Fiduciary Links: When great minds speak
Posted by fi360 Team on December 09, 2013
>>>John Bogle held court with Money Management Executive in an extensive interview, with the first part now available. In line with other recent interviews, there were no holds barred when addressing the state of investment products today. He had a number of pointed opinions on index funds, ETFs, and alternatives and how they are currently being used and marketed. There are some great takeaways that you can't judge a book by its cover when it comes to what type of investment product you are looking at. Deciding whether a product is right for you requires understanding exactly what that product is.
>>>Fees have been a subject of focus for a while now, both within the industry and increasingly amongst your clients and the investing public. Of course, with scrutiny, now comes changes and the Wall Street Journal has a nice piece today explaining how 401(k) plans are adapting to address threats brought to light by litigation and new fee disclosure rules. A good piece for both your own practice and your plan sponsor clients.
>>>A blog post from our friends at Fiduciary Plan Governance includes some interesting comments from a DOL representative. The representative reportedly told an audience that fiduciary training for plan sponsor fiduciaries is sometimes required as a condition resulting from an audit. However, they also indicated it is a question routinely asked as part of audits themselves. Some interesting information if you're thinking about education for your plan sponsor clients.
>>>A final reminder of our free webinar scheduled for this Wednesday, December 11, from 4-5 p.m. ET. In the session, we’ll be covering benchmarking and the fiduciary duty to only engage in reasonable service arrangements. The session will be co-presented by experts from fi360 and Ann Schleck & Co. Join us for the one hour session and earn CE credit for your AIF, AIFA, or CFP® credentials.
While you’re at it, you might also want to check out Ann Schleck & Co.’s Fee Almanac book, now available in the Fiduciary Store.
Now on to the rest of the week's best links:
News and columns from the leading trade, consumer, and mainstream media:
- SEC’s Aguilar frustrated at pace of Reg D protections. [InvestmentNews]
- House approves bill to ease SEC registrations for private-equity advisers. [InvestmentNews]
- Ready or not? Surveys conflict on Americans’ retirement preparedness. [InvestmentNews]
- Reminder: There is only one Warren Buffett. [InvestmentNews]
- DOL to be first mover on fiduciary, industry watchers say. [ThinkAdvisor]
- Top 7 cybersecurity trends in financial services: 2014 [ThinkAdvisor]
From the organizations/associations/government/academia:
- Smart Beta: Definition & Efficacy [NAPA Net]
- Delays likely on SEC Uniform Fiduciary Rule [NAPA Net]
From the blogs:
- Big Data’s Biggest Challenge? Convincing people not to trust their judgment. [Harvard Business Review]
- Trending topics for ERISA plan sponsors. [Fiduciary News]
- The Evolving 401(k): Fees are Down; the Match is UP [Time, Business & Money]
- 5 Strategies for a Strong Year-End Finish [FPA Practice Management Center]
- Detecting these signs of overconfidence can help 401k investors avoid a fall. [Fiduciary News]
- Are plan sponsors required to provide fiduciary training to their fiduciaries? [Fiduciary Plan Governance]
- What Detroit and Stockton can teach us about public pensions. [Boston ERISA Law Blog]
- Michael Kitces gives his take on where financial planners go wrong marketing themselves [Nerd's Eye View]
Articles your clients are reading (or should be):
- 6 Savvy Year-End Financial Moves. [US News]
- Retirement basics to know before you start investing. [US News]
- 7 Year-End 2013 Financial Planning Tips. [Chicago Financial Planner]
- Taking a look under the hood of Vanguard's target date funds [Chicago Financial Planner]
- Nobel laureate extols the virtues of financial advisors [InvestmentNews]
- The dynamic effect of saving more [Better Financial Education]
- Seven deadly sins for retirement plan sponsors [Ary Rosenbaum]
