What a wave of 401(k) lawsuits tell us about what RIAs really need to worry about
Plaintiff's attorneys have found the soft underbelly of advisors and plan sponsors, but the pitfalls are clear and avoidable
Related Moves
Fidelity will hire 4,000 staff in first half -- a staggering number but a tapering off from 'unprecedented' rate in 2021-2022 that catapulted it to 68,000 employees
The $10.3 trillion giant explains its hiring -- in a layoff environment -- as an RIA-like goal, namely having the human bandwidth to develop 'lifetime' relationships with its 40 million investors
February 17, 2023 at 2:49 AM
Fidelity Investments loses Kathleen Murphy who largely caught up Fido to Schwab (near $4T) on the retail side by reversing net promoter scores
The 'no whining allowed' leader of the Boston giant's retail business, who oversaw $2 trillion in net new assets, was ready to exit but hung in through a year dominated by COVID-19 challenges
January 23, 2021 at 2:02 AM
Fidelity Institutional looks like a big TAMP after Mike Durbin removes last internal walls between products and advisors after 'meteoric' 2019 leap; two Fido RIA sales legends depart amid the shift
Rich Policastro and Tom Valverde are out after Fidelity Custody & Clearing assets leap to $2.6 trillion AUA, restructuring gets the credit -- and so restructuring gets extended.
March 13, 2020 at 10:36 PM
TD Ameritrade's board suddenly pushes out Tim Hockey after his big misread of RIAs; Tom Bradley name-dropped as successor
The CEO broke the TD promise never to compete with RIAs, took it back and got sent packing
July 23, 2019 at 4:30 AM
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David Witz
PlanTools developed the ERISA Advisor Evaluator (“EAE”). It is an automated Request for Proposal (RFP) system that permits attorneys, CPAs, consultants and plan sponsors the ability to search, evaluate and score qualified advisor candidates. Only advisors that meet strict minimum standards are eligible to participate in the system. The standards are academic and court imposed standards in addition to ERISA. Advisor fees and services can also be benchmarked using the same system. TIAA-CREF has adopted this system to build their TIAA-CREF Advisor Network. TIAA-CREF is the only provider that has engaged a documented vetting process to ensure their clients have the option to retain or make available qualified advisor experts. Plan sponsors that continue to engage advisors that lack expertise run the risk of future litigation for paying excessive fees unless they benchmark their advisor, confirm the advisor’s qualifications and document the process. As an expert witness on the ABB case and many others, a deliberative process that is documented and meets the prevailing circumstances is the best defense against plaintiff attacks and DOL investigations. dwitz@fraplantools.com David Witz, CEO FRA/PlanTools.
Brooke
David,
This looks like good information but it’s also very self-promotional. I end up getting emails asking why I’m permitting these kinds of emails to go undeleted. I’ll leave this for now but I think in this forum it’s better just to establish yourself as an expert and not be throwing your whole pitch.
thanks,
Brooke
