"Rescinding [Compliance Assistance Release 2022-01] restores a more neutral stance to the regulatory environment. However, this does not mean that fiduciaries will be clamoring for cryptocurrencies and other digital assets as designated investment alternatives (DIAs) for their plans. Based on fiduciary duties and the volatility of most cryptocurrencies alone, prudent fiduciaries often will hesitate to allow such investments in a plan lineup."  MORE >>

"The 2023 advisory opinion had offered a limited endorsement of an ERISA plan fiduciary's practice of considering a plan sponsor's diversity programs when evaluating what asset manager to retain.... With the new 2025 opinion, however, the DOL focuses on the underlying legality of the vendor diversity program itself -- declaring that the diversity program constituted unlawful discrimination in violation of federal civil rights laws."  MORE >>

"A recent case serves as a reminder of the very basic guidance plan sponsors often hear from attorneys and other retirement plan advisors: if you put it in writing that you're going to do something, be sure to do it, and be sure to document that you did it. For retirement plans, this comes up with respect to a plan's investment policy statement or 'IPS'." [Macias v. Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth Health System, No. 23-1496 (D. Colo Jul. 24, 2025)]  MORE >>

"Liquidity is essential for DC plan participants at many points ... However, private securities tend to have lower liquidity because access to them is restricted. If the pool of potential buyers is limited, then it can be difficult to offload the assets when you need to.... Private securities are 'largely opaque to the average investor' ... because they are not subject to the same public disclosure regime that public securities are subject to."  MORE >>

"Monte Carlo models touted by financial advisors are good one-and-done projection models that can show ranges and probabilities of future results based on assumptions about the future. However, these stochastic models don't predict the future any better than deterministic models and, more importantly, they generally don't provide a process for changing your plan when the future turns out to be different than assumed."  MORE >>

"Granted, RPAs must know the basics and help clients set up and run their retirement plan, minimizing work (time), liability and costs while integrating wealth and benefits services.... But before we pick a lane or personal brand, we must know ourselves, which can be a lifelong journey, maybe longer. "  MORE >>

"Each online filing currently accepts a maximum of 999,999 securities per submission. Very large founder grants and early-exercise option exercises can exceed this.... The online form only allows two decimal places for the fair market value per security and the amount paid per security. This could be a problem for many typical startup early common stock prices (e.g., US$0.0001 per share) and a source of rounding noise in the form's auto-calculated totals."  MORE >>

"To stay competitive, companies are exploring new strategies that reflect the realities of today's market. These approaches are still evolving but signal where compensation is heading:[1] Performance-based equity ... [2] Founder refresh ... [3] Rising AI pay."  MORE >>