401(k) Fridays Podcast

Episode Summary Conflicts, compensation and reasonableness, what do these three words have in common?  Ok, I ‘ll let you off the hook, these are the key issues at the heart of roughly 90% of the recent 401(k) litigation according to my guest, Jason Roberts ERISA Attorney and Founder of the Pension Resource Institute and the Retirement Law Group.  Jason has been repeatedly recognized as one of the “100 Most Influential in Defined Contribution” by the 401(k) Wire and a “Rising Star” by SuperLawyers Magazine.  To help employers with those three issues, this episode drills into selecting and monitoring 401(k) service providers, a key fiduciary responsibility and one that is often misunderstood by plan sponsors.  Jason shares strategies to determine fee reasonableness in light of the value, six open ended questions to evaluate service providers and unique insights such as low cost at all cost might not be the best fiduciary protection strategy.  Finally, be sure to stick around for when he alludes to a criminal la

Episode Description Let’s say you were running your 401(k) fiduciary committee meetings wrong, wouldn’t you want someone to tell you?  Luckily, I was able to track down Jason Roberts, ERISA attorney and founder of the Pension Resource Institute to help set the record. straight.  Jason has been repeatedly recognized as one of the “100 Most Influential in Defined Contribution” by the 401(k) Wire and a “Rising Star” by SuperLawyers Magazine.  In this episode you will hear tremendous insights on why you should develop a well balanced and prudent fiduciary process, how current 401(k) litigation is shedding new light on employer fiduciary best practices and finally, why all the time you spend discussing plan investments might not be providing you the protection you have been lead to believe it does.  If you don’t have a pen and paper handy, don’t worry, i have bios, notes, links and a full episode breakdown on the website at www.401kfridays.com.  Without further ado, here we go!  Guest Bio Jason C. Roberts is the F

Episode Description I am excited to share the first episode in our Sponsor Spotlight segment of the podcast!  I had the pleasure to sit down with Brad Champagne, Senior Director of Human Resources at Mission Linen Supply in Santa Barbara, CA  We’ve worked together for a long time and I’ve always been impressed by his thoughtfulness and ability to focus on the bigger picture.  Brad shares candid details about his company, their culture, their 401(k) plan and most importantly the circumstances surrounding some significant plan changes they made to put their employees on a better path to retirement.  As you will hear, the retirement committee really struggled with the impact and disruption to both their employees and the company the potential changes could have.  Hopefully this isn’t too much of a spoiler but both the short and long term results have been beyond their expectations.  Finally, there are some great takeaways for employers who are contemplating changes in their retirement plans.  Thank you for liste

Episode Description Should there be a balance between employee and employer goals in a 401(k) retirement plan? This was a different statement and one that I felt employers could benefit from learning more about. This episode provides data and specific strategies on how and why everyone can benefit when their goals are aligned. My guest is Hugh O’Toole, President and founder of the Viability Advisory Group. During our conversation you will hear several unique insights and examples of the interplay between healthcare, wages, risk management and employee engagement as the main drivers of both employer and employee financial wellness. I hope you take as much away for this conversation as I did!  Guest Bio Hugh O’Toole is Senior Vice President of the Viability Advisory Group, responsible for directing and promoting the firm’s efforts to quantify the value of helping employers and employees make the most of their retirement and other employee benefits.  O’Toole has an established track record as a disruptor in the

Episode Description If you ever wondered how you can strategically and cost effectively partner with an ERISA Attorney to improve and protect your retirement plan, this episode with Sherrie Boutwell, ERISA Attorney and partner at Boutwell Fay, a boutique ERISA law firm should be very helpful to you.  Our discussion covered: Overview of common plan errors in retirement plan documents Points to negotiate in service provider contracts Need to properly delegate fiduciary authority Attorney-client privilege in ERISA plans Value of properly structured fiduciary liability insurance   Options to fix 401(k) plan errors Other helpful thoughts and ideas! Guest Bio Sherrie Boutwell has focused for thirty years in the areas of employee benefits law and ERISA, with an emphasis on retirement and deferred compensation plans. She advises and counsels a broad range of clients, including employers, employees, plan fiduciaries, financial institutions and government agencies and trade associations, on a wide range of employee.

Episode Overview If you are in the Not-for-Profit Healthcare sector and sponsor a retirement plan, I have some great information for you!  This is the first in a series of industry profile episodes that I will be making over the next several months.  This episodes features a broad and interesting conversation with Brodie Wood, Senior Vice President, Not-for-Profit Markets at Transamerica Retirement Solutions.  He shared several great pearls of wisdom for employers who sponsor a 403(b) or 401(k) plans in this sector such as: Business trends in the sector that may impact retirement plans Impact of physicians integrating back into hospital systems Updates on employer contribution levels  Strategies to encourage higher participation and contribution rates Emergence of Retirement Readiness as a measure of plan success How introducing Financial Wellness can improve participant outcomes For more information on this episode, please go to www.401kfridays.com.   If you like what you hear, please share with a colleagu

Introduction The 401(k) Fridays podcast offers companies of all sizes free strategic, educational and actionable content to improve  their retirement plans.  My name is Rick Unser and I am your host.  All episodes leverage my nearly two decades of experience working with employers to bring you candid interviews with industry experts, new best practices and valuable perspectives on current events. Episode Summary The main focus of our conversation is determining if some common employer beliefs about retirement plan audits are truth or myth. John also pulls from his experience to offer some tips to employers who are preparing for their first audit and best practices for some grizzled veterans to help their audit run smoothly. Guest Bio My guest today is John Russon, a retirement plan auditor and founder of Pension Assurance, a single purpose audit firm that specializes in auditing qualified retirement plans.  In 2005, after spending several years working at both “Big Four” and local CPA firms, John launched a

Introduction The 401(k) Fridays podcast offers companies of all sizes free strategic, educational and actionable content to improve  their retirement plans.  My name is Rick Unser and I am your host.  All episodes leverage my nearly two decades of experience working with employers to bring you candid interviews with industry experts, new best practices and valuable perspectives on current events. Episode Description We have a great episode to share with you today and it is a must listen if you are concerned about a DOL investigation of your 401(k) plan.  Our conversation is full of great information about how the DOL operates and how DOL investigations are triggered.  Be sure to listen for important steps you should take if you receive a  letter notifying you of a DOL investigation.  Finally, we close out the conversation with some recommendations and best practices to help avoid DOL investigations and minimize the severity of potential findings.   Guest Bio My guest is Sam Henson, VP – Director of Legislativ

Introduction The 401(k) Fridays podcast offers companies of all sizes free strategic, educational and actionable content to improve  their retirement plans.  My name is Rick Unser and I am your host.  All episodes leverage my nearly two decades of experience working with employers to bring you candid interviews with industry experts, new best practices and valuable perspectives on current events. Guest Bio Jeff Judd is an Investment Analyst for Lockton Retirement Services. He graduated from the University of Kansas, go Jayhawks!, with a major in economics. Upon completion of his undergraduate degree, Jeff attended the University of Missouri-Kansas City, where he obtained his master’s degree in economics. He is also a CFA Level II Candidate.  So he is basically an investment nerd.  But, even with all of his technical knowledge, Jeff provided a very easy to follow commentary!   Episode Summary Our conversation starts with a review of the market volatility we experienced in 2015 and thus far in early 2016.  Jeff

Introduction The 401(k) Fridays podcast offers companies of all sizes free strategic, educational and actionable content to improve  their retirement plans.  My name is Rick Unser and I am your host.  All episodes leverage my nearly two decades of experience working with employers to bring you candid interviews with industry experts, new best practices and valuable perspectives on current events. Guest Bio Donn Hess has almost 25 years of experience in the retirement services industry, the majority of that spent working for two of the largest recordkeepers in the country.  He has played a part in every aspect of the retirement plan participant experience, ranging from overseeing call centers to building on-line tools to sitting side by side with some of the nation’s largest employers, developing custom communication strategies. Episode Summary The big takeaway from today’s conversation are that retirement education, or participant engagement as you will hear us refer to it, isn’t about education, or really ev