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Investment Advisers Can Help Plan Sponsors Become Better Fiduciaries (PDF)

"Many plan sponsors rely on and often have been 'educated' by non-fiduciaries like securities brokers or record-keepers who don't know what it's like to be a fiduciary. Because they aren't fiduciaries, their advice about what a fiduciary must do is often flawed and incomplete....There are many ways that, as an investment fiduciary. you can support plan sponsors without accidentally creating compliance issues of your own.... You're a full-time fiduciary and understand the problems, issues, mindset, and, in some ways, how to make the process easier for them."

NAPFA to Make CFP Designation a Prerequisite for Membership

"To foster the evolution of financial planning as a widely accepted and understood profession, [the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors] announced Tuesday that, starting Jan. 1, it will only accept the CFP designation for anyone applying to become NAPFA-registered planners.... NAPFA's National Board recognized that the profession needed to rally around a singular professional designation in the same way the public trusts that professionals with CPA, MD, or JD marks are meeting education, training and ethics requirements, the association said in a statement."

Comment Letter by AICPA, NAPFA, AARP and Six Other Organizations, to SEC on Fiduciary Duties of Brokers, Dealers and Investment Advisers (PDF)

"We support the SEC staff recommendation ... to adopt parallel rules ... establishing an over-arching fiduciary duty that is identical for brokers and advisers, but only if, as the Dodd-Frank Act mandates, it is no less stringent than the existing standard under the Advisers Act. We maintain that the fiduciary duty standard should be supported by guidance to clarify how the standard would apply to the broker-dealer business model and rules where needed. We believe that such an approach, if properly implemented, could both enhance investor protections and preserve key beneficial elements of the transaction-based broker-dealer business model."

Promoting Lifetime Annuities in 401(k) Plans May Violate CFA Fiduciary and Ethical Standards

"CFA charterholders are bound not only by applicable law (including ERISA), but by an independent professional code that places client interests, transparency, and integrity of the profession above product sales or industry narratives.... [A]ctively recommending annuities in 401(k) plans may run afoul of multiple CFA Institute standards, particularly where the risks and conflicts inherent in annuities are minimized, obscured, or ignored."

Principles to Balance Retirees' Needs and National Interests: 2025 Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index

" 'Pension systems with no or limited restrictions tend to perform better in the Index,' commented Tim Jenkins, lead author of the report and Partner at Mercer. 'This suggests that instead of imposing mandates, governments can focus on making investment options attractive, promoting transparency and sound governance, and fostering collaboration with the private sector to support sustainable retirement systems and economic growth.' "

CFA Institute Comment Letter to SEC on Duties of Brokers, Dealers and Investment Advisers (PDF)

"On a number of prior occasions, CFA Institute has expressed concerns about the different standards of care currently required of broker-dealers and investment advisers, when they provide the same services to clients. We remain committed to a position that those who provide personalized investment advice to retail investors should be held to a single fiduciary duty standard, regardless of the title of the service provider. That standard should be consistent with, and no less than, the current fiduciary standard that requires investor interests to put first."

Text of Brief of Secretary of Department of Labor As Amicus Curiae in Deborah A. Kenseth, Plaintiff, v. Dean Health Plans, Inc., Defendant

Excerpt: In explaining why affording Ms. Kenseth such remedy in the circumstances of this case is both good law and good policy, the Secretary, as amicus curiae, seeks to assure that ERISA continues to provide remedies commensurate with the rights it confers on plan participants who have been wronged by a plan fiduciary's breach of fiduciary duty.'

Statement of Deborah C. Peel, M.D. at Hearing on Privacy Concerns About Genetic Information

Sept. 12, 2002; testifying on behalf of the American Psychoanalytic Association and the Mental HealthCARE Foundation. Excerpt: The use, sale, and sharing of highly sensitive identifiable genetic and medical information for non-medical purposes is widespread, because our federal, Constitutional, and common law rights have been increasingly ignored.

Why Aren't Advisor Groups More Involved in Efforts by States to Protect Investors?

"State securities regulators have historically been far less conflicted and 'captured' than the SEC, and have been on board with the idea that advisors should manage or avoid conflicts from the beginning. But at present, they don't have anything resembling a unified position on what a fiduciary law should look like. The logical group to propose model state legislation is the Financial Planning Coalition -- made up of NAPFA, the FPA and the CFP Board."

Two Advisors Debate the Financial Viability of Serving as Fiduciary to Small Accounts Amid New Rules of DOL

"Recently [RIABiz] wrote about an odd circumstance in which the [DOL] set out fiduciary rules so stringent that trade groups like NAPFA and FPA found themselves siding with their traditional foe, the FSI. The Committee for the Fiduciary Standard was alone in defending the DOL's position.... So who is right? Even among advisors there is considerable disagreement."

Investment Advisor Proposes Use of 'Custom Liability Index' for Measuring DB Funding Requirements (PDF)

38 pages. Excerpt: Ryan Labs is honored to present our views [to the ERISA Advisory Council] on the current DB Plan Funding and Discount Rate issues ... Until a Custom Liability Index is built for each pension plan based upon the unique actuarial term structure shape of that plan and priced off real zero-coupon bonds, pension assets are in jeopardy of managing versus the wrong objective. Currently, pension assets are managed versus generic asset market indexes not liability indexes.

How Human Advisors Might Adopt Robo-Advisors

"This robo-advisors-for-advisors trend, though, raises interesting questions about how exactly advisors should position themselves and their own value proposition. What is the value of an advisor offering a largely self-service automated investment solution? Is it still in portfolio design and investment selection? Or managing the behavior gap? Or simply an opportunity to focus on other financial planning advice and value-adds instead? And does a robo-advisor-for-advisors solution support AUM pricing, compress it, or force advisors to unbundle instead?"

Advisor Search Protocol and Template RFP Questionnaire for Use by 401(k) and 403(b) Plan Sponsors

"The advisor search protocol outlines a suggested process for retirement plan sponsors to select a professional retirement plan advisor, or to perform due diligence on their current advisor. The template advisor search RFP questionnaire is designed to help retirement plan sponsors select a professional retirement plan advisor, or to perform due diligence on their current advisor. The document covers all the elements of service typically available from Professional Retirement Plan Advisors, including investment services, participant services, provider services, fiduciary support, and compliance support. This customizable document includes 65 questions on five pages. The advisor RFP questionnaire will assist plan sponsors in complying with recent legislative regulations centered on fee / service benchmarking; it also provides a turnkey solution saving both time and resources for the plan sponsor relative to production of the questionnaire."

Have Proxy Advisors Hit a Tipping Point? Trump Administration Issues Executive Order on Proxy Advisors

"There may be a convergence of at least four factors that could bode poorly for proxy-advisory firms. First, .. there was the Trump reelection. Then, there is the ramping up of controversy and criticism ... of proxy advisors firms that have made their way towards matters relating to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and environmental, social and governance (ESG),  ... [T]hese federal factors are evolving against the backdrop of the extremely high-profile approval of the Musk compensation package over the clear objection and no-vote recommendation of the principal proxy-advisory firms. And now, we have the Executive Order taking direct aim at proxy advisors."

Text of Executive Oder: Protecting American Investors from Foreign-Owned and Politically-Motivated Proxy Advisors

"[T]wo foreign-owned proxy advisors, Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. and Glass, Lewis & Co., LLC, play a significant role in shaping the policies and priorities of America's largest companies through the shareholder voting process.... The Chairman of the [SEC] shall review all rules, regulations, guidance, bulletins, and memoranda relating to proxy advisors.... The Secretary of Labor shall, consistent with the APA, take steps to revise all regulations and guidance regarding the fiduciary status of individuals who manage, or, like proxy advisors, advise those who manage, the rights appurtenant to shares held by plans covered under [ERISA], including proxy votes and corporate engagement, consistent with the policy of this order.... The Secretary of Labor shall take all appropriate action to strengthen the fiduciary standards of pension and retirement plans covered under ERISA. Such action shall include assessing whether proxy advisors act solely in the financial interests of plan participants and the extent to which any of their practices undermine the pecuniary value of the assets of ERISA plans."

Advisor Support Builds Confidence for Younger Savers

"[T]he confidence boost tied to having an advisor is actually most pronounced among lower-balance savers. In other words, professional guidance may be especially impactful for younger employees who are still in the early stages of building wealth. That matters, because Gen Z is already engaging with retirement saving."

Re-Examining the Advisor-Record Keeper Relationship

"Recordkeepers are expanding into wealth management, managed accounts, and participant-level services -- areas once reserved for advisors.... These dynamics risk becoming co-option -- where advisors, dependent on recordkeepers for referrals, technology, and even marketing support, lose their independence. When that happens, plan sponsors and participants may face higher costs, less transparency, and weaker fee negotiations."

Best Interest Standard of Care for Advisors, Part 26

"[T]he SEC explained that, if the broker-dealer is a dual registrant, but the advisor can only represent the brokerage side of the house, that is a 'material limitation' on the advisor's services. The effect of a material limitation is that the broker-dealer (or the advisor) must disclose that the advisor has a material limitation on his or her services and what that material limitation is.... [If] the material limitation is not disclosed by the broker-dealer, the advisor must disclose it. And the disclosure should be in writing."

Evaluating Your Financial Advisor

"This year's evaluation might be a bit different from most because of the significant volatility we experienced in the markets.... Learn exactly what you are paying ... Discuss fee transparency ... Understand your investment costs ... Determine whether your advisor is a fiduciary ... Get a list of the services you should be receiving ... Check your advisor's background ... Make sure you are getting leading-edge advice ... Confirm that your advisor has no conflicts of interest ... Check the marketplace[.]"

In 2017, Millennials Still Prefer Real-Life Advisors to Robo-Advisors

"46.41 percent of millennials said that they were working with a financial advisor ... [O]nly 24.30 percent claimed to have been using one of the many robo-advisors to invest and save for the future. 75.70 percent have never used a robo-advisor, but ... 61.58 percent of those who have not used a robo-advisor said their reason was that they have never heard of a robo-advisor."