401(k) Stories
The days when RIAs were the outsiders at the 401(k) party are fast coming to a close. What's new is that the mass of 401(k) assets is getting critical at about $3 trillion; fiduciary advisors are getting appreciated; fat fees and questionable kickbacks are getting exposed and stepping out of line is getting dicier as the Department of Labor tightens the regulatory screws.
The old reasons why the 401(k) business is attractive are still in place: there are fresh assets pouring in every month and when employees leave jobs or retire, they produce rollovers that build up IRA accounts for financial advisors. The drawbacks of getting into the 401(k) business are still in place, too. Dealing with retirement assets is really a second line of business and it remains -- unless you overcharge with hidden fees -- a low margin business with high potential fiduciary liabilities.
Still, the outsourcers, infrastructure and accumulated knowledge for RIAs to capitalize on is growing daily and a the mega-shift of assets away from brokers is making the 401(k) business riskier and riskier -- to ignore.
The lawsuits against 401(k) plan sponsors also threaten every RIA and fiduciary, if underperformance becomes a legal liability, lawyers say.
Thursday, September 22, 2022 – 1:34 AM by Oisin Breen
Retirement plan sponsors are fake fiduciaries if they offer cheap, highly rated funds from premium brands in 401(k) plans without factoring in fund performance, according to a fresh wave of ERISA class action cases.
Some 47% of plan sponsors are considering a new advisor, up from 34% last year, and 48% are considering a change of recordkeepers.
Tuesday, September 13, 2022 – 1:51 AM by Lisa Shidler
Brooke's Note: Remember the DOL Rule and all the hubbub around it? We had half-forgotten about it, too. The Trump Department of Labor (DOL) took a scalpel to the original Obama administration version in 2020, but it still had a few rose bush thorns of ...
The New York City bank now owns a unit that had slowing growth pre-deal but may face fresh headwinds carrying the baggage of its new owner.
Tuesday, August 30, 2022 – 1:07 AM by Brooke Southall
Goldman Sachs today (Aug. 29) announced the closing of NextCapital Group, Inc., giving the New York City investment bank a place to launch an offensive into the burgeoning defined contribution (DC) retirement market.
The new San Diego firm will be a TAMP-like unit that gives a way for small companies to get big-plan leverage while still letting RIAs handle the investment advice, says CEO Jason Roberts.
Thursday, June 23, 2022 – 6:56 PM by Lisa Shidler
A top ERISA attorney is co-founding a venture to crack the fertile but fallow small business 401(k) market by allying with RIAs.
The $12-trillion Boston firm shocked everyone with the timing of the 'seminal' move, the Labor Dept.'s tut-tutting 'guidance' not withstanding, after concluding Bitcoin's volatile days are behind it.
Friday, April 29, 2022 – 2:08 AM by Lisa Shidler
Brooke's Note: Pretty much come hell or high water the great capitulation to 'The Experiment' that is cryptocurrency has happened. Whether you're a teenager or a financial sophisticate, there's no turning back. Poverty is an option. Leaving an adventure like Bitcoin investing in the rear ...
The Chicago 401(k) robo-advisor became a ‘plug-in’ versus a ‘platform,’ relegating it to a guest role, a pragmatic move, yet, perhaps, diminishing its destiny.
Wednesday, April 6, 2022 – 4:48 AM by Oisin Breen
Goldman Sachs Asset Management is again the golden parachute for an RIA venture where the lead entrepreneur ran low on steam, the business model hit headwinds and the seven-year bell rang for private equity investors anxious to cash out.
The 10-year-old New York City firm nixed its FeeX brand and its old business model after RIAs said they wanted 'action' more than information.
Thursday, March 24, 2022 – 11:19 PM by Lisa Shidler
FeeX just raised $45 million but first it had to change its business model from an X-ray to a bridge and renamed itself accordingly. Big RIAs with a 401(k) bent are rewarding them with contracts.
After record AUM high, BlackRock chairman and CEO Larry Fink brushes off a milestone • SchwabSchwab hits records; Wall Street wants more • Mutual fund giant's ETF conversion yields bragging rights • Regulation Best Interest headaches unnecessary, despite SEC brouhaha, lawyers say • Workplace scheme wins big for Fidelity.
Friday, January 21, 2022 – 3:16 AM by Oisin Breen
BlackRock's AUM tops $10 trillion -- "It's just a number," says CEO Larry Fink with likely a nod and a wink.
The Mountain View, Calif., manager of $260 billion of AUM is splitting a two-hour slot in 25 markets between its namesake's new show and two ringers -- Jean Chatzky and Soledad O'Brien
Monday, December 13, 2021 – 7:45 PM by Lisa Shidler
Brooke's Note: I am not entirely sure what is going on here. At its peak, "The Ric Edelman Show" commanded a two-hour slot in 85 markets. Now its primary replacement show is one hour in 75 markets and does not include Ric himself. But Ric ...
Peter Mallouk's acquisition of Lockton and its big-company 401(k) business will double his Overland Park, Kan, staff and solidify its business model's rear flank
Saturday, November 20, 2021 – 4:07 AM by Lisa Shidler
Brooke's Note: The 401(k) business was drowning in its own stigma for decades -- deservedly so. It was a place of kickbacks, Enron-style abuses, low margins, low critical mass, dubious investments and crappy advice. That's all looking much different now with better laws, more critical ...
BlackRock has about $1 trillion of defined contribution assets while Fidelity and Vanguard both administer multiple trillions, so the New York giant is dangling defined benefits as a way to win the defined contributions game.
Friday, October 29, 2021 – 11:54 PM by Oisin Breen
Brooke's Note: The 401(k) system was launched with a wing and a prayer in 1978 as a free-enterprise experimental answer to the more socialistic systems that exist in Europe and the rest of the world. But the venture capital community turned up their noses and ...
Eying projected 300% plan sponsor growth, Aaron Schumm has promoted one executive, added another and reshuffled Vestwell's board, putting Hardwick on top.
Thursday, October 14, 2021 – 8:58 PM by Oisin Breen
Vestwell CEO Aaron Schumm just abdicated his chairmanship to Lori Hardwick as part of a senior executive team shuffle, after experiencing overwhelming growth in the workplace 401(k) accounts it services.
The Labor Dept. stops short of giving fiduciaries environmental, social and governance factor carte blanche but recognizes non-pecuniary factors are legit considerations.
Thursday, October 14, 2021 – 1:08 AM by Brooke Southall
Brooke's Note: There is no way to do business with a person or entity without trusting them. In fact, the more you trust your business partner, the deeper and more effective the business relationship can be. Constant verification is a giant cause of friction. It's time-consuming ...
The $8 trillion Malvern, Pa., asset manager signed a deal with Retirement Clearinghouse to address its $1.8 billion of record-kept plan assets, which suffer universally despised pension 'leakage' that drains minority-held accounts.
Friday, September 24, 2021 – 1:21 AM by Lisa Shidler
Brooke's Note: As a former telecommunications reporter, this article brought back all the head-banging stories I used to write about the insane advancement of dense-wave-division multiplexing. A wee wire could carry the whole Internet's traffic coast-to-coast in a nano second only to give back all those gains ...
Empower's $3.4 billion deal ups total assets to $1.4 trillion, a distant second to Fidelity's $3.2 trillion in administered assets.
Saturday, July 24, 2021 – 3:09 AM by Lisa Shidler
Robert Reynolds and Edmund F. Murphy III both left long careers at Fidelity Investments with an eye on recreating the magic of the Boston giant's retirement business at deep-pocketed Great-West Lifeco of Canada.