401(k) Roundtable

The DOL Fiduciary Rule died, or did it? Maybe its coming back to life in another form, through another government agency or even the states will take a crack at it. What should employers know? How will this impact employees? In this timely and action packed episode I am excited to have Fred Reish, ERISA Attorney extraordinaire with Drinker Biddle and the closest follower I know of the long and winding path of the fiduciary rule. For many, Fred requires no introduction. If you are not familiar Fred is perennially listed as one of the most influential individuals in the retirement industry, he has been named one of the "Legends" in the development of retirement plan by PLANSPONSOR Magazine and given multiple lifetime achievement awards and other honors. On top of that, Fred is a great guy with an easy to follow communication style as he shares his insights today. If you want to learn more about Fred or subscribe to his blog that we reference today you can find him at fredreish.com As a quick aside, I worked in several questions we got from listeners who are email subscribers or follow me on LinkedIn. If you want an opportunity to submit questions to future guests go to 401kfridays.com/subscribe to get connected. Finally, Fred was an inspiration for me to start the podcast. More on that in my wrap-up if you are interested. Guest Bio Fred Reish is an ERISA attorney whose practice focuses on fiduciary responsibility, prohibited transactions and plan qualification and operational issues. He has been recognized as one of the "Legends" of the retirement industry by both PlanAdviser magazine and PlanSponsor magazine. Fred has received awards for: the 401(k) Industry's Most Influential Person by 401kWire; one of RIABiz's 10 most influential individuals in the 401(k) industry affecting RIAs; the Commissioner's Award and the District Director's Award by the IRS; the Eidson Founder's Award by the American Society of Professionals & Actuaries (ASPPA); the Institutional Investor and the PlanSponsor magazine Lifetime Achievement Awards; and the ASPPA/Morningstar 401(k) Leadership Award. He has also received the Arizona State University Alumni Service Award. Fred has written more than 350 articles and four books about retirement plans, including a monthly column on 401(k) fiduciary issues for PlanSponsor magazine. Fred Co-Chaired the IRS Los Angeles Benefits Conference for over 10 years, served as a founding Co-Chair of the ASPPA 401(k) Summit, and has served on the Steering Committee for the DOL National Conference. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over one hundred prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

With so much focus on employee engagement and financial wellness, what happens when you actually get your employees attention and they use the tools they are provided to help calculate what they need to do to have a successful retirement, and they are given bad information? My guest today, Tom Kmak, CEO of Fiduciary Benchmarks has thought a great deal about it, so much so that I think he even admitted talking to retirement calculators, but in all seriousness he has some timely input and food for thought for employers. This is the third time I have had Tom on the podcast and love when he shares his perspective from over 30 years in the retirement industry which includes running JP Morgan's retirement business and founding Fiduciary Benchmarks a decade ago. When Tom invests a lot of time and gets passionate about something, that usually means its important and things will change in the future. Guest Bio CEO and co-founder of Fiduciary Benchmarks, 2007 to current. Fiduciary Benchmarks (FBi) is a premier benchmarking service for defined contribution plans that is designed to help fiduciaries determine whether the fees they are paying to their service providers are reasonable in light of the value being received. Through their construction and presentation, FBi's patented methodology and reports give plan decision makers the context necessary to improve decisions and positively affect the measures of long-term plan success. FBi reports are available primarily through advisor/consultants, recordkeepers, TPAs and other plan service providers. Prior to founding FBi, Tom Started the JPMorgan Retirement Plan Services business in 1990 with American Century. Upon leaving in October 2007, that business employed 1,100 people serving 200 large plan sponsors with over 1.5 million participants and more than $115 billion in assets. During his 18 years with Retirement Plan Services, the company initiated numerous industry firsts including no blackout conversions and the innovative employee education program, Audience ofOne. Tom also served on the Executive Committee for JPMorgan's asset management business. Named by Ingram's magazine as one of Kansas City's inaugural class of "Forty most influential people under Forty," Tom is a recognized expert in the retirement services industry who has been afeatured speaker at various conferences and has published articles in some of the most well-known periodicals in the industry. Graduated Phi Beta Kappa from DePauw University with B.A. degrees in Economics and Computational Mathematics. First graduate of Management Fellows Program and 3 year letterman in inter-collegiate basketball. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over one hundred prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

My conversation with Lynn Avitabile, Managing Director in the the Multi-Asset Group of J.P Morgan Asset Management and Wei Hu, Vice President of Financial Research at Financial Engines really cleared some things up for me on the role of Target Date Funds and Managed Accounts in workplace retirement plans. We have talked about Target Date Funds several times on the podcast, but Managed Accounts not so much. As we are accustomed to doing we start with some definitions of terms and then quickly jump into how they compare and contrast with target date funds, how to determine if your plan participants could benefit from one or both strategies. Great dialogue and good input all around. After listening you tell me, do target dates and managed accounts go together like oil & water or peanut butter and jelly? Hope you enjoy, and you don't want to miss next weeks episode. Guest Bios Lynn Avitabile, managing director, J.P. Morgan Asset Management is a Client Portfolio Manager within Multi-Asset Solutions, based in New York. She focuses on our Target Date Fund solutions, and leads our educational efforts on that topic. An employee since 1984, Lynn spent 20 years within Human Resources. She headed Human Resources for J.P. Morgan Global Investment Management and served as a member of the investment company's senior leadership group for six years prior to joining Multi-Asset Solutions. Lynn earned a Bachelor of Science in Occupational Therapy from Quinnipiac College and an MBA from Duke University. She is Series 7, 63 and 3 licensed. Dr. Wei-Yin Hu is Vice President and head of the Financial Research group at Financial Engines. His team's responsibilities include the development of the analytical models that generate Financial Engines' recommendations and forecasts, and the design of new retirement advice services. Dr. Hu has expertise in asset pricing, capital markets, taxation, and retirement economics. He joined Financial Engines after leaving a position as an economics professor at UCLA, where he taught for five years. Throughout his career, he has published research in leading academic and practitioner journals and has given invited lectures in numerous academic and non-academic settings. Dr. Hu received a Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over one hundred prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

Unfortunately, mistakes are made when running workplace retirement plans. My guest, Marcia Wagner, the founder of The Wagner Law Group brings her over thirty years of experience working on ERISA matters to the podcast today and shares her list of the top 10 mistakes she sees retirement plan sponsors make. For a little background, Marcia is perennially listed as one of the most influential people in the retirement industry, is frequently quoted in the Wall Street Journal and other publications and regular guest on FOX, CNN, Bloomberg, NBC and other news shows. You can find out more about Marcia and this episode at 401kfridays.com/wagner. Back to our conversation today, not surprising, her top ten list is spot on and she does an excellent job explaining the issues, how they happen and probably most importantly how to avoid and thoughts on how fix them if needed. Along the way, we also have a little fun and share some laughs. As far as top ten lists go this one makes my personal list top ten list! Guest Bio MARCIA S. WAGNER has been practicing in the employee benefits field for over 30 years, founded The Wagner Law Group over 20 years ago and is the Firm's Managing Partner. Ms. Wagner is a summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Cornell University and a graduate of Harvard Law School. Ms. Wagner is highly regarded for her broad and deep knowledge of the law, flexibility, creativity and sound judgment. She has been at the very forefront of legal and best practices developments in the benefits arena virtually her entire career. Ms. Wagner's experience in employee benefits is wide-ranging and she is recognized as an expert in a variety of employee benefits matters, including qualified and non-qualified plans, fiduciary issues, deferred compensation, and welfare benefit arrangements. Her experience in employee benefits includes plan design, drafting and preparation, compliance, tax planning and consultation on all manner and aspect of ERISA issues. Because of her experience and reputation, she has been retained as a legal consultant to other law firms, consulting firms, employee benefits organizations, large corporate and public plan sponsors and as an expert witness in prominent ERISA litigation matters. As counsel to all types of plan sponsors, she has worked closely on qualified plans, 403(b) and 457 plans, IRAs, employee stock ownership plans, executive compensation arrangements and retiree medical benefits (including 401(h) accounts) regarding plan operation and maintenance, plan terminations, mergers and acquisitions, tax treatment of plan participants, use of life insurance and annuities, and derisking pension liabilities. Ms. Wagner has also advised on the design and redesign of retirement, executive, and health and welfare plans and engages in ongoing, day-to-day counseling of plan sponsors and compliance audits. Ms. Wagner also specializes in Title I of ERISA, and she has obtained advisory opinions, information letters and prohibited transaction exemptions. Her broad and in-depth range of experience includes handling fiduciary matters impacting plan sponsors, investment and other fiduciary committees, investment managers and advisors, recordkeepers, broker-dealers, banks, and other financial services firms. She advises on the avoidance and rectification of prohibited transaction issues, development of compliance programs and investment policies, and day-to-day compliance issues arising under ERISA and the Internal Revenue Code. Ms. Wagner has worked on numerous Department of Labor, IRS and PBGC audits of plans and financial institutions that service plans, and negotiated favorable closing agreements with all agencies. Ms. Wagner was appointed to the IRS Tax Exempt & Government Entities Advisory Committee and ended her three-year term as the Chair of its Employee Plans subcommittee, and received the IRS' Commissioner's Award (that agency's highest honor). Ms. Wagner has also been inducted as a Fellow of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel, has an "AV" peer review rating by LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell indicating very high to preeminent legal ability and integrity and has received over 50 professional commendations and honors. For eight years, 401k Wire listed Ms. Wagner as one of its 100 Most Influential Persons in the 401(k) industry, and she has received the Top Women of Law Award in Massachusetts and is listed among the Top 25 Attorneys in New England. Ms. Wagner has written hundreds of articles and 15 books. Ms. Wagner is a frequent and highly sought after lecturer, is widely quoted in business publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Pension & Investments, is a prolific writer and contributor to the most prestigious journals and periodicals in the benefits area, and has been a guest on FOX, CNN, Bloomberg, NBC and other televised media outlets. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee reti

The inspiration for this episode came from a request for proposal I received recently from a company in my day job as a workplace retirement plan consultant After giving it a quick read through, my initial reaction was wow, this company is in a fiduciary defensive shell. Their entire focus was on managing and limiting their fiduciary liability. I guess if you consider the lawsuits and fiduciary messaging I can understand their positioning. So, that got me thinking, should workplace retirement plan fiduciaries be thinking defensively or offensively when making plan decisions? To bring some perspective to the conversation I was excited to have Jaime Fleckner, a Partner and Chair of the ERISA Litigation Practice at Goodwin Proctor join me. He has a pretty impressive background and experience defending retirement plan fiduciaries which you can check out at 401kfridays.com/fleckner. I won't steal Jaime's thunder but I will tell you that if you're looking for some fresh thoughts on the current retirement plan fiduciary state of affairs he does not disappoint. If you enjoy Jaime's insights as much as I did, please tell a friend, share on social media or leave a review or comment on iTunes or your favorite podcast app. Enjoy! Guest Bio Jamie Fleckner is a partner in Goodwin's Financial Industry Practice and Chair of its ERISA Litigation Practice. Mr. Fleckner represents clients in a wide array of complex commercial litigation, with a focus on financial services and products, including investment management. He regularly litigates class and derivative actions under ERISA, the Investment Company Act of 1940, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and related federal and state laws. His practice also focuses on regulatory investigations and governmental proceedings, and has represented clients before the U.S. Department of Labor, Securities and Exchange Commission, Department of Justice, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation and state authorities. Mr. Fleckner's success in litigating cutting edge legal issues has been profiled in The American Lawyer, Big Suits. Accordingto Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business where Mr. Fleckner has been selected for inclusion since 2014, Mr. Fleckner is "at the top of his game," and is "a rare thought leader" on ERISA litigation. Since 2015, he has been recognized as a leading lawyer in the list of Who's Who Legal: Pensions and Benefits. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over one hundred prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

Today we take a little detour from talking about the usual 401(k) or workplace retirement plan topics and focus on the challenge for many people around the country who are gainfully employed but don't have access to a retirement plan at work. Personally, when I first heard some of the stats we discuss today they were surprising to me. I have two guests which both shared great perspective today, Lisa Massena, the Executive Director of OregonSaves the first state retirement plan to go live and Andrew Biggs, a resident Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute who has a wealth of data and research about retirement savings at his finger tips. As hopefully you have heard in prior episodes when I have two guests on that usually means they are not always going to agree on everything. Our conversation starts with a conversation around the data, what options individuals who don't have access to a retirement plan at work have today and how the conversation will evolve in the future. With Lisa here, we also spend some time talking about how state retirement plans factor into the coverage conversation. She shares Oregon's experience, early results and reactions after their launch in late 2017. Good stuff and I hope you take as much away from our conversation as I did. Last thing, we had a little challenge with Andrew's connection, you can hear everything he says but it is a little scratch, just a heads up. Technology is a great thing until it isn't! Guest Bios Lisa Massena, Executive Director, OregonSaves - Ms. Massena joined OregonSaves as its first Executive Director in September of 2015. With its Board and a strong team of internal and external collaborators, Massena helped design and launch the innovative retirement savings program that, when fully implemented, is expected to be available to over 1 million Oregonians who currently do not have access to retirement savings at work. A native of the Northwest, Ms. Massena began her career in Oregon focused on investment and retirement solutions for employers and individuals, co-founding an investment consultancy in 1991 that specialized in defined contribution plans. When the internet beckoned, she joined a startup firm in San Francisco providing online portfolio advice for 401(k) savers. In 2001 Massena was recruited to State Street Corp. where from San Francisco and Boston she led regional, Americas and global teams providing investment analytics services to institutional clients. She earned a B.A. from Portland State University and is a Chartered Financial Analyst. Andrew G. Biggs is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he studies Social Security reform, state and local government pensions, and public sector pay and benefits. Before joining AEI, Biggs was the principal deputy commissioner of the Social Security Administration (SSA), where he oversaw SSA's policy research efforts. In 2005, as an associate director of the White House National Economic Council, he worked on Social Security reform. In 2001, he joined the staff of the President's Commission to Strengthen Social Security. Biggs has been interviewed on radio and television as an expert on retirement issues and on public vs. private sector compensation. He has published widely in academic publications as well as in daily newspapers such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. He has also testified before Congress on numerous occasions. In 2013, the Society of Actuaries appointed Biggs co-vice chair of a blue ribbon panel tasked with analyzing the causes of underfunding in public pension plans and how governments can securely fund plans in the future. In 2014, Institutional Investor Magazine named him one of the 40 most influential people in the retirement world. In 2016, he was appointed by President Obama to be a member of the financial control board overseeing reforms to Puerto Rico's budget and the restructuring of the island's debts. Biggs holds a bachelor's degree from Queen's University Belfast in Northern Ireland, master's degrees from Cambridge University and the University of London, and a Ph.D. from the London School of Economics. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over one hundred prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

This episode is fresh out of the 401(k) Fridays Podcast experiment lab. Today my guest JD Carlson, the President & CEO of the legendary Third Party Administration firm Plan Design Consultants and Host of the Retireholi(k)s show we poke a little bit of fun with 401(k) speak. Each of us took the time to prepare a few statements that are full of retirement plan terms, or maybe not, and then put the other person on the spot to determine if the statement is Jargon, Gibberish, or Jumbled. We had a lot of fun recording this but want to make sure we weren't the only ones. Please share your feedback on whether this was entertaining, informative or both or neither. Shoot us an email to [email protected] or leave a comment on LinkedIn to me, Rick Unser or JD Carlson. If the feedback we get is encouraging, we will tackle some additional retirement plan related topics using this format with future guests. The fate of Jargon, Gibberish or Jumbled is in your hands! We also have another first with this episode, we have video! If you want to check that out, go to YouTube and search Plan Design Consultants. Or go to www.401kfridays.com/jgj and I will have a link towards the bottom of the page. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over one hundred prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

It has never made a lot of sense to me how retirement plan participants go missing and lose track of sometimes thousands of dollars of their money. My conversation today with Spencer Williams, the President & CEO of Retirement Clearing House shed a lot of light on just how this happens. We tackle a host of related issues in a face paced back and forth dialogue which highlights some interesting findings from their recent study on the topic, we also hit on how missing participants factor into the concern around retirement plan leakage and what the impact is on both employers and employees when participants go missing. Of course, before we wrap up we provide some concrete thoughts on how to address the issue in your plan and look forward to a few new concepts that might help with this in the future. Guest Bio Spencer is Retirement Clearinghouse's Founder, President and CEO. Retirement Clearinghouse is a specialized provider of portability and consolidation services for America's mobile workforce and has serviced more than 1 million job-changing participants during Mr. Williams' 9 year tenure with the company. Prior to joining Retirement Clearinghouse, Williams served in a number of senior executive roles at MassMutual Financial Group, and as a retirement Services executive at Federated Investors, Inc. Williams earned his B.A. degree in English from the United States Naval Academy and an M.B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over one hundred prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

Some tricky schedules got in the way of my production calendar so no new episode this week. However, as I searched through our archives I thought this episode had some great messages that would be good for some of our new subscribers to hear and for our long term listeners to have top of mind. Enjoy! I'll have to admit, when I first heard of Don Barden and the "Perfect Plan" I was pretty skeptical. What does "perfect" mean? Who gets to judge "perfect"? My analytical mind was going crazy. However, as I became more familiar with Don and the concepts and elements he believes in, I felt it definitely made sense to bring him onto the podcast. My hope is that you will take away a few kernels of knowledge to help you rethink what retirement means along some motivation and inspiration! Be sure to check back next week as we have a great line-up of new episodes where we will address some new topics, revisit some popular ones from new angles and have differing viewpoints on the same topic get together to share some interesting perspectives! Guest Bio Don Barden is a classically trained economist who earned his M.B.A. in Global Technology Management and International Business with an undergraduate B.B.A. in Economics and Finance. He is ABD in doctoral studies with a Ph.D. in Finance. He resides in Atlanta Georgia and is fluent in international business affairs. Don's work challenges and motivates people to think deeply about their beliefs, and reveals a plan to consistently achieve maximum communication and sales. His "unfair advantage" theories are revolutionary in today's economy as he leads you on a journey that exposes the myth of modern sales and communication techniques. He awakens your creative energy, and identifies the path to cultural change. Expertly mixing humor, academic capital, and time-tested systems, Don engages audiences through his highly personal and interactive speaking style. Don has the unique ability to break down toxic barriers and build an irresistible and motivated force of empowered team talent. As an author, speaker, advisor and corporate executive, Don Barden's counsel is highly sought after by some of the world's most successful businesses. His experience and record-setting sales success have drawn him to corporate and political leaders who want to tap into his real-world experience in order to move their organization to higher levels of sales and cultural achievement. Don personally averages over $1 billion in annual sales. He is highly noted for his ability to see "three sides" to every coin. He also serves as the past Board President for The Summit Counseling Center in Atlanta, Georgia, a unique multidisciplinary, multispecialty personal and family counseling center that provides over 8,000 hours of counseling each year. Additionally, he is a leading advisor to several private schools, businesses and faith based organizations. Don is also a passionate supporter of the US Military, especially the 1st Ranger Battalion out of Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Ga., and is a Special Advisor to the Sua Sponte Foundation. RLTW! 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over one hundred prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

Somewhere in the lifecycle of most retirement plans, employers are faced with the inevitable decision, should I bundle or unbundle the administration of my plan? There are several different perspectives on that question and some important considerations that employers should keep in mind. To help sort though this, I was excited to welcome back Doug Van Galder, he would call himself a recovering Third Party Administrator and is now a compliance analyst with the ERISA law firm Boutwell Fay. During our conversation we define the difference between recordkeeping and administration, discuss the profiles of groups who are more to unbundle administration and leave everyone with a few more thoughts to help guide you through the inevitable decision to bundle or unbundle the administration of your retirement plan. Guest Bio Douglas Van Galder is a Compliance Analyst who is committed to the favorable tax-qualified status and success of the private and public pension systems in America. Therefore, Doug assists Boutwell Fay LLP Clients and their service providers in properly administering retirement plans that remain compliant and deliver the intended benefits. Boutwell Fay LLP is a highly rated, women-owned law Firm specializing in employee benefits and ERISA. We have seven Attorneys with Offices in Newport Beach, CA and New York City, NY. Boutwell Fay LLP is the only boutique law firm in Orange County, CA that focuses exclusively on employee benefits and ERISA. The Firm provides high quality legal services normally associated with large law firms, while its smaller size allows us to be more accessible to our Clients and more responsive to their needs. The Firm helps Clients with legal issues that arise in the context of: Qualified and Non-Qualified Plans, Health and Welfare Plans, Plan Corrections and Government Audits, ERISA and Fiduciary Consulting and ERISA Claims and Disputes. In his capacities as a Compliance Analyst, Third Party Administrator (TPA), Record Keeper, Executive, Plan Sponsor/Trustee and Fiduciary Administrator, Doug has amassed 34 years of experience in the intricate business development, compliance and consulting aspects of retirement plans. Most recently, Doug was an Executive Vice President with both QBI, LLC and Fiduciary Administration, LLC serving as Defined Contribution Practice Leader and a Fiduciary Administrator, respectively. He previously founded and was the President of Strategic Pension Services, Inc. (SPS), where he led expert teams of Consultants and Administrators. SPS was acquired by QBI, LLC in January of 2015. Doug is an Enrolled Retirement Plan Agent and earned the American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries' designation of Qualified Pension Administrator. He is also the President for the Orange County Chapter of the Western Pension & Benefits Council. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your workplace retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over 100 prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

A quick word of warning, this episode is not for the faint of heart! Today we tackle and I think make more familiar the topic of factor investing. I will be the first one to admit that I am one of those people who is familiar with factor investing but have been confused with the role it can or does plan in workplace retirement plan investment menu design. So, I was personally excited to have Stacey Tovrov, a Vice President and Investment Strategies within Blackrock's Defined Contribution business join me on the podcast to break this down. With many in the investment community anticipating a low return environment in the future the "buzz" word when I speak with various investment firms has been factor investing and specifically what I learned is a subset of factor investing smart beta. For example, it seems we hear more that the XYZ strategy uses a factor based approach to accomplish this or that, or our ABC strategy uses an index based smart beta strategy and so on and so forth. During my conversation with Stacey, we address these statements, whether the average investor will understand this, how to measure performance and much more. She also shares some really unique insights on whether factor based investment labels could eventually replace the current style box or asset class based labels used to construct investment menus. In the words of Gru from Despicable Me, Lightbulb! If you like this stuff or are curious you will be on the edge of your seat! Guest Bio Stacey Tovrov, Vice President, is an Investment Strategist within BlackRock's US and Canada Defined Contribution business. She is responsible for representing DC capabilities to plan sponsors, investment consultants, and advisors. The team partners with Sales, Research, and Product Development to evolve the firm's suite of DC solutions, provide thought leadership, and develop client analytics. Prior to moving to her current role, Ms. Tovrov was a member of the Multi-Asset Strategies group building the firm's sustainable investing platform. Previously, she was part of the Strategic Product Management group leading product development and strategy. She was also a member of BlackRock's Portfolio Management Group helping drive strategic initiatives across the firm's investment teams. Ms. Tovrov joined BlackRock in 2008 as an analyst in the institutional client business, where she was responsible for sales and servicing the firm's central bank, sovereign wealth fund, and other official institution clients globally. Ms. Tovrov earned a BA degree in economics and international relations from Tufts University. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your workplace retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over 100 prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

This week we have one of my early favorites from the archives featuring my conversation with Jerry Patterson, the Senior Vice President of Retirement & Investor Services at Principal Financial Group. Jerry is also a national speaker and writer on a broad range of financial topics and is a resident blogger for the Huffington Post where he focuses on financial wellness and overcoming human nature to attain better financial security outcomes. We focus what employers should know about what it means for their employees to make the transition into retirement. One of the biggest things they have to come to grips with is how they are going to live without a "paycheck" for the rest of their life. While this is a highly personal and individual decision, if you are their employer at the time, the decision about when and if they are ready to make the transition into retirement can have a big impact on you and your organization! Jerry generously shares his experience, research and advice on how participants get tripped up by admiring a balance, not understanding fixed and variable expenses and falling victim to retirement drift. We also spend time talking about strategies employers may explore to help their employees with decumulation, or converting the balances they have accumulated over their years into a stream of income. Be sure to check back next week as we will have a new episode exploring The Factors to Factor in on Factor Investing! Guest Bio Jerry Patterson has been a presence in the financial services industry for more than 25 years where he held a number of diverse and senior roles at some of the nation's largest financial institutions. Patterson currently serves as senior vice president, Retirement & Investor Services with the Principal Financial Group where he leads the company's annuity, individual investor services, and broader retirement income efforts. Key areas of focus in his current role include driving better retirement outcomes through more effective retirement plan designs, behavior-based education and engagement strategies, getting more Americans to understand and embrace the power of guaranteed retirement income, and addressing the unique and different needs of emerging Millennials and retiring Baby Boomers. Patterson is a national speaker and writer on a broad range of issues and topics, including financial and estate planning, behavioral finance, healthcare, wellness, Millennials, Boomers, and retirement. He is a resident blogger for the Huffington Post where he focuses on financial wellness and overcoming human nature to attain better financial security outcomes. He can be followed @JerryWPatterson. Patterson is an active participant in a number of industry and community organizations focused on retirement security and the arts. He is currently an active board member for the Insured Retirement Institute, Ballet Des Moines, and Des Moines Social Club. Patterson's education and early career focus was on accounting and law and he is a member of the Kansas and Missouri bars. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your workplace retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over 100 prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

Maybe this shows my age, but whenever I get thinking about surveys my mind immediately goes to The Family Feud and their often repeated catch phrase of "our survey said…". Today, we dont' have the family feud, but I do have Joshua Dietch, group manager of Retirement & Financial Education at T. Rowe Price to share input from their results of their 3rd Annual Retirement Savings & Spending Survey. Their work caught my attention as it had some great insights on retirement trends and behaviors that are good for employers to be aware of, but also because their focus this year was on Gen Xers. Millennials and Baby Boomers seem to get all the attention these days! So for selfish reasons, it was nice to see the focus and some good data on what's going on with generation! Since I already gave this away in the title, we do cover a broad range of trends and topics that hit all generations, but it is clear that Gen Xers are at a critical juncture for retirement planning and Josh shares how you can better focus on serving this group, again thinking selfishly for my generation, based on their recent findings. Guest Bio Joshua Dietch is vice president and group manager of Retirement and Financial Education at T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. Joshua joined T. Rowe Price in 2017 and is responsible for leading a team of researchers and writers who create retirement and personal financial planning thought leadership in support of T. Rowe Price's individual investor, retirement plans, intermediary, and institutional businesses. He has over 20 years of experience in financial services, having held a number of senior industry roles including: Head of Retirement and Institutional - Strategic Insight; Managing Director - Chatham Partners; Director, Product Marketing and Management - ADP Retirement Services; and Associate Director, Institutional Markets - Cerulli Associates. In addition to his responsibilities at T. Rowe Price, Joshua is a member of the Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association's (DCIIA) Executive Committee and is Chair of its Retirement Research Board. He earned a B.A. in history from Bates College and is a series 7 registered representative. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your workplace retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over 100 prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

Honestly, I'm not sure I even gave our guest the chance to unpack his suitcase from his trip to Washington D.C.! I am happy to welcome Sam Henson, Director of Legislative & Regulatory Affairs at Lockton Retirement Services back to the podcast! Our conversation is timely in that he provides great input on President Trump's first year in office, what impact it has had on workplace retirement plans and a few ideas on things to come and where we go from here. We also touch on a few issues that are being actively debated in Washington such as Open Multiple Employer Plans, State Retirement Plans and what seems like the never-ending soap opera of the Fiduciary Rule. As usual, Sam not only provides great perspective but keeps the conversation moving and interesting! Guest Bio As a Senior Vice President and Director of Legislative and Regulatory Affairs for Lockton Retirement Services, Sam Henson oversees national IRS/DOL/ERISA compliance services for all clients and more than 100 associates nationwide. Sam serves as a subject matter expert on ERISA compliance, DOL/IRS activities, and the legislative landscape. Prior to joining Lockton, Sam spent almost 10 years with the U.S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration, where as a Senior Investigator, he conducted more than 100 complex civil and criminal investigations of employee benefits plans, service providers, and fiduciaries. Sam also supervised enforcement efforts for benefit plans funded by prevailing wage laws under the Service Contract Act and Davis-Bacon Act. Sam currently serves on the Policy Board of Directors for the American Benefits Council, Board of Directors for DCIIA, and the Governing Council of ISCEBS, as well as being a member of ASPPA. Sam has been a nationally featured speaker and writer on numerous fiduciary topics. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your workplace retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over 100 prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

One of my favorite things these days is to explore new topics on the podcast! Today in my conversation with Dena Ayala, the President & CEO of Spencer Reed Consulting we dive into the role workplace retirement plans play in an employers ability to recruiting talent. This is a pretty timely episode based on the current historically low unemployment rate and the war for talent that has been going on in many industries and geographies around the country. Dena provides great input on what questions she gets from candidates about an employers 401(k) plan during the recruiting process, her observations on some things she sees employers doing well and where they can improve in their recruiting efforts and I also gave her the opportunity to share some insights from her 20 years of experience working with employers of all shapes and sizes that takes us out of the realm of retirement plans. Guest Bio Dena Ayala is the President & CEO of Spencer Reed Consulting, So Cal's finest recruiting firm. Dena's passion is people. She prides herself in living a purpose-driven life and positively impacting those around her. She has worked in the recruiting and human resources field for 18 years, supporting thousands of people advancement within their careers. She just completed her term as the President of San Diego HR Forum, the largest HR network in San Diego. Through SDHRF she is actively contributing to community awareness, strategizing to raise the viewpoint of HR professionals, providing networking & peer support. She is also on the board and a supporter of Women In Technology International, a worldwide organization dedicated to the advancement of women in business and technology. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your workplace retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over 100 prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

I'm noticing a trend with the themes from a few recent episodes, leadership, stewardship, foresight and now I'm throwing courage into the mix! While all of these characteristics are important to run a successful and valuable workplace retirement plan, courage is sometimes underrated! To share some of her insights on the topic of courageous retirement plan design I was excited to have Shannon Nutter Weirbinsky who heads Participant Strategy and Development for Vanguard's institutional business join me on the podcast. During our conversation we hit on why she thinks its important for employers to embrace courageous plan design and how it will help both the company and your employees! We also chat about overcoming inertia with retirement savers, there was talking of how to eat and elephant, quick disclosure no animals were harmed in the recording of this podcast and why it is important to put yourself in your participant's shoes from time to time. Really good stuff! Shannon has also done some great writing on topics that are helpful for employers and I posted a few of her articles on the website at www.401kfridays.com/snw. Check it out! While you are there, be sure to join our email list and subscribe to the podcast if you haven't already. Guest Bio Shannon Nutter-Wiersbitzky heads Participant Strategy and Development for Vanguard's institutional business. In prior roles, she served as head of Institutional Marketing and as head of Market Research and Voice of Client for all U.S. and international businesses. She joined Vanguard in 2007 and has more than 15 years of experience in both consumer and B2B markets, focused on strategic planning, marketing, product development, business consulting, and market research. Additionally, she originated and led the development of My Classroom Economy® (myclassroomeconomy.org), a free program built by Vanguard volunteers for grades K through 12 that teaches children key life skills through experiential learning. Ms. Nutter-Wiersbitzky earned a B.A. from Macalester College and an M.B.A. from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your workplace retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over 100 prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

No matter how you slice it target date funds continue to play a larger role each year in the conversation around workplace retirement plan outcomes. However, some of the decisions that plan sponsors and fiduciaries make on their target date funds are not evolving as quickly as maybe they should. When I discuss with employers how they selected their target date strategy often times I hear answers like, they had the best performance, they were inexpensive or they were the one our provider offered. While these details and others are important in selecting a target date strategy that will match your employee demographics and needs, there is much more that can and should be explored. To help inform that conversation and illustrate how two very successful target date strategies can take very different approaches I happy to welcome back Rich Weiss, the CIO for Multi-Asset Strategies at American Century and Jerome Clark, a Portfolio Manager in the Asset Allocation Group at T. Rowe Price. As portfolio managers of their respective firms target date strategies, there are certain things that both Rich and Jerome agree on but much more that they take very different approaches to or have very different opinions on. Not only was this a ton of fun to have both guys on the podcast, but it illustrates just how important it is to get beyond the numbers when evaluating target date investments and to ensure you understand their process, beliefs and strategies. Guest Bios Jerome Clark is a portfolio manager in the T. Rowe Price Asset Allocation Group and co-manages the firm's Asset Allocation Target Date Strategies and oversees the College Savings Plan portfolios. He is a member of the firm's Asset Allocation Committee and a vice president of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. Mr. Clark has 25 years of investment experience, all of which have been at T. Rowe Price. He joined the firm in 1992 as a quantitative analyst in the Fixed Income Division. He was the portfolio manager of the U.S. Treasury Long-Term Bond Strategy from 1998 through 2003 and began managing asset allocation portfolios in 2001. Prior to joining T. Rowe Price, Mr. Clark was a captain in the United States Marine Corps and spent three years as a mathematics instructor at the U.S. Naval Academy. Mr. Clark earned a B.S. in mathematics from the U.S. Naval Academy, an M.S. in operations research from the Naval Postgraduate School, and an M.B.A. in finance from Johns Hopkins University. He has also earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. ​Richard Weiss is a Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer, Multi-Asset Strategies for American Century Investments. He is the co-portfolio manager for the firm's asset allocation strategies, including Strategic Allocation, Global Allocation and One Choice Portfolios®. He also serves as a member of the firm's Investment Oversight and Asset Allocation Committees, which is responsible for establishing investment policy and reviewing investment decisions for all of our asset allocation products. ​Prior to joining the firm in 2010, Rich was executive vice president and chief investment officer of City National Bank, where he was responsible for their $12 billion investment management group and directed investment policy and strategy. Previously, he was executive vice president and chief investment officer at Sanwa Bank California, where he managed all aspects of their investment department. Earlier in his career, Rich held senior investment positions at Vantage Global Advisors, TSA Capital Management, PaineWebber and Mellon Bank. He has worked in the investment industry since 1984. ​Rich holds a bachelor's degree in finance from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from the University of Chicago. He has authored several academic papers and is well known for his advanced work in the field of global investing. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your workplace retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over 100 prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

This is part two of my conversation with Jerry Schichter, to be clear that means there was a part one which was last week. I would strongly suggest you listen to that one first to gain some perspective on Jerry and the retirement plan litigation he has been responsible for. That said, in this episode we pick up right where we left off last time and finish off the conversation around whether Jerry feels some of the strategies employers and plan fiduciaries use to determine the reasonableness of plan fees are effective. Then we wade into some waters were Jerry uses some pretty clear and strong language to describe a few practices he sees in the market. Right or wrong, his comments will keep you on the edge of your seat. I also give Jerry a chance to address some of his critics, tell us whether he plans to ride off into the sunset in the near future and share a key concept in closing that should provide some comfort to employers. I hope you enjoyed part one, I think this one is even better. Guest Bio Jerry Schlichter, Founding and Managing Partner of Schlichter, Bogard & Denton, pioneered Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) excessive fee litigation and has represented employees and retirees in 20 401(k) excessive fee cases. In recent rankings of the most influential people in the 401(k) industry by 401kwire.com, Schlichter has repeatedly ranked in the top 5. This is in recognition of his accomplishments with numerous nationwide class actions brought on behalf of employees and retirees in large, corporate 401(k) plans, alleging excessive fees and conflicts of interest that reduce employees' and retirees' retirement assets. In 2006, after a year and nine months of investigation into the industry, he and his firm filed his first in a series of cases on behalf of employees and retirees. At that time, no case had ever been brought alleging excessive fees in a 401(k) plan, despite the 401(k) having become America's de facto retirement system, and there being over 500,000 plans in America. In addition, the Department of Labor had never brought a case for excessive fees in a 401(k) plan. Since that time his firm has reached precedent setting settlements in over a dozen cases, on behalf of 401(k) plan employees and retirees representing over 1.5 million workers and retirees. These settlements have not only included monetary recoveries for the workers and retirees, but each has also included provisions going forward to reform the plans and to ensure that fees will be reasonable in the future. Schlichter and his firm have been referred to by federal judges as "preeminent "in the field of 401(k) fee litigation; as demonstrating "extraordinary skill and determination"; as making "a significant, national contribution," having "educated plan administrators, the Department of Labor, the courts" about fees and fiduciary obligations; and he has been referred to by federal judges as a "private attorney general," causing fees to come down in the entire 401(k) industry. He has also been referred to as the "Lone Ranger" of 401(k) plans in the NY Times, and the term "Schlichterized" has been used to describe being sued by his firm. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your workplace retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over 100 prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

This episode marks a few milestones on the 401(k) Fridays Podcast, it's the 100th episode, the first episode of 2018 and features part 1 of 2 of my conversation with Jerry Schlichter. For some of our listeners Jerry requires no introduction. If you are not familiar, Jerry and his firm Schlichter Bogard & Denton have been the driving force behind many of the headline grabbing 401(k) lawsuits over the past decade. As you will hear, his firm has successfully garnered multi-million dollar settlements, argued a 401(k) case in front of the US Supreme Court and has recently filed several more lawsuits against some very prominent universities. In part 1 of our conversation we discuss the origins of 401(k) litigation against employers, the "bet the farm" decision he made with his firm, why they turn down certain cases, why some cases succeed and others don't, an important beacon for plan fiduciaries to follow and much more. What clearly comes through is that Jerry has a tremendous passion for retirement plan participants, he is very knowledgable about how retirement plans work and has strong opinions on what employers should and should not do if they don't want to run into him or his firm in the future! Guest Bio Jerry Schlichter, Founding and Managing Partner of Schlichter, Bogard & Denton, pioneered Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) excessive fee litigation and has represented employees and retirees in 20 401(k) excessive fee cases. In recent rankings of the most influential people in the 401(k) industry by 401kwire.com, Schlichter has repeatedly ranked in the top 5. This is in recognition of his accomplishments with numerous nationwide class actions brought on behalf of employees and retirees in large, corporate 401(k) plans, alleging excessive fees and conflicts of interest that reduce employees' and retirees' retirement assets. In 2006, after a year and nine months of investigation into the industry, he and his firm filed his first in a series of cases on behalf of employees and retirees. At that time, no case had ever been brought alleging excessive fees in a 401(k) plan, despite the 401(k) having become America's de facto retirement system, and there being over 500,000 plans in America. In addition, the Department of Labor had never brought a case for excessive fees in a 401(k) plan. Since that time his firm has reached precedent setting settlements in over a dozen cases, on behalf of 401(k) plan employees and retirees representing over 1.5 million workers and retirees. These settlements have not only included monetary recoveries for the workers and retirees, but each has also included provisions going forward to reform the plans and to ensure that fees will be reasonable in the future. Schlichter and his firm have been referred to by federal judges as "preeminent "in the field of 401(k) fee litigation; as demonstrating "extraordinary skill and determination"; as making "a significant, national contribution," having "educated plan administrators, the Department of Labor, the courts" about fees and fiduciary obligations; and he has been referred to by federal judges as a "private attorney general," causing fees to come down in the entire 401(k) industry. He has also been referred to as the "Lone Ranger" of 401(k) plans in the NY Times, and the term "Schlichterized" has been used to describe being sued by his firm. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your workplace retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over 100 prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

No interview with a retirement industry expert today. This episode shares my top ten highlights and themes from nearly 100 conversations on the podcast! Be sure to check out our first two episodes of 2018 which are my two part conversation with Jerry Schlichter, the plaintiffs attorney driving much of the 401(k) and other retirement plan litigation against employers! Part 1 will be posted on Friday, January 5th and Part 2 on Friday, January 12th. Don't forget that if you have been enjoying the podcast please mention it to a friend, share on social media or leave a review on iTunes or your favorite podcast app. All of that goes a long way to helping grow our audience, attract high quality guests and keep sharing high quality timely content. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your workplace retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over ninety prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

Every now and then its a little fun to go off the beaten path of 401(k) plan topics and explore something related, but different. In the past, we have done that with international retirement benefits, the importance of company culture and on this episode we delve into health benefits programs. For this episode, our last full episode of 2017, my guest Ed Fensholt, an ERISA Attorney and Senior Vice President and Director of Compliance Services with Lockton Benefits Group keeps things interesting and entertaining as we explore his list of the five important heath plan trends for 2018. What really jumped out to me was that so much of what we talked about had direct parallels or overlapped many of the retirement plan topics we have explored on the podcast. I'm not going to steal any of Ed's thunder and give away his list, but what I will tell you is don't miss the last point. Guest Bio Ed Fensholt is a Senior Vice President and Director of the Compliance Services national practice at Lockon. Our team of attorneys supplies our clients and the Lockton associates who serve them with a broad range of compliance-related support for employee benefits issues arising under ERISA, HIPAA, COBRA, the Internal Revenue Code and other select federal and state statutes and regulations, including the Affordable Care Act. Employers face significant challenges under the health reform legislation and its regulatory coattails. Our practice helps clients understand the impact to their benefits programs and get ahead of significant changes and requirements. Our work in this regard includes detailed analysis, alerts, blog postings, webcasts, seminars and a wide variety of ACA-related tools, checklists, grids, etc. Ed is a frequent lecturer inside and outside the organization and a published author on employee benefits matters. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your workplace retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over ninety prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

If you are curious, concerned or confused about what's going on with interest rates and how it might impact the bond/fixed income market or some of the investments in you 401(k) investment menu, I have great news for you! My conversation with Brett Wander, the Chief Investment Officer for Fixed Income at Charles Schwab and Jake Gilliam, a senior Mutli-Asset Class Strategist also with Charles Schwab clears a lot of things up! Brett shares some great economic insights and Jake does an excellent job tying those concepts to how they might impact various investment strategies. If you're thinking, this is going to be really confusing or it might be over your head, stop right there because as usual, we take what can be a complex or maybe what some would call a boring topic and break it down into easy to understand pieces with some great ideas and questions you can bring back to your next investment committee meeting. Be sure to listen for some key observations about the overall direction of interest rates, how that may or may not impact your fixed income options, some key questions to ask about the bond exposures in your target date fund and what a yield trap is and how plan fiduciaries could unknowingly already be in one! I will have to say, despite this being a little bit of a longer episode there isn't anything i would remove and i have already listened to this several times and have come away with new insights each time. Guest Bios Brett Wander is Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer of Fixed Income for Charles Schwab Investment Management, Inc. (CSIM). He is responsible for all aspects of the firm's fixed income and money market portfolios, leading a team of more than 20 investment professionals. With more than 25 years of investment management experience, Mr. Wander has been intimately involved in the design, development and oversight of a wide range of active, indexed and alternative fixed income strategies. His expertise spans a wide range of global and domestic markets and sectors. Prior to joining CSIM in June 2011, Mr. Wander was senior managing director at State Street Global Advisors, where he managed and directed the firm's $30 billion active fixed-income enterprise. He also held senior fixed-income leadership positions at Loomis Sayles, State Street Research and Payden & Rygel. In those roles, he designed investment processes, developed risk management methodologies, managed investment teams, and consistently generated strong investment performance track records. Jake Gilliam is a Senior Multi-Asset Class Portfolio Strategist for Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. supporting Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.'s (CSIM) Asset Allocation and Sub-Advisor Oversight Committees. He contributes to strategic decisions for all multi-asset class portfolios as well as several single asset-class portfolios within CSIM and for the Schwab Bank Collective Trust Funds. He works closely with the Chief Investment Officers, Portfolio Managers, Research, and Sub-Advisor Oversight teams on a frequent basis. Mr. Gilliam also represents CSIM's multi-asset class strategies to the institutional marketplace, clients, and the media. Previously, he was the day-to-day Senior Portfolio Manager for Schwab Bank's Collective Trust Funds and Head of Sub-Advisor oversight for CSIM. Additionally, Mr. Gilliam served as interim Head of Asset Allocation and Portfolio Manager for CSIM's Multi-Asset Class funds. Mr. Gilliam also developed the Schwab Corporate and Retirement Services Institutional Investment Analyst team and oversaw the due diligence process for maintaining the Schwab Focus List™. Earlier in his career, he also worked as a sell-side Equity Research Associate covering the food retail and restaurant industries. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your workplace retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over ninety prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

When you take a new job or start with a new company, generally there is a job description, clear roles & responsibilities, a training program or on boarding process to help you get your feet underneath you in your new role. However, when employers create a retirement plan committee many of the people they tap to be members, and thus plan fiduciaries, have never been a fiduciary to a workplace retirement plan and aren't really sure what that means and receive no training. If this sounds at all familiar, my guest today, Don Trone, is the Co-founder & CEO of 3Ethos should be a breath of fresh air! Over his career he has trained over 10,000 fiduciaries, has been called the "Father of Fiduciaries" and has testified before the U.S. Senate on fiduciary issues, and much more. During our conversation, Don shares his experience, good and bad, on what he has learned over the years to help retirement plan fiduciaries embrace their roles & responsibilities in a way that empowers them to make better decisions, protect themselves form liability and have a positive impact of their retirement plan and participants. As an aside, its not every day that you hear fiduciary and goat rodeo used in the same sentence, that was a new one on me, but it made sense! Guest Bio Don Trone is the CEO and co-founder of 3ethos. Don was the founding CEO of fi360 and the AIF and AIFA designation; founder and President of the Foundation for Fiduciary Studies; and the first person to direct the Institute for Leadership at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. Over the past three decades, Don has trained more than 10,000 financial advisors and trustees on the subject of procedural prudence. In 2015 he was named by Investment Advisor magazine as the "Father of Fiduciary" and one of the 35 most influential people in the financial services industry. In 2003, he was appointed by the U.S. Secretary of Labor to represent the investment counseling industry on the ERISA Advisory Council, and in 2007 he testified before the U.S. Senate Finance Committee on the fiduciary issues associated with the management of retirement plans. He is the author or co-author of twelve books on the subject of fiduciary responsibility, portfolio management, and leadership. Don is a graduate of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and is the president of his class. He served for ten years on active duty, most notably as a long-range search and rescue helicopter pilot. He has a Master's from The American College and has completed post-graduate studies in theology from the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and Trinity Episcopal Seminary. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your workplace retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over ninety prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

Financial Wellness, while a very hot topic, is not yet mainstream. One reason could be there has not been a clear value proposition for the employer to invest the time and/or the money to roll it out. Today, my conversation with Lynn Pettus, the National Leader for Ernst & Young's Employee Financial Services Practice sheds some light on that topic. Our conversation begins with exploring what financial wellness is or isn't, how employers are measuring the impact of financial stress in the workplace and what can be done to help employees. Also, Lynn talks about her biggest competition (its not who you think it is), discusses the value of speaking to peers who have embraced financial wellness and ways you can either dip your toe in the water and just offer gold stars to engaged employees or go "all in" with a fully integrated health, financial and emotional wellness strategy. Lynn references and shared some of the work Ernst & Young has done on financial wellness which we have posted on the website at www.401kfridays.com/pettus if you want to check it out. While you're there, don't forget to subscribe to our email list so you don't miss any valuable updates on new episodes and other valuable information! Guest Bio Lynn Pettus is a tax partner located in Charlotte, North Carolina. She serves as the National Director for the Employee Financial Services practice and relationship partner for the Southeast and Southwest areas. Her time is concentrated on serving large private and public sector employers in the strategic development of financial education and counseling programs focused on employee benefit plans. Ms. Pettus also helps coordinate Human Capital resources, firm-wide, to assist in serving area clients in the most efficient and effective manner possible. Ms. Pettus has spoken at The Conference Board's Pensions & Retirement Conferences and has presented at The Wharton School, Boettner Center for Pensions and Retirement Research. She is co-author of articles for Benefits Quarterly, the Society for Human Resource Management and the Pension Research Council. Ms. Pettus has spoken in numerous other forums and has been quoted in the general media (e.g., New York Times, Wall Street Journal), and trade publications (e.g., Employee Benefit News, Employee Benefit Advisor, National Health & Underwriter), as well as other media. As a graduate of Converse College in South Carolina, Ms. Pettus holds a bachelor's degree in accounting. She is a Certified Public Accountant, Personal Financial Specialist (AICPA Designation), Certified Investment Management Analyst, and Registered Investment Advisor. Additionally, she is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the North Carolina Association of Certified Public Accountants, the Investment Management Consultants Association, and the National Association of Securities Dealers (Series 65 Examination). Ms. Pettus actively supports women's initiatives through her involvement with Ernst & Young's Inclusiveness Advisory Council, National Tax Inclusiveness Steering Committee, Professional Women's Network and through her community work with the Junior League of Charlotte. She has served on the boards of local charitable organizations including Carolina Voices and the Carolina Raptor Center. Ms. Pettus has also acted as Ernst & Young's coordinator for the Arts & Science Council Fund Drive and supports the United Way. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your workplace retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over ninety prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

Nine years into a bull market, that generally gets people talking about bubbles. Today, I am excited to have Rob Arnott, Chairman of Research Affiliates join me for a second round on the podcast! Why have him back you might ask, well Rob and his firm manage nearly $200 Billion dollars and over the years have made some bold statements, pioneered several unconventional strategies and challenged conventional wisdom to search for solutions that add value for investors. As you will hear, Rob is not shy to share his thoughts on the current state of the financial markets, address a bubble he sees developing in the market and provide some different perspectives, sometimes very different on some popular investment trends. If you are listening and think this one might not be for you, I would encourage you to give Rob a chance before moving on. In addition to his unconventional thinking, I love that he can take some complex topics in the market and make them easy to understand, regardless of your level of investment or financial acumen. Guest Bio Mr. Arnott is the founder and chairman of Research Affiliates, a subadvisor to PIMCO. In 2002, he established Research Affiliates as a research-intensive asset management firm that focuses on innovative asset allocation and alternative indexation products. He previously served as chairman of First Quadrant, as president of TSA Capital Management (now part of Analytic Investors), and as vice president at The Boston Company. He also was global equity strategist at Salomon Brothers. He has published more than 100 articles in journals such as the Journal of Portfolio Management, the Harvard Business Review and the Financial Analysts Journal, where he also served as editor in chief from 2002 through 2006. He graduated summa cum laude from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1977 in economics, applied mathematics and computer science. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your workplace retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over eighty five prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

The idea of changing workplace retirement plan recordkeepers, or going through a "conversion" in retirement plan lingo, can be a daunting and stressful proposition if you are not familiar with the process. If it has been a little while since you changed recordkeepers or if you just never had the pleasure, my conversation today with Tom Dennis, Director and Head of Defined Contribution Implementation Services for John Hancock should be helpful. We tackle head on some of the most common concerns and misperceptions such as the need to make a change on January 1st, how long blackout periods last, what happens to your employees' money during a conversion and much more! We will also leave you with several strategies to help you take the mystery and stress out of the process so that your upcoming or next record keeping change can dare I say, be as close to seamless as possible! Guest Bio Tom Dennis is Director, Defined Contribution Implementation for John Hancock Retirement Plan Services (JHRPS), a position he held with New York Life Retirement Plan Services, which merged with JHRPS in April 2015. In this role, he is responsible for the oversight, guidance, and support of a team of Project Managers implementing plans onto JHRPS's mid and large market recordkeeping platform. With 28 years in the retirement industry, Tom provides overall accountability for the successful implementation of new defined contribution qualified and non-qualified plans, and corporate action activity. Prior to joining the JHRPS, he most recently worked as Associate Managing Director of Retirement Research for LIMRA Secure Retirement Institute. Prior to LIMRA, Tom spent 11 years at Fidelity Investments leading large market Implementation and Client Service teams. Tom received a B.A. in Economics from the University of Connecticut, and an M.B.A. from the University of Hartford. Outside of work, he enjoys golf, and is the former President of the Tolland (CT) Soccer Club. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your workplace retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over eighty five prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

While I've been in the retirement plan business for over twenty years now, one thing I had never found was an easy to read book that an employer or someone new to the business could pick up and finish in one or two sittings and get their arms around where our retirement plan system has been, where it is today and some ideas on where it is headed in the future. My guest today Bob Reynolds, the President and CEO of both Putnam Investment and Great-West Financial must have shared my frustration and taken it upon himself to fill the void! During our conversation, we explore mostly his thoughts on how our retirement system is doing today and some recommendations for employers he highlights in his new book, From Here to Security: How Workplace Retirement Plans Can Keep America's Promise. As you will hear, while our system is not perfect it is a strong and healthy but needs the ongoing leadership of employers to improve retirement plan coverage within the workforce and to help employees who already have access to retirement plans advance farther down the path towards a successfully replacing their income in retirement. I won't steal Bob's thunder, but don't you worry, we leave you with plenty of great ideas and strategies you can bring to your next retirement plan committee meeting. Guest Bio Robert L. Reynolds is President and Chief Executive Officer of both Putnam Investments and Great-West Financial, which is one of the nation's top providers of retirement savings products and services through its Empower Retirement division. Long respected as an industry statesman, Mr. Reynolds has been a driving force of innovation and progress in institutional and retail financial services. Prior to joining Putnam in 2008, Mr. Reynolds was Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer of Fidelity Investments. Mr. Reynolds' accomplishments have earned multiple industry honors over time. He was named Fund Leader of the Year at the Mutual Fund Industry Awards in 2010 for the strategic improvements he initiated at Putnam. The following year, Putnam, under the leadership of Mr. Reynolds, was honored as Retirement Leader of the Year for initiatives and innovative solutions in the workplace savings arena. Mr. Reynolds has also received a Lifetime Achievement Award from PLANSPONSOR magazine for popularizing employer sponsored 401(k) plans. Mr. Reynolds currently serves on several not-for-profit boards, including those of West Virginia University Foundation, Concord Museum, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association Foundation. He is Chairman of the Boston Advisory Board of the American Ireland Fund, a member of the Massachusetts General Hospital President's Council, and a member of the Chief Executives Club of Boston and the Council on Competitiveness. Mr. Reynolds earned a B.S. in Business Administration, Finance, from West Virginia University, where he also received an Honorary Doctorate in Business Administration and a Distinguished Alumni Award. In addition, Mr. Reynolds is a recipient of the Boston College President's Medal of Excellence and the Manhattan College De La Salle Medal. He lives in Concord, Massachusetts. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your workplace retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over eighty five prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

Are workplace retirement plans vulnerable to cyber threats? When it comes to cyber threats & workplace retirement plans, what questions should employers be asking their retirement service providers to better understand their security policies? I address these questions and much more with Lee Harms, Business Information Security Officer for the Principal Financial Group. Guest Bio Lee Harms is the Business Information Security Officer for the five businesses that make up Retirement and Income Solutions (RIS). As a BISO he is responsible for the integration of the enterprise information security program within his business unit(s). Key responsibilities include 3rd party oversight, secure software development, data protection, customer and regulatory requests and incident response. ​Lee's career with Principal began in 1983 and has included roles leading Enterprise Architecture, application development, Actuarial liaison and Client Administration. Those roles include Business exposure to individual insurance and retirement business units as well as corporate Information Services. Lee is a member of the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC) and The Society of Professional Asset-Managers and Recordkeepers (SPARK) Data Security Advisory Board. Lee graduated from Iowa State University with a Bachelors of Business Administration in Management. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your workplace retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over eighty five prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

Sometimes employers will comment, we don't hear to much about the 401(k) from our employees, well that's not because your employees don't have questions, it's likely because they are going elsewhere to get their answers! To help uncover what 401(k) participants are doing outside the watchful eyes of their employers, is my guest Catherine Golladay, the Senior Vice President of Participant Services and Administration at Charles Schwab. During our conversation, we explore how 401(k) participants are engaging with call centers, onsite education teams and advice offerings. Catherine does a great job pulling from her experience to share specific stories and examples for employers to help leverage what she has learned with her participant services teams. Finally, be sure to listen for her perspectives on the importance of merging plan design, technology and people as the key ingredients to improve plan health and participant retirement outcomes. Guest Bio Catherine Golladay is senior vice president of participant services and administration and has been with Charles Schwab since 1996. Ms. Golladay is responsible for plan administration, participant service centers and support teams, third party advice services, and education presenters within Schwab Retirement Plan Services. Previously, Ms. Golladay was vice president of participant programs in Charles Schwab's Corporate & Retirement Services business, where she was responsible for overseeing third party advice and education teams. Ms. Golladay has been serving retirement plan clients since 1990 and has held management positions in compliance, client services, communication consulting, and participant service centers. Prior to joining Charles Schwab, Ms. Golladay was vice president of ERISA compliance at Key Bank. Before that she served as a Certified Public Accountant at S.R. Snodgrass and Co., LPA. She is a Certified Public Accountant and a qualified 401(k) administrator (QKA). She also holds FINRA Series 7, 9/10, 24, 63, and 66 registrations. Ms. Golladay earned a bachelor of science in accounting from the University of Akron. She also has a master of business administration from the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your workplace retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over eighty prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

To Roth or not to Roth, that is the question. With the option to make Roth contributions now offered in well over 50% of workplace retirement plans by most surveys, it is great to see more acceptance of Roth but there are still a lot employers who are either not making it available, or who might offer it but don't recognize the full scope of benefits it offers their employees. To help inform the conversation I was excited to have Katherine Roy, Managing Director and Chief Retirement Strategist and Head of Individual Retirement for J.P. Morgan Funds join me! We kick things off clarifying a few misperceptions about Roth, then we delve into few features of Roth that don't get a lot of attention for both lower and higher paid employees and then we close the proverbial door with some thoughts on the "Backdoor Roth 401(k)". And under the banner of I would rather be lucky than good, with the current push for tax reform and the talk of the "Rothification" of 401(k) plans, our timing could be better and we get some great insight from Katherine there as well. Guest Bio Katherine Roy, managing director, is Chief Retirement Strategist and Head of Individual Retirement for J.P. Morgan Funds. In this role, Katherine is responsible for delivering timely personal retirement-related insights to financial advisors. Focused on the retirement income-related landscape for more than 10 years, Katherine specializes in identifying themes, strategies and solutions that can help advisors successfully partner with individuals in the transition and distribution life stages. Katherine is consistently ranked as a top speaker at major industry and firm-specific conferences and events. She also has been interviewed and quoted in the financial press on a variety of key retirement planning topics. Prior to joining the firm, Katherine was Head of Personal Retirement Planning & Advice at Merrill Lynch where she led strategy and innovation in retirement income solutions for individuals, and the retirement planning, advice and guidance programs available to integrated benefits plan participants. She also held several roles in financial planning product development, participant communications and consulting, and interactive client experience initiatives. Katherine received a B.A. from Yale University and is a Certified Financial Planner®. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your workplace retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over eighty prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

An offer to outsource or delegate your fiduciary responsibility for your workplace retirement plan can be pretty tempting! When you think about all the rules, tasks, processes, approvals and for that matter the time that you could save if you didn't have to do all that work, it might sound really good! However, before you sign on the dotted line, my conversation with J.D. Carlson and Chad Johansen, TPAs with Plan Design Consultants and half of the infamous Retireholi(ks) could be really helpful to gauge what you are signing up for. We start with some best practices and things to know before outsourcing various administrative functions to an ERISA 3(16) fiduciary. As you will hear, if someone flashes their fancy 3(16) fiduciary badge, it can mean a lot of different things. We also share few thoughts on how some of these concepts either do or don't relate to hiring an ERISA 3(38) investment fiduciary, another way to delegate. And, we had a first on the podcast, I assigned homework. With both of my parents now retired teachers, I guess it was just a matter of time. It involved magic, a staircase and somehow someway it should be really helpful to employers considering delegating various fiduciary responsibilities to a 3(16) fiduciary. You definitely will have to listen to get any perspective on what I just said. To get your very own copy, be sure to go to 401kfridays.com and subscribe to our email list. We will shoot it out once Chad is done with it. Guest Bio We're Plan Design Consultants, Inc. a retirement company that since 1975 has been providing businesses with affordable, quality plans customized to meet the specific needs of our clients. Over four decades in the business has given PDC the experiences we need to evolve our service model to what it is today. A smart, easy process centered on the needs of our clients. A service model designed to be AWESOME! It is our deep understanding of all areas of retirement plans combined with a constant commitment to customer service that sets us apart. We share our expertise with our clients to make sure they are comfortable and confident in making decisions around maintaining a successful Employer sponsored plan. As an independent company, client advocacy is a major strength of our firm. We partner with Financial Advisors to offer our clients a very healthy choice in vendors. A strong understanding of fees and services allows PDC to help clients find the perfect fit. Thousands of retirement plan clients from all over the country have relied on PDC to assist them in offering the right plan to help their employees reach retirement goals. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your workplace retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over eighty prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

As the most recent bull market continues to mature, some retirement plan sponsors are either exploring or being encouraged to explore ways add diversification to their workplace retirement plan investment menus. Incorporating exposure to Real Estate or REITS, has been one of the more popular strategies to add some variety to traditional stock and bond offerings. While the REITs are offered in 31% of plans up from 27% five years ago according to Vanguard's How America Saves reports, personally I would not consider them widely available in workplace retirement plans. Whether you already have a REIT offering or are considering adding one, my conversation today with Jake Aronson, a CFA and Portfolio Manager with Principal Portfolio Strategies should shed some light on this anything but straightforward topic. Like we always do, we start with defining terms, address some common misperceptions and offer input for retirement plan fiduciaries to help frame decisions. Hopefully, our conversation will help you get familiar with REITs to help you determine if it is an appropriate way to add diversity to your investment menu at your next retirement committee meeting. Guest Bio Jake is a Portfolio Manager for Principal Portfolio Strategies, a specialized boutique that engages in the creation of asset allocation solutions. In this role, he is responsible for conducting research, assessing risk, and making relative value recommendations relating to specific aspects of the Dynamic Outcome strategies. Jake is a member of the Investment Oversight and Risk Committee and has over 22 years of industry experience. Before joining Principal®, he was a Managing Director with Miles Capital, a boutique institutional asset manager. Prior to joining Miles Capital, Jake served in various capacities with Principal Global Investors and Principal Real Estate Investors. While at Principal®, he has worked with both retail and institutional strategies and clients. Prior to joining Principal®, Jake worked as a Credit/Business Analyst with various firms as well as a Bank Examiner with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Jake has earned the right to use the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation and has passed the CPA exam. He has also earned the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst designation. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your workplace retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over eighty prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

Excited to welcome back Peter Dunn, a.k.a. Pete the Planner to the podcast! Our conversation was definitely one of the more entertaining ones that I have had on the podcast in recent memory. This episode was inspired by a few recent discussions I had with workplace retirement plan sponsors who were wondering why their employees couldn't just go talk to their broker/advisor/wealth manager to get help planning for their retirement. Why did they as the employer have to get in the middle of it. Without stealing too much of Pete's thunder, the real issue comes down the issue of access to the financial services market, much of which is determined by how much money someone has. Great stuff with some concrete takeaways to bring with you to your next retirement plan committee meeting! Guest Bio Peter Dunn a.k.a. Pete the Planner® is an award-winning comedian and an award-winning financial mind. He's a USA TODAY columnist and the author of ten books, six of which were featured in a nationwide launch at Barnes & Nobles stores in January of 2015. He is the host of the popular radio show The Pete the Planner Show on 93 WIBC FM and is a columnist for the Indy Star. Pete has appeared regularly on CNN Headline News, Fox News, Fox Business as well as numerous nationally syndicated radio programs. In 2012, Cision named Pete the fourth most influential financial broadcaster in the nation. Pete lives in Carmel, Indiana with his wife and two young children. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your workplace retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over eighty prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

2017 started off with the winds of change blowing through Washington DC and to date has been nothing short of interesting and unexpected with the Trump administration at the helm for over seven months. Back in January, I discussed with Bob Holcomb, the head of legal and regulatory affairs at Empower Retirement some of the anticipated changes to workplace retirement plans that seemed imminent. In this episode, I revisit some of these topics with Sam Henson, Director of Legislative & Regulatory Affairs at Lockton Retirement Services to see well, what has or hasn't actually happened! We cover a lot of ground with topics such as tax reform and how it could affect the 401(k) industry, recent developments with state plans, why the DOL fiduciary rule is a "unique animal". With 2018 quickly approaching we hope this episode provides helpful insight on what to keep an eye on for the remainder of 2017 and going forward. Guest Bio As a Senior Vice President and Director of Legislative and Regulatory Affairs for Lockton Retirement Services, Sam oversees national IRS/DOL/ERISA compliance services for all clients and more than 100 associates nationwide. Sam serves as a subject matter expert on ERISA compliance, DOL/IRS activities, and the legislative landscape. Prior to joining Lockton, Sam spent almost 10 years with the U.S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration, where as a Senior Investigator, he conducted more than 100 complex civil and criminal investigations of employee benefits plans, service providers, and fiduciaries. Sam also supervised enforcement efforts for benefit plans funded by prevailing wage laws under the Service Contract Act and Davis-Bacon Act. Sam currently serves on the Policy Board of Directors for the American Benefits Council, Board of Directors for DCIIA, and the Governing Council of ISCEBS, as well as being a member of ASPPA. Sam has been a nationally featured speaker and writer on numerous fiduciary topics. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your workplace retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over eighty prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

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 auditing well over 100 retirements plan each year 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 small, independent practice dedicated to the audit of retirement plans. This fledgling practice was merged with a local CPA firm in 2006. Over the next seven years, the practice grew substantially. In 2007, the practice performed he formed Pension Assurance. As of early 2016, John and his firm audit over 170 retirement plans. According to the recent Department of Labor study, this puts them in the top 2% of firms that audit retirement plans. This also gives them great perspective on what is happening in the marketplace. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your workplace retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over eighty prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

On previous episodes of the podcast we've heard from ERISA attorneys, consultants and various other specialists sharing their thoughts on how employers can mitigate their fiduciary risk. Now, I am proud to share that the experiences of a 401(k) expert witness is no longer unchartered territory for us! My guest, Jim Scheinberg, the Managing Partner and Founder of North Pier Fiduciary Management joins me for this action packed episode. We kick things off addressing what role a 401(k) expert witness actually plays during a lawsuit. Then we quickly begin to stress test some fiduciary messages you might have heard such as "Your process is your protection", then we delve into whether having the right fiduciary mindset is relevant and while retirement plan fiduciaries are not expected to predict the future, could having some foresight be important to your fiduciary process. Hopefully you will find our conversation offers some unique and timely perspectives on these and a few other important trends in 401(k) or ERISA litigation that you can bring with you to your next retirement plan committee meeting! Guest Bio Jim Scheinberg began his career in venture capital in 1990 moving to general securities with Smith Barney Harris Upham in 1992. He joined Oppenheimer & Co., Inc. in 1994 as an Associate in the Oppenheimer Consulting Group, the firm's institutional investment management consulting department, where he worked trusts, endowments, foundations and trustee-directed ERISA plans. In 2001, Jim founded what would become the Corporate Services Group of Oppenheimer Co., Inc. (CSG), where he eventually held the position of Director and Senior Vice President. CSG was an industry pioneer in providing conflict free, fee-only investment consulting and fiduciary advocacy for institutional, ERISA plan sponsors. In 2008, Jim completed a lift-out of CSG and founded North Pier Fiduciary Management LLC., with offices in Los Angeles and Silicon Valley. His tenure in the industry has also included experience in hedging and monetization, corporate executive services, and corporate cash management. Born and raised in the North Suburbs of Chicago, Jim came to Southern California in 1987 to pursue his B.A. in Political Science at University of California, Los Angeles. He achieved the Certified Investment Management Analyst (CIMA®) designation in 2001 from The Investment Management Consultants Association (IMCA®) in conjunction with the Wharton School of Business of the University of Pennsylvania. He has also earned the Accredited Investment FiduciaryTM (AIF®) and Accredited Investment Fiduciary AnalystTM (AIFA®) designations, awarded by the Center for Fiduciary Studies, of the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business of the University of Pittsburgh. Jim is currently a member of the Board of Visitors of the UCLA Political Science Department and sits on the William Sharpe Fellows Selection Committee of the UCLA Department of Economics. He is a regularly quoted resource to journalists and speaker at industry conferences. Jim is often engaged as a consulting expert for the U.S. Department of Labor and as an expert witness for ERISA litigation. He is an avid supporter or children's charities and serves as a Court Appointed Special Advocate for foster children in the Los Angeles County Children's Court system. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your workplace retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over eighty prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

More and more frequently when I see a news piece or industry article about 401(k) or workplace retirement plans, a key element is invariably fees. Going one step further they also tend to highlight the advantages of low cost index or passively managed investments. Based on my conversations with investment committees and retirement plan fiduciaries, there seems to be a few common reasons for the recent increased popularity in index funds: the industry focus on fees, investment performance of passively managed strategies and 401(k) litigation. To comment on my observations and provide a few of her own on the whole active and passive conversation I am excited to have Sue Walton, a Senior Defined Contribution Strategist with American Funds join me on the podcast. We also address a few other important elements in the active passive conversation that don't tend to get a lot of press, but are vitally important to consider. Hopefully there are a few nuggets you can take back to your next 401(k) committee meeting! Guest Bio Sue Walton is a senior defined contribution strategist at American Funds, part of Capital Group. She has 19 years of industry experience and has been with Capital Group for one year. Prior to joining Capital, Sue was a director at Towers Watson Investment Services. Before that, she was an investment consultant at Mercer Investment Consulting and Ellwood Associates. She holds an MBA from DePaul University with a concentration in finance and a bachelor's degree in business administration, economics and international business from Marquette University. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your workplace retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over seventy-five prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

Its episodes like these that were one of my primary motivations for starting the podcast, examining current beliefs or messaging in the marketplace and applying contemporary critical thinking to examine if they are still valid and reliable for both employers and employees in workplace retirement plans. If you sponsor a 401(k) or other workplace retirement plans you have likely been given some off the cuff guidance on how much your employees should be saving for retirement, what is an adequate amount of income someone should be able to replace in retirement, what returns should people expect from their retirement savings and likely many others. To help stress test these and other topics, I have David Blanchett, Head of Retirement Research at Morningstar to explore things! He did such a great job so I'm not gong to steal his thunder; but I will say some things you have likely heard hold up, and others simply don't. While we tackle some meaty topics, I was incredibly impressed with David's ability to break all this down in an easy to digest manner, but also tie back why this is important for both employers and employees to get their arms around to improve retirement outcomes. Guest Bio David Blanchett, PhD, CFA, CFP® is head of retirement research for Morningstar Investment Management LLC. In this role, he works to enhance the group's consulting and investment services and conducts research primarily in the areas of financial planning, tax planning, annuities, and retirement. His research has been published in a variety of industry and academic journals and received a number of awards, most recently the Journal of Financial Planning's 2014 and 2015 Montgomery-Warschauer Award and the Financial Analysts Journal's 2015 Graham and Dodd Scroll Award. He is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and is regularly quoted in the national media. He holds a master's degree in financial services from the American College, a master's degree in business administration from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and a doctorate in personal financial planning program from Texas Tech University. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your workplace retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over seventy-five prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

Think for a minute about how much effort you and your retirement service partners have put into encouraging more employees to save and invest properly in your workplace retirement plan. Now, turn the conversation around. How much time and energy have you spent thinking about ways to help employees understand how to use their retirement savings to replace their income when they leave the workforce? To help shed some light on the whole retirement income conversation I'm excited to have Jody Strakosch of Strakosch Retirement Strategies where she brings investment and retirement solutions to the defined contribution market for asset management firms. Prior to starting her own firm, Jody worked for MetLife where she became a recognized defined contribution and institutional retirement income subject matter expert. She was the key architect of several significant market-first products, supported public policy initiatives, and represented MetLife with the media, at conferences and in industry groups. During our conversation we discuss what options employers have available to them, tackle some of the concerns around introducing a retirement income option in your retirement plan and whether or not retirement income strategies will become the next big plan design trend or a lightning rod for fiduciary liability. Oh, and Jody introduces me to a new word, "automaticity" be sure to listen for that. Finally, if you like a little enthusiasm and passion, Jody definitely brought to our conversation! Guest Bio Jody Strakosch founded Strakosch Retirement Strategies, LLC to bring investment and retirement solutions to the defined contribution market for asset management firms. Jody offers in-depth retirement market expertise, product development and strategic positioning to align with today's challenges for investment management and service providers seeking to enhance their profiles in the defined contribution / defined benefit marketplace. Consulting assignments have ranged from helping investment managers design innovative retirement income solution programs for defined contribution plans, writing public policy and market landscape papers, serving as program manager for an industry- led coalition to increase American's savings, speaking engagements at client conferences, researching specific target-date fund market opportunities, and strategic initiative development. Jody is an active member of DCIIA (Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association), on the Advisory Council of WISER (Women's Institute for Secure Retirement), and a member of the Advisory Board for Institutional Investor's Journal of Retirement. Jody worked for MetLife where she became a recognized defined contribution and institutional retirement income subject matter expert. She was the key architect of several significant market-first products, supported public policy initiatives, and represented MetLife with the media, at conferences and in industry groups. Jody holds the Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Wellesley College and the Master of Arts in Gerontology from the Davis School of Gerontology at the University of Southern California. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your workplace retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over seventy-five prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

When we get the question of "What is the best strategy for me to save for retirement" and it comes for an entrepreneur, the answer is seldom as simple as it might seem. So, where and how do you start? We thought it would be helpful to cover a few key concepts and then follow the progression of an entrepreneur along their journey from a "solopreneur" with an idea or inspiration for a business to experiencing some success, hiring employees, scaling and eventually selling the business and weave in along the way how different retirement plan strategies could potentially support their personal and business goals along the way. While I know some in our audience are not necessarily entrepreneurs, however I bet you know someone who is or maybe you might be one down the road! Be sure to share with your friends, colleagues or social networks that might have entrepreneurs, sole proprietors or business owners who could benefit! They can easily find the podcast on iTunes, their favorite podcast app by searching 401(k) Fridays or on the web at 401kfridays.com/Shelton. ​ Finally, This episode came about because of several questions from our listeners and some recent industry conversations I was a part of. If you have questions or a topic that you think could make for a great future episode, please shoot us an email to [email protected]. Guest Bio Patrick is the Managing Member of Benefit Plans Plus and has more than 25 years of retirement plan industry experience in banking/trust, insurance, and third party administrative environments. He is responsible for innovating and executing the firm's business plan. Additionally, he specializes in financial advisor relations, including 401k sales prospecting presentations, vendor searches, and fiduciary consulting. Patrick's reputation as a nationally recognized industry thought leader has allowed him to give back through various platforms in the media, speaking at industry events, and participating on various panelist presentations. Additionally, Patrick serves on the American Funds, Transamerica, and Lincoln TPA leadership roundtables. He is also a board member and past President of the National Institute of Pension Administrators (NIPA). Patrick was the first recipient of Brown Smith Wallace's prestigious Founder's Award, which recognizes top employees for excellence in leadership and contribu on to firm growth since 2003. A graduate of Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, Patrick holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business/Committee Plan. He has also earned the Group Benefits Associate (GBA) designation from the International Foundation of Employee Benefits Plans Certified Employee Benefit Specialist (CEBS) program. Patrick also holds a Life and Health Insurance License in the state of Missouri and is a member of the Financial Planning Association. As a youth, Patrick had two separate basketball coaches that were former NBA players, and he also played college basketball. Patrick is also a fan of fantasy/ SIFI. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your workplace retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over seventy-five prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Target Date Funds (TDFs) have grown exponentially within the last few years. As a retirement plan fiduciary, it's important to understand not only what a TDF is but how to evaluate them and ensure the strategy you have chosen or might be considering is a good fit for your plan. During my conversation with Jeff we provide some core concepts such as glide path construction, too vs. through retirement and open vs. closed architecture design to see if they are still relevant. We also hit hot topics such as if the active vs. index investing conversation impacts TDFs, the ever popular topic of investment fees and the perils of looking the performance of TDFs in a vacuum. Finally, we provide retirement plan committee members and plan fiduciaries several important questions to consider at your next retirement committee or plan review meeting. Guest Bio Jeff Holt, CFA, is an associate director on Morningstar's manager research team. He focuses primarily on multiasset strategies from asset managers including Fidelity, BlackRock, and Principal. Before joining Morningstar in 2014, Holt spent nearly nine years at Jeffrey Slocum & Associates, where he was responsible for investment research to support the firm's defined contribution practice. He covered target-date funds, stable value funds, and other asset classes specific to defined contribution clients. Holt holds a bachelor's degree in management, with a concentration in corporate finance, from Brigham Young University. He also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your workplace retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over seventy prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

We turned the tables for the 75th episode of the 401(k) Friday's Podcast. Whether you are a regular listener or new to the 401(k) Fridays Podcast, this should give you some good context as you listen to additional episodes. We discuss the inspiration behind the podcast, the process for creating weekly content, how we identify topics and guests, a few philosophies and what we have planned for future episodes. We hope you enjoy the 75th episode of the 401(k) Fridays Podcast! Guest Bio Rick is a partner and executive committee member of Lockton's Retirement Consulting practice. In his role, he works with the retirement committees of middle market companies who offer workplace retirement plans to enhance their fiduciary protection, streamline plan operations and improve employee retirement outcomes. Rick also created and hosts a weekly podcast "401(k) Fridays" which features audio interviews with retirement industry professionals covering relevant industry trends, topics and current events. Rick grew up an Air Force brat, moved thirteen times as a kid and has lived in Maine, Monterrey, Moscow and several other places that don't start with the letter "M". After Rick graduated from the University of Virginia he spent a few years in New York City then found his way to California where he met his wife Courtney. They have been married for over 15 years and live in Hermosa Beach with three amazing children Kaylee (14), McKenzie (12) and Sean (7). When Rick is not working, podcasting or coaching one of his kids in soccer, basketball or baseball he plays on an adult men's soccer team, tries to improve his golf handicap or drives his kids to and from their various activities! Rick is also an active Board Member at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles and currently serves as the Chair of the Finance Committee, member of the Executive Committee and Treasurer. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your workplace retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over seventy prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

This is a replay of my conversation with Nicholas Dobelbower, Vice President and Practice Leader of Lockton's Global Benefits Practice. Just a preview of things to come, your 401(k), it doesn't work outside the U.S.! So, let's go for a trip around the globe to discuss the topics, trends and concepts employers who have employees outside the US should be aware of. Whether you have newly acquired international employees or you have been deeply involved with global retirement benefits, or you are just curious what goes on in other countries, this is an incredibility valuable episode. We touch on considerations for employers who are looking to harmonize retirement benefits levels on a global basis, things to know before making any changes to non-US retirement benefits programs and plenty of examples to help you along the way! Guest Bio Nick is the Practice Leader for Intellectual Capital in Lockton's Global Benefits Practice. He is responsible for developing and maintaining comprehensive global benefits resources, including compliance, statutory requirements, market practice, and benchmarking. He ensures that Lockton's global consultants effectively leverage the firm's data and information resources to address the needs of their multinational clients. He manages a team of research consultants who work with Lockton global offices to develop statutory and market practice information on employee benefits provisions around the world. Nick also works directly with multinational clients to develop, implement, and support international employee benefits strategies, including local employee benefits, business travel and expatriate programs, regional plan consolidation, and multinational pooling and captives.​ Nick brings to Lockton a well-rounded professional and academic background. His professional experience includes extensive international consulting and research work with multinational clients and establishing and managing affiliate relationships. He has presented at numerous professional conferences and contributed to leading industry publications on international benefits topics. His academic experience includes faculty positions and French and Francophone studies at Macalester College, Bucknell University, and Duke University. ​Nick is fluent in French and proficient in Spanish and Italian. He also has experience in web and graphic design. In his down time, he participates in charity bicycle races and marathons. ​Professional Designations and Affiliations ™ Diploma in International Employee Benefits (DipIEB) ™ Certified Employee Benefits Specialist (CEBS) ™ Global Professional in Human Resources (GPHR) ™ Certificate in Global Benefits Management (IFEBP) ™ Certificate in International Benefits (IBIS Academy) ™ Life, Accident, and Health Insurance License 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over seventy prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

In our fast-paced world and ever evolving global financial markets, keeping your 401(k) investment menu consistent with the times can be challenging. As the conversation swings to investments with a focus outside the US, the conversation can get complex and downright confusing! With that in mind, Mike Quinn, Senior Client Portfolio Manager at OppenheimerFunds joins me this week to discuss the current state of the global markets, some pros and cons of international investing and his thoughts on whether workplace retirement plans here in the US have developed a home country bias over the years. Additionally, we tackle what a global vs. international fund is, some basics on on currency hedging and its potential impact on mutual fund returns and whether the reputation international investing has been tagged with as "high risk" is deserved! Guest Bio Mike Quinn serves as Senior Client Portfolio Manager for the Global Equity Team for OppenheimerFunds. In this capacity, Mike is responsible for articulating the investment philosophy, process, strategy and performance of the team. Mike has worked with the Global Equity team since 2004 in a variety of public facing roles, including as investment strategist and product director. He began his career at Van Kampen Investments in Chicago (now Invesco) in 1992. There, he worked in a variety of roles in investment-focused marketing and sales. Mike earned his B.S. from the University of Dayton. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over seventy prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

Employers and Retirement Plan Fiduciaries have the difficult task of selecting retirement plan advisors. The names and titles alone can be incredibly confusing! Of the 100,000 practicing advisors, 3,000 are active in the retirement market and may be considered "DC Specialists" as my guest Robin Green, SVP & Head of Data & Analytics at Ann Schleck & Company | Fi360 would call them. She breaks down DC specialists into three sub-categories: The Broker, the Cowboy, and the Consultant. Additionally, we discuss: Three types of fiduciaries and what it means when an advisor claims 3(21), 3(38), and participant level fiduciary status. Three important questions to ask your current advisor in light of the new DOL rule. Weighing the difference between cost and value, and How model portfolios, retirement solutions, fees and expertise should be considered while benchmarking and selecting advisory services. Episode Guest Robin Green is Senior Vice President and head of Data & Analytics at Ann Schleck & Co., an Fi360 company. She is responsible for the proprietary databases that track on DC Specialist advisor practice management, fee, service and overall business trends. She is responsible for the Fee Almanac®, Fee Benchmarker®, IRA Fee Evaluator and the FI360 Fiduciary Score. Robin specializes in developing useful patterns, ideas and insights based on data and more than 20 years of retirement industry experience. She is a research board member at DCIIA and a frequent speaker at industry conferences. Robin has a BA from Concordia University where she graduated Summa Cum Laude. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over seventy prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

When I ask employers if they have the information they need on the soon to launch state run retirement plans, I get reactions that range from "What state plans?" to "Great, sounds like another scheme to fix the mess with their pension plans!" These and other responses I have gotten haven't given me a lot of confidence that information, much less accurate information, is filtering down to employers about these programs. With Oregon launching OregonSaves on July 1st, 2017 and many others likely to follow, I thought it might be a good time to revisit the topic! I was excited to have Katie Selenski, the first Executive Director of California Secure Choice, the new state sponsored retirement plan for private sector workers in California join me on the 401(k) Fridays Podcast! During our conversation, we start with the basics of why California and other states are launching retirement plans, then move onto some recent developments on the federal level and how states plan to digest them and give Katie an opportunity to address some of the questions, misperceptions and concerns surrounding the California plan. If you have employees in California, you should definitely check this out. If you don't, well, there are over thirty other states that are in the process of launching retirement plans so much of what we talk about will likely apply! Guest Bio In April 2017, Katie Selenski was appointed by California State Treasurer John Chiang to serve as the first Executive Director of the pioneering California Secure Choice Retirement Savings Investment Board, which governs the Secure Choice Program. The program will provide a path to retirement security for the seven million Californians who currently lack access to a retirement savings account via their employer, by allowing workers a simple, low cost way to save their own money and participate in professionally managed investments. Prior to taking the helm at Secure Choice, Ms. Selenski was the State Policy Director for public pension policy at The Pew Charitable Trusts in Washington, D.C., where she managed Pew's efforts to help fiscally distressed states and cities undertake data-driven pension system improvements. Previously, she was a senior manager with the nonpartisan public sector consulting firm Harvey M. Rose Associates, based in San Francisco, where she advised policymakers on a wide array of budget, management, and policy matters, including pensions. Previously, she worked as a municipal bond rating analyst, a legislative fellow in the California Assembly, and the director of an historic statewide nonpartisan youth voter turnout initiative. Ms. Selenski has previously served on the boards of multiple nonprofit organizations. She is a graduate of the University of Chicago and the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over seventy prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

I'll have to admit, when I first heard of Don Barden and the "Perfect Plan" I was pretty skeptical. What does "perfect" mean? Who gets to judge "perfect"? My analytical mind was going crazy. However, as I became more familiar with Don and the concepts and elements he believes in, I felt it definitely made sense to bring him onto the podcast. My hope is that you will take away a few kernels of knowledge to help you rethink what retirement means along some motivation and inspiration! Guest Bio Don Barden is a classically trained economist who earned his M.B.A. in Global Technology Management and International Business with an undergraduate B.B.A. in Economics and Finance. He is ABD in doctoral studies with a Ph.D. in Finance. He resides in Atlanta Georgia and is fluent in international business affairs. Don's work challenges and motivates people to think deeply about their beliefs, and reveals a plan to consistently achieve maximum communication and sales. His "unfair advantage" theories are revolutionary in today's economy as he leads you on a journey that exposes the myth of modern sales and communication techniques. He awakens your creative energy, and identifies the path to cultural change. Expertly mixing humor, academic capital, and time-tested systems, Don engages audiences through his highly personal and interactive speaking style. Don has the unique ability to break down toxic barriers and build an irresistible and motivated force of empowered team talent. As an author, speaker, advisor and corporate executive, Don Barden's counsel is highly sought after by some of the world's most successful businesses. His experience and record-setting sales success have drawn him to corporate and political leaders who want to tap into his real-world experience in order to move their organization to higher levels of sales and cultural achievement. Don personally averages over $1 billion in annual sales. He is highly noted for his ability to see "three sides" to every coin. He also serves as the past Board President for The Summit Counseling Center in Atlanta, Georgia, a unique multidisciplinary, multispecialty personal and family counseling center that provides over 8,000 hours of counseling each year. Additionally, he is a leading advisor to several private schools, businesses and faith based organizations. Don is also a passionate supporter of the US Military, especially the 1st Ranger Battalion out of Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Ga., and is a Special Advisor to the Sua Sponte Foundation. RLTW! 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over seventy prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

Debt impacts your employees ability to save for retirement, pursue other financial goals, their productivity and physical health! You might be surprised to hear that based on Fidelity research, there are multiple generations and income levels that struggle with debt which might reframe some of your prior perceptions. Probably most important though, Meghan shares a few ideas for employers who want to explore helping their employees manage, pay down and avoid future challenges with debt. Guest Bio Meghan Murphy is a Director on Fidelity's Workplace Investing Thought Leadership team and is responsible for the development and delivery of data driven points of view on retirement savings and financial wellness trends. This work is leveraged by employers and their employees, advisors, policy makers and the media. Additionally, she is a media representative in the retirement space, helping to bring data based stories to life for the general public. Meghan has been with Fidelity since 2000 and has served in various leadership positions across the organization. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over sixty prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

You ever go into a meeting thinking you are going to talk about one thing, but you pretty quickly realize that the person you are meeting with is going above and beyond your expectations? Well, that was my experience with this episode! My guest, George Castineiras brings a unique perspective to the 401(k) Fridays Podcast as he combines his background running the retirement practice for a large record keeper with his recent experience as an investor in multiple FinTech companies! As I was sketching out this episode in my head, I figured we would talk about Robo Advice and how that is impacts both employers and employees in workplace retirement plans. That likely would have been interesting, timely and impactful, but as you will hear, George had bigger ideas! He took my robo advice premise and added in machine learning, artificial intelligence and other current and emerging technology trends employers should be aware of that will influence the workplace retirement plan market! Guest Bio Widely recognized as an industry leader and innovator, Mr. Castineiras was Named "Top 100 Most Influential People in the Retirement Industry" and one of the "Top 25 Hispanic Executives" by respected industry publications, was Founder and CEO of 4 innovative companies and Chairman of the Board of Directors of 3 businesses affiliated with Prudential Financial, and holds 3 patents and 16 trademarks. George is currently on a research sabbatical focused on the operating velocity and consequences of established, young, and nascent companies in banking, insurance, and retirement. Prior to his sabbatical he was the Managing Director of Gibraltar Ventures, the innovation lab and venture capital group of Prudential Financial, which is focused on exploring emerging business models, investing in ideas, and developing unique solutions for meeting unaddressed client needs. Under his guidance, Gibraltar made strategic investments in nine organizations and continually sourced deals and performed due diligence on new opportunities that meet the needs of Prudential's customers. Prior to his recent position, George, as Senior Vice President, was selected to architect and lead the turnaround of Prudential's underperforming Total Retirement Solutions business unit with $180 billion of assets under administration and more than 6000 institutional clients nationwide. Providing strategy, tactical execution, and cross-functional leadership, he was successful in driving sales growth from $2.7 billion to $7.18 billion (2011 – 2014), reduced operating expenses by $45 million annually, raised profit margins above industry averages, improved client retention, and positioned the unit to achieve $10 billion in sales in 2015. Earlier successes with Prudential included the origination and building of the Stable Value Investment Only business from zero to $50 billion in 4 years post the 2008 market correction and leading an innovation team that launched the first defined contribution in-plan income solution, the most successful solution of its kind in the U.S., which positioned Prudential as a thought leader and innovator in the industry. Prior to his outstanding 14-year career with Prudential Financial, he was Vice President and National Sales Director for Metropolitan Insurance, where he established leadership positions in three market segments and directed a national sales organization that consistently surpassed organizational revenue goals. Mr. Castineiras is currently serving on the Board of Advisors of Pallantius, a start-up data-driven management consulting firm with talent from Harvard, MIT, and Stanford, and previously served as Chairman of the Boards of Directors of MullinTBG Insurance Agency Services LLC, MullinTBG Advisor Services LLC, and Global Portfolio Strategies, Inc. from 2011 through 2014. He earned his MBA at the MIT Sloan School of Business and BA in Finance and Economics at Loyola Marymount University. Today, George resides in Farmington, Connecticut, with his wife of 21 years, Meg, and their three children. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over sixty prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

Over the years, and certainly recently there has been a lot of focus on the Department of Labor and their role in overseeing workplace retirement plans. What some might not realize or fully appreciate is the role if the Internal Revenue Service, better known as the IRS in overseeing retirement plans. To help employers get their arms around things I was excited to have Susan Mehlman, a Director in the National Tax Group and the Compensation and Benefits Practice Leader at Moss Adams join me on the podcast! During our conversation we highlight the different focusses of the IRS and the DOL in policing workplace retirement plans, how employers end up in the crosshairs of the IRS and some tips and strategies to help minimize the risk of an IRS audit or investigation. This week also marks a first on the podcast as we also re-released one of our very first podcast episodes which focussed on the role of the DOL. I thought this might make a natural follow-up from my conversation with Susan. While that episode was recorded early in 2016, the content is just as relevant today as it was last year. As an added bonus, don't miss the last twelve minutes of the podcast where we do have a fresh update on what to expect from the DOL now that we have a new Secretary of Labor, the status of the Fiduciary Rule and other helpful information for employers who sponsor workplace retirement plans! Once you finish this episode on the IRS, be sure to check out the one on the DOL! Guest Bio Susan leads the Compensation and Benefits Practice for Moss Adams and has provided qualified and nonqualified plan design and consulting services since 1987. She delivers a wide range of tax solutions, including health and welfare plan tax consulting, to both public and privately held businesses. Susan has managed services to plans of all sizes from newly formed, small, single-employer plans to large employer plans with over 70,000 participants and assets in excess of $2 billion. She works directly with clients on tax compliance issues including responding to IRS and DOL audit inquiries and coordinates closely with various industry groups and employee benefit plan auditors within the firm. Her responsibilities include managing the client relationship through all aspects of plan design and implementation, assisting plan sponsors in setting objectives, and monitoring the success of these strategies. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over sixty prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!