So much to choose from to write about this week, but I am, by my own rules for this series of posts, limited to five topics. I noted last week that there was a risk I would beat holiday jokes into the ground this month, and here I go again, starting with an article about
For this week’s Five Favorites for Friday, I have a full stocking of gifts (too early for Xmas allusions? Maybe, but I was in New York for work and saw the Rockefeller Center Tree, which inspired that lede). Let’s get right into opening them up (and yes, I will probably beat that gag to death
Financial expert turned professional writer Susan Mangiero has a new article out on the issue of adding alternative investments to 401(k) plans. It provides an excellent summary of the issues and is particularly helpful if you are new to the topic – it will get you up to speed quickly.
I make a guest appearance
This week, I cheated. I have known since Tuesday that I wasn’t going to have time to either blog or post on LinkedIn this week on even a small portion of the articles, ideas, podcasts and presentations that were crossing my desk and catching my eye. So I started writing this week’s Five Favorites for
Insurance coverage lawyer Geoffrey Fehling had a great LinkedIn post concerning a Massachusetts court dismissing class action claims against Liberty Mutual because of the failure of plaintiffs’ counsel to identify and then name the correct Liberty Mutual affiliated insurance companies as defendants. I wanted to add three points to it which, in their absence, could
In earlier posts in my Plan Sponsor and Fiduciary 2.0 series I promised to provide a cheat sheet for fiduciaries confronting the push to add private equity and other alternative assets to 401(k) plans. Here it is, with a focus on private equity assets, because that is where most of the initial action currently is
Many commentators are suggesting that the recent executive order and the directive for regulatory action towards adding private equity and other alternative assets to 401(k) plans does not mean that those assets are destined to end up in 401(k) plans. But personally, I think that belief is almost certainly naïve – particularly with regard to
This is the third in my series of posts called Plan Sponsor and Fiduciary 2.0, which addresses how fiduciaries and plan sponsors should now be conducting themselves in light of operational changes, legal developments, and liability risks that have developed over the past ten to fifteen years. You can find the origin story behind this
One of the themes I have returned to time and again with regard to excessive fee and other class action litigation under ERISA is that the traditional litigation approach deployed for years by the plan sponsor community needs to be updated. With some variation, it has followed the traditional defense model typically used in class
Walk softly and carry a big stick. Trust but verify. Never bring a knife to a gunfight.
People who know me, have read my blog regularly, heard me speak on ERISA issues, or been on a jury in a case I have tried, know that I am very fond of analogies, metaphors, short examples, and