significantly over the past several years. This questionnaire and the plan benchmarking report generated from it will help you identify potential problems and opportunities with your plan sponsor clients. After filling out this questionnaire, use the interactive tool above to create a customized analysis that will provide you with a PDF output.

Fiduciary Checklist for Retirement Plans (100 KB, PDF)
The Fiduciary Checklist will help educate plan sponsors about the duties of a fiduciary and suggest questions to ask to make sure that third-party fiduciaries are meeting their obligations

Fiduciary Focus: The Well-Tempered Investment Policy Statement White Paper
Plan sponsors can meet their ERISA fiduciary obligations without having an investment policy statement (IPS) in place; however, a well-written investment policy statement provides a solid framework for managing a plan%u2019s investment portfolio. By recognizing the crucial role of the IPS and making sure that it is current, fiduciaries maximize their effectiveness in serving plan participants and may help mitigate a source of fiduciary risk. This White Paper discusses the IPS and its role in detail.

Benchmark the Plan Fees - Interactive Input Form (234 KB, PDF)
This questionnaire and the plan fee benchmarking report generated from it will help you determine how the fees that a plan pays compare to plans of the same size and in the same industry. After filling out this questionnaire, use the interactive tool to create a customized analysis that will provide you with a PDF output.

Defined Contribution Plan Report Card (106 KB, PDF)
The Report Card allows advisors to benchmark the plan of a client or prospect against the industry and determine whether the plan is hitting the mark or needs attention in a specific area.

Fiduciary Focus: Defined Contribution Plan Investment Policy Statement Sample Template
This Investment Policy Statement (IPS) Template is suggested language for your use.

Fiduciary Focus: Investment Policy Statement Quick Overview
An investment policy statement (IPS) provides a framework for making and evaluating investment decisions. It also offers guidelines to ensure that everyone responsible for these decisions is acting in accordance with ERISA fiduciary guidelines. This Quick Overview gives a high level overview of the parts of the IPS and its role.

U. S. News - Planning to Retire

U. S. News Associate editor Emily Brandon tells you how to get ready financially for retirement and to make your golden years the best they can be.