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Financial Planning Coalition Urges Improvement to Investment Adviser Oversight

"There is widespread agreement on the need to provide greater protection to American investors from financial fraud. The adoption of a fiduciary standard that includes broker-dealers when providing personalized investment advice would help restore and strengthen public trust in financial advisers -- both investment advisers and broker-dealers. Any legislation that creates additional obstacles to SEC rulemaking could needlessly delay or weaken critical investor protection measures such as the fiduciary standard, however unintentionally."

Principal Governmental Pension Plan Associations Comment Letter to GASB Concerning GASB Exposure Drafts on Pension Accounting and Financial Reporting for State and Local Governments (PDF)

September 30, 2011. 'The members of these groups ... collectively manage substantially all of the nearly $3 trillion in pension assets for approximately 21 million working and retired public employees.... [W]e disagree with the Board's decision to separate measures of pension accounting from pension funding on the following grounds:[.]

Critics Say Financial-Planning Calculators Encourage Employees to Save Too Much

Excerpt: First, let's get one thing straight: critics of conventional retirement savings models do not want employees to simply forget about saving for retirement. 'We aren't promoting undersaving,' says Ty Bernicke, CFP, with Bernicke & Associates Ltd., in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

Ensuring Retirement Security: The Power of a Formal Financial Plan

"87% of investors with a formal written retirement plan and 70% of investors with an informal retirement plan report feeling confident in their ability to live the retirement lifestyle they want. However, LIMRA finds that just 1 in 5 retirees and non-retired workers have developed a formal written retirement plan."

A New Approach to Retirement Planning over the Life Cycle with Safe Savings Rates

The focus of retirement planning should be on the savings rate rather than the withdrawal rate. The 'safe savings rate' may be based on historical simulations as the savings rate that proves sufficient to support the desired retirement expenditures from a life-cycle perspective, including both the accumulation and decumulation phases.

Testimony of Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association to ERISA Advisory Council re Revenue Sharing and Disclosure (PDF)

Excerpt: I will begin by providing some background information about revenue sharing arrangements and the basis upon which they are determined. In providing this background information, I will talk about the confusion created by the use of the term 'revenue sharing' and emphasize the need for greater clarity in the terminology used to describe different types of revenue streams. I will then turn to address the subject of guidance that might be issued by the Department of Labor regarding the proper use of any plan assets resulting from a plan's receipt of these payments, and how any such assets should be allocated to participants.

American Bankers Association Comment Letter to DOL in Response to RFI on Possible Agency Actions to Protect Life Savings and Pensions from Threats of Climate-Related Financial Risk

"[S]ingling out climate-related financial risk for mandatory consideration and reporting, regardless of the actual presence or degree of its risk, [1] undercuts a plan fiduciary's authority and duty under ERISA to appropriately consider and manage all relevant risks, [2] imposes unnecessary costs to plans and their participants, and [3] undermines ERISA standards and Department regulations on investment duties that require deference to the judgment of the plan fiduciary rather than the substitution of the Department's judgment."

Retirement Plan Trade Association Opposes Mandatory Index Funds in 401(k) Plans

Excerpt: Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, wants to reform 401(k) plans by [requiring] plan providers to offer investors at least one low-cost index fund.... [In a white paper, the SPARK Institute said it] 'does not believe that the wholesale use of passively managed funds by legal mandate will reduce plan fees and expenses or that policy makers should unilaterally determine which approach to investing is better for American workers saving for retirement ....'

Financial Professionals and Clients Disagree on Key Retirement Planning Conversations

"A key component of a comprehensive and effective retirement plan includes estimating potential costs and risks in retirement, including those associated with health care and long-term care. Four in 10 FPs and consumers surveyed agree this is one of the most difficult aspects of retirement planning.... [W]hile most FPs say they are discussing these topics, less than half of consumers recall these discussions: 96% of FPs say they talk about physical health issues with clients, but only 44% of clients recall those conversations. 90% of FPs report discussing cognitive decline, yet just 31% of clients say the topic came up."

Hearing: The Challenges Small Businesses Face Funding and Maintaining Retirement Plans in a Struggling Economy

Witnesses giving testimony at the February 25, 2009, hearing were: Stephen Dobrow, Primark Benefits, On Behalf of American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries (ASPPA); Jason Speer, Quality Float Works, Inc., On Behalf of the US Chamber of Commerce; Andrew Keeler, Everhart Financial Group, On Behalf of the Financial Planning Association (FPA); Catherine Collinson, Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies; Edward Ferrigno, Profit Sharing / 401(k) Council of America.