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Some participants in ERISA plans have hired registered investment advisors (RIAs) to manage their retirement plan accounts -- selecting investments from the plan's menu, rebalancing the investments, considering in-plan and out-of-plan assets collectively, etc. The plan sponsor/fiduciaries do not endorse any RIAs to plan participants. Assume that the plan sponsor has permitted RIAs to access participants' accounts, and further, to deduct the RIA's asset management fees directly from the accounts. The Deseret Letter (DOL advisory opinion 2005-23A) does not directly address the fee deductions. The question is whether the plan fiduciaries will have co-fiduciary responsibility and liability for ensuring that the RIA's fees were reasonable, and if failure to monitor the fees is a breach of fiduciary duty. Is there any DOL, IRS, or other guidance on this topic? Thank you.

I have been running this pension and investment sales and administrationTPA business for 40 years, and I now want to sell. I am still full of pi.s and vinegar and want to continue in the business, but must relieve myself of being an owner and the owner responsibilities. I just want to be a rainmaker, consultant, expert witness, problem solver, etc. but I do not want the responsibility of running the business. For almost the full 40 years we have received our business as referrals from CPAs and Attorneys. Hardly any from financial sales people. We are also an RIA and receive fees for investment advising and either insurance commissions or RIA fees on most all our 401(k) business. I believe that I have developed the method to easily get business from CPA firms and Law firms. The method is easily taught to quality sales people and will generate business quite quickly. But frankly, I want to go "elephant hunting" for the larger more mature 401(k) plans rather than get the smaller cases from the CPAs and Attorneys. I have been working on a new marketing plan that is close to being ready to go, but I would like some help from a buyer of my firm. Although at one time, my firm was more than twice as large as it is now, I think the firm and myself are worth a look. I have extensive experience, am highly educated (MBA from U of Michigan), fully credentialed (Certified Pension Consultant and many more), founded a local bank that we took public onto the Nasdaq at 36 years old and on the Bank's Board for 23 years until we sold it for cash before the bank crash of 2008), am considered an innovator and am also an idea a minute kind of guy. Do you think I should use an M & A firm to find a buyer or should I try to find buyers myself. If you have any recommendations, please let me know. You may reach me at 248 342 9500 because I do not know how people communicate with each other that meet on this forum.