Fiduciary Links: Fiduciary of the Year and Article Competition Winners Announced
Posted by fi360 Team on April 22, 2013
>>>>Last week's fi360 Conference was the occasion for the announcement of two awards of distinction for investment management fiduciaries: The Committee for the Fiduciary Standard's Fiduciary of the Year and the winner of the fi360-AdvisorOne Article Competition.
Eugene F. Maloney, Executive Vice President and Corporate Counsel of Federated Investors, Inc., was named Fiduciary of the Year by the Committee for the Fiduciary Standard. Mr. Maloney is widely known in the financial services industry as an advocate for fiduciary responsibility and as a resource for fiduciaries and investment advisors nationally. Spanning a career of more than 40 years, he has provided bank trust officers, investment advisors, and other financial services participants with educational efforts, as well as market-driven solutions, pioneering such issues as implementation of the Uniform Prudent Investor Act, asset allocation as a means of optimizing return and minimizing risk, the prudence of international investing, and the propriety of a corporate fiduciary utilizing a mutual fund to which it provides discrete services.
In addition to producing and sponsoring a seemingly never-ending series of conferences, videos, sourcebooks, and legal opinions on developing issues facing fiduciaries, Mr. Maloney has also acted as an expert witness in numerous court cases on behalf of fiduciaries, as well as testifying before Congress and the various financial regulatory authorities as an advocate for fiduciaries and the fiduciary standard. Mr. Maloney has also contributed to the education of future fiduciary leaders as a long-time faculty member of the Graduate Program in Banking and Financial Law at the Boston University School of Law. An alumnus of Holy Cross College and Fordham Law School, it is difficult to envision a person whose career has been more deeply devoted to fiduciaries and the fiduciary standard than Gene Maloney.
The fi360-AdvisorOne Article Competition for 2013 was won by Jacob C. Adamczyk, an AIF© of Aurum Wealth Management Group, for his article, Rethinking TDFs as QDIAs: Why Target Date Funds Are a Fiduciary Nightmare for Qualified Plans. Mr. Adamczyk’s article provides a review of the development of TDFs as the “go-to” choice as Qualified Default Investment Alternatives for most defined contribution plans. He then discusses the troubling record of TDFs as a retirement asset, particularly during the downturn of 2008.
Mr. Adamczyk discusses the plight of plan sponsors and trustees in selecting and evaluating TDFs over the long-term for which they are intended. He addresses these problems by advocating a shift in the focus of TDFs from growth and capital appreciation to professionally risk-managed portfolios that match the duration of the assets with the duration of the investors, thereby addressing both longevity risk and risk tolerance. He closes by discussing the Department of Labor’s February 2013 bulletin advising plan sponsors on performing due diligence and monitoring of TDFs. The winner of the Article Competition provides substantial food for thought for anyone involved in the management or operation of defined contribution plans.
Now on to the rest of the best links from last week:
News and columns from the leading trade, consumer, and mainstream media:
- Learn five things Gens X and Y can do for a more secure retirement [FinancialPlanning]
- Fiduciary advocates take issue with SEC's request for comments [WealthManagement]
- 15 best investing quotes of all time [AdvisorOne]
- Walter says SEC puts priority on lifting Reg D ad ban [InvestmentNews]
- Walter says SEC request for more examiners not enough [InvestmentNews]
- The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said regulators should do more to stop older Americans from being confused by the many designations used. [InvestmentNews]
- Waters introduces bill to fund investment advisor examinations [InvestmentNews]
From the organizations/associations/government/academia:
- The Financial Planning Coalition urges passage of legislation aimed to improve investment adviser oversight and better protect investors. [CFP Board]
- George Canellos and Andrew Ceresney named Co-Directors of Enforcement [SEC]
- Consider the ripple effects that the recently released White House budget proposal for 2014 could have. [NAPAnet]
From the blogs:
- April is financial literacy month, so take a firm charge of your finances. [AllThingsFinancialPlanningBlog]
- Trending Topics for ERISA Plan Sponsors [FiduciaryNews]
- Fiduciary Advice and 12b-1 Fees [Fred Reish]
Articles your clients are reading (or should be):
- Stockpicking or Indexing? Consider this 2012 Market Study. [US News]
- Why software won't replace humans for investing advice. [US News]
- 4 percent annual withdrawals are still safe. [US News]
- Seven steps to spring clean your portfolio [The Chicago Financial Planner]
Have a link we missed? Leave them in the comments section or email us at blog@fi360.com. For more of the best links during the week, make sure you follow us on Twitter.
