Nevin Adams

Are Concerns About Lifetime Income Portability Still Valid?

By Nevin Adams 4/14/2016

A new report claims that while portability is frequently cited as an obstacle to offering a lifetime income product, portability solutions and options are available today but are not well recognized.“In-Plan Guaranteed Lifetime Income: Debunking Portability Myths,” published by the Institutional... READ MORE

Treasury, IRS Pull Back on Cross-Tested Plan Changes

By Nevin Adams 4/14/2016

In a major win for small business retirement plans and the efforts of ARA GAC, the Treasury Department and IRS have decided to withdraw certain provisions of proposed regulations relating to the nondiscrimination rules for cross-tested plans.The provisions, published in January as part of a broader... READ MORE

Study: Eliminating Behavioral Biases Could Boost Retirement Savings

By Nevin Adams 4/8/2016

A new study suggests that if we could overcome certain behavioral tendencies, we could increase retirement savings by at least 12% — and perhaps quite a bit more.In “The Role of Time Preferences and Exponential-Growth Bias in Retirement Savings,” a team of academics examined two specific behavioral... READ MORE

The Choices of a Lifetime

By Nevin Adams 4/8/2016

It was 10 years ago last week — a Saturday morning as I recall. I had just wrapped up my weekly column when I got a call from my sister. My father, at the age of 76, suffered a series of heart attacks. We scrambled to make preparations for the trip home to Chicago, but by the end of the day, he had... READ MORE

Final Fiduciary Reg Relents on Key Education Provision

By Nevin Adams 4/7/2016

A provision in the Department of Labor’s (DOL) 2015 proposed fiduciary rule that would have had a significant impact on participant education has been modified in the final rule issued April 6. The revised provision aligns with recommendations made by the American Retirement Association.In the... READ MORE

It’s Official: DOL Unveils Final Fiduciary Rule

By Nevin Adams 4/6/2016

After a five-month comment period, four days of public hearings, more than 3,000 comment letters, some 300,000 petitions, and more than 100 meetings with stakeholders, nearly a year to the day that the Department of Labor (DOL) unveiled its “Conflicts of Interest” proposal, we have a final... READ MORE

Level Best: Fiduciary Regulation Incorporates ARA’s Level-to-Level Comp Recommendation

By Nevin Adams 4/6/2016

In a big win for the advocacy efforts of the American Retirement Association, the Department of Labor’s (DOL) final fiduciary regulation provides a streamlined exemption for “level-to-level” advisor compensation.In a White House fact sheet released ahead of the final fiduciary regulation, the level... READ MORE

5 Big Ideas from the Retirement Confidence Survey

By Nevin Adams 4/1/2016

A survey as sweeping and long-standing (26 years) as the Retirement Confidence Survey has plenty of insights to draw on — but, boiled down to its essence, these are what I think are the key points.Those with a plan are in much better shape from a savings standpoint than those without one.While this... READ MORE

5 Things You CAN Do After a Market Correction

By Nevin Adams 4/1/2016

By now, you’ve heard — and perhaps dispensed — what appears to be the “common wisdom” about the recent market tumult: “stay the course,” “ride it out,” and my personal favorite, “don’t just do something, stand there.”For all our industry’s long-standing concern about participant inertia, in times... READ MORE

Warren Turns up the Heat on Conflict-of-Interest Rule Critics

By Nevin Adams 4/1/2016

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) is turning up the heat on financial services firms that have opposed the Department of Labor’s (DOL) pending fiduciary regulation.Having expressed concerns a few weeks ago to Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez and Office of Management and Budget Director Shaun Donovan (... READ MORE

Reason ‘Able’

By Nevin Adams 3/25/2016

Having written about the Retirement Confidence Survey for more than half of its 26-year existence, and having had an opportunity to be involved “behind the scenes” of its preparation for three of those, I can pretty well assure you that the resilience in confidence won’t be the focus of most of the... READ MORE

4 Things You Need to Know About Default Funds

By Nevin Adams 3/25/2016

A growing number of retirement plan participants — and retirement plan assets — are being invested in the default option selected for the plan.The existence of default funds isn’t exactly a new phenomenon. Arguably it’s as old as that first participant enrollment form returned without the... READ MORE

Court Says Call Center Communication Didn’t Change Beneficiary Designation

By Nevin Adams 3/21/2016

A recent ruling reminds us of the importance of ensuring that plan beneficiary designations are up to date — and that plans should have a documented procedure for how such changes are to take place.In Becker v. Mays-Williams, 2016 WL 878492 (W.D. Wash. 2016), an employee of Xerox Corporation... READ MORE

Boosting Retirement Confidence

By Nevin Adams 3/18/2016

With increasing regularity, the financial services industry pumps out surveys that purport to capture America’s sense of confidence regarding its readiness for retirement, at least on a financial footing. Mostly, however, they seem to focus on the symptom, rather than dealing with the underlying... READ MORE

Why Doesn’t Every Plan Have Automatic Enrollment?

By Nevin Adams 3/18/2016

For all the good press and positive results that automatic enrollment gets, one might well expect that every plan would embrace it. And yet today, nearly a decade after the passage of the Pension Protection Act, many still don’t.So, why don’t all plans use automatic enrollment — and what can you do... READ MORE

4 Things Before You Get to That RFP…

By Nevin Adams 3/11/2016

Here are some considerations to keep in mind before you undertake a formal request for proposal (RFP).Know What You’re Looking ForA good process will almost inevitably turn up something you hadn’t been looking for, and perhaps hadn’t planned on. That said, too many plans use this as something of a... READ MORE

15 (More) Retirement Plan Points to Ponder

By Nevin Adams 2/26/2016

Working with retirement plans is a complicated, challenging and constantly changing process. That said, there are certain constants — and things that bear repeating and/or reconsidering from time to time.Since I published my first list of 15 last fall (one of my most popular, as it turns out), I’ve... READ MORE

Warren Calls Out Financial Services Firms on Fiduciary Rule Claims

By Nevin Adams 2/12/2016

A couple of powerful congressional voices have taken several financial services firms to task for characterizing the Department of Labor’s (DOL) fiduciary rule proposal as “unworkable” with dire consequences if enacted — while painting a very different picture for their investors.In a letter to... READ MORE

DOL’s Fiduciary Proposal Now at OMB

By Nevin Adams 1/29/2016

Neither rain, nor snow, nor dark of night — could keep the Department of Labor (DOL) from getting the updated conflict-of-interest/fiduciary regulation to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review.That’s right, despite the massive snowstorm that hit the Washington, D.C. area last week,... READ MORE

SCOTUS Weighs in on ERISA Plan Overpayment

By Nevin Adams 1/26/2016

A recent Supreme Court ruling may have implications for retirement plan overpayment recoveries.Now, the payments made in the case of Robert Montanile v. Board of Trustees of the National Elevator Industry Health Benefit Plan, case number 14-723 (U.S. Supreme Court Jan. 20, 2016) weren’t made from a... READ MORE

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