"This summary focuses on the responsibilities and role of ERISA fiduciaries in managing plan investments.... [1] Evaluate and update the investment structure ... [2] Draft and periodically review the Investment Policy Statement (IPS) ... [3] 404(c) and QDIA oversight ... [4] Review and monitor investment manager performance ... [5] Monitor and benchmark plan fees ... [6] Managed accounts evaluation and monitoring ... [7] Oversee required employee communications ... [8] Review overall plan utilization ... [9] Review defined contribution trends and overall plan effectiveness." MORE >>
"In FY 2025, EBSA closed 878 civil investigations. Of those, 556 investigations (63 percent) produced monetary results for plans or other corrective action, for a total of $714.4 million recovered.... In FY 2025, [EBSA] obtained 297 non-monetary civil corrections, including: [1] removing 15 fiduciaries, [2] barring 24 individuals from serving as fiduciaries, [3] appointing 18 fiduciaries, [4] improving missing participant procedures for 49 plans, and [5] implementing 61 global corrections across multiple ERISA-covered health plans." MORE >>
"During December, the estimated cost to transfer retiree pension risk to an insurer in a competitive bidding process inched up 20 basis points, from 100.1% to 100.3% of a plan's accounting liabilities (accumulated benefit obligation, or ABO). That means the estimated retiree PRT cost is now 100.3% of a plan's ABO." MORE >>
"There is no statute that requires a 'meaningful benchmark.' ERISA's prudence standard focuses on process, not performance relative to a counterfactual benchmark. Benchmarks were a judicial convenience, not a substantive legal test." MORE >>
"the court will consider the 'meaningful benchmark' requirement that lower courts have applied when evaluating claims that retirement plan investments were mismanaged. Under that standard, plaintiffs must identify comparable alternative investments to show that plan fiduciaries acted imprudently. The Intel plaintiffs argue that the benchmark test has been applied inconsistently across federal circuits and sets too high a bar for workers seeking relief." [Anderson v. Intel Corp. Inv. Policy Comm., No. 22-16268 (9th Cir. May 22, 2025; cert. pet. granted Jan 16, 2026, No. 25-498)] MORE >>
"[T]he government asserted that the Sixth Circuit's ruling is incorrect and identifies two principal errors. The first error is the Sixth Circuit's conclusion that a plaintiff need not allege a meaningful benchmark to state a plausible claim of imprudence based on relative underperformance.... The second error asserted is the Sixth Circuit's acceptance that the plaintiffs below had pled a meaningful benchmark when asserting that the S&P Target Date Fund (TDF) was an appropriate comparator to the challenged funds." [Johnson v. Parker-Hannifin Corp., No. 24-3014 (6th Cir. Nov. 20, 2024; cert. pet filed Mar. 26, 2025, No. 24-1030; DOL amicus brief filed Dec. 9, 2025)\]MORE >>
"The decision reinforces that ERISA plaintiffs must allege specific, like‑for‑like comparisons to survive a motion to dismiss.... For plan sponsors, the ruling underscores that well‑documented, routine recordkeeping arrangements and monitoring processes can help defeat speculative ERISA fee litigation at the pleading stage." [Fleming v. Kellogg, No. 22-0593 (W.D. Mich. Dec. 8, 2025)] MORE >>
"Many small-plan sponsors are being nudged toward [target date funds] that slot in the recordkeeper's stable-value fund, a move that reduces administrative costs. The resulting lower fees benefit participants, but when cost-sharing arrangements start to shape a target-date manager's allocation decisions, they introduce real trade-offs. [This article looks at] what's driving the trend, how widespread it's become, and what those trade-offs mean for investors." MORE >>
"The class action lawsuit, dismissed in 2010, did not deter the NEA, but raised awareness of potential conflicts of interest when unions endorse costly financial/retirement products for their members." MORE >>
"According to the complaint, Fidelity's recordkeeping services to the ... plan created a conflict of interest because its affiliate, Fidelity Management Trust Co., served as trustee of the plan's assets, while Fidelity's separate affiliate, Strategic Advisors, served as investment advisers to the plan. The complaint alleges that Fidelity charged participants between $39 and $50 in annual administrative costs for the 2019 through 2023 plan years ... [while] comparable plans using Fidelity had costs of about $3 to $31 per participant[.]" [Clark v. Centene Corp., No. 25-09743 (C.D. Calif. complaint filed Nov. 12, 2025)] MORE >>
"As the default investment option in most retirement plans, TDFs typically hold the majority of plan assets -- yet many employers fail to evaluate them regularly, even as market conditions, participant demographics and fee structures continue to evolve. A TDF that was appropriate four years ago may now be underperforming, restructured or overpriced. In fact, average expense ratios have dropped significantly, especially for index-based and collective investment trust versions.1" MORE >>
"The number of new forfeitures cases has increased year over year, with five cases filed in 2023, 30 cases filed in 2024, and 43 cases filed so far in 2025 ... Cunningham has not yet resulted in a material increase in recordkeeping fee challenges or ERISA excessive fee lawsuits.... [S]table value funds have been the primary target in excessive fee lawsuits this year and investment challenges have significantly outnumbered recordkeeping fee challenges.... [There is] a trend toward lower settlements, including a growing number of six-figure settlements. " MORE >>
"According to the lawsuit, the firm allegedly permitted high administrative and investment management fees that disadvantaged the participants, without adequate due diligence to explore better options. It suggests that Husch Blackwell's oversight or lack thereof led to unnecessary financial burdens on employees participating in the 401(k) plan." [Paetkau v. Husch Blackwell LLC, No. 25-0721 (W.D. Mo. complaint filed Sep. 16, 2025)] MORE >>
"In its analysis of the testimony of the plaintiffs' experts, the court noted several areas of concern, concludng that one expert's conclusions were largely based on personal experience, not industry practices, and relied on 'approximations, generalities, and personal examples' instead of 'demonstrable data.' The court also pointed out the other expert's lack of familiarity with documents he claimed to rely on in forming his expert opinions." [McDonald v. Laboratory Corp. of Am. Holdings, No. 22-0680 (M.D.N.C. Aug. 12, 2025)] MORE >>
"According to the filing, Empower leveraged its role as recordkeeper for employer-sponsored retirement plans to harvest confidential participant data and then target individuals, particularly those nearing retirement or with large balances, for sales pitches. The plaintiffs allege sales representatives falsely portrayed Empower's 'managed account' program ... as the only recommended investment option."' [Williams‑Linzey v. Empower Advisory Group, LLC,
No. 25‑14660 (D.N.J. complaint filed Aug. 15, 2025) MORE >>
"Another 401(k) plan has been charged with a fiduciary breach quadfecta: excessive recordkeeping fees, expensive managed account charges, a poor performing stable value option -- and offsetting employer contributions with forfeitures." [(Babinski v. Siemens Energy Inc., No. 25-3381 (S.D. Tex. complaint filed Jul. 22, 2025)] MORE >>
"[O]ver the past 20+ years, public pensions, under pressure to meet high assumed returns (often ~7%), have embraced private equity for its historically higher reported returns versus public markets. These funds have universally underreported risks and fees (especially performance fees) and overstated investment performance by accepting rosy valuations from private equity managers." MORE >>
"If a plan fiduciary is looking for little or no services for the participants and the simplest of investments, then lowest cost may be the right cost. But if they are looking to provide a robust set of services ... and to offer investments that will provide, for example, guaranteed retirement income, then lowest cost isn’t right.... [Of] six key retirement assumptions, decreasing fees has the least impact on the investor’s retirement readiness ratio." MORE >>
"The [DOL] has issued an advisory opinion rescinding its 2023 approval of Citigroup Inc.'s Diverse Asset Manager Program, through which the bank commits to pay all or part of the fees of diverse asset managers for [ERISA] benefits plans it sponsors.... EBSA also stated that Citi's claim that its racial equity program may benefit the company because certain stakeholders might look favorably upon it is not a justification for violating the law." MORE >>
"[U]nder the Racial Equity Program, Citi pays 'all or some' of the investment management fees for 'Diverse Managers' if they are retained by Citi's own ERISA covered employer-sponsored benefit plans.... Advisory Opinion 2023-01A assumed that the Racial Equity Program was lawful and went on to discuss fiduciary issues that follow from that assumption. But the Racial Equity Program is not lawful -- its allocation of benefits on the basis of race clearly and unambiguously violates the civil rights laws.... Citi should take immediate action to end all illegal activity within its Racial Equity Program and any other initiative, plan, program, or scheme it operates under the banner of diversity, equity, and inclusion. ERISA does not shield Citi or the fiduciaries of the Plans from the application of the civil rights laws." MORE >>
"[A]llowing 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 $23,000-$28,000 less paid in fees by age 65 for someone earning $74,000 a year. That's enough to cover six months of living expenses in retirement for one person." MORE >>
"With hundreds of annuities in the market to choose from, some will cost you more than others. It doesn't help that there are a variety of potential fees from administrative costs to commissions that can be hard to spot and will ultimately impact your payouts. How much is too much when it comes to fees, and how do you know if you're paying too much?" MORE >>
22 pages. "At year‑end 2024, 401(k) plan assets totaled $8.9 trillion, with 38 percent invested in equity mutual funds. In 2024, 401(k) plan participants who invested in equity mutual funds paid an average expense ratio of 0.26 percent....The mutual fund expense ratios that 401(k) plan participants incur have declined substantially since 2000.... Employers and employees generally share the costs of operating 401(k) plans." MORE >>
"Despite the challenges, 403(b) plans have had success with annuities, which could offer plan sponsors of 401(k) plans solace to adopt the products. But research by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, indicated the high cost of annuities in 403(b) plans.... [D]ifferences in the participant base between 403(b) and 401(k) plans make it difficult for the defined contribution space to broadly apply lessons from annuity use in 403(b)s plans." MORE >>
