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President Trump with his Executive Order on Retirement plans expanded the horizons of better retirement to many people who before had no chance to retire comfortably and securely. It helps to close the gap between many employees working for small companies which do not have the ability to set up an internal retirement plan for their workforce. The mechanics of this new process allow a group of small firms to participate in the Multiple Employer Plan (MEP) to offer the opportunity for employees to save portions of the paycheck on their retirement accounts. Also, “MEPs have a structural advantage over other forms of retirement programs—they allow employers to be relieved...

Daniel Satchkov

06 Dec 2018

Overcoming Digital Marketing Barriers as a Financial Advisor

According to a recent article from financial-planning.com, financial advisors are falling behind in the digital era of marketing. The key issues where advisors need to improve are original content and overall engagement on digital platforms. The article goes on to suggest several solutions to the issues at hand: First of all, in order to achieve their goals, advisors need to focus on finding what it is they are doing wrong. Weeding out flaws and mistakes in a one’s marketing strategy will set the tone for a successful approach. The article mentions key issues such as requesting personal information online and marketing into a black hole. In regards to personal information,...

Daniel Satchkov

06 Dec 2018

How to Find and Use the Fee Benchmark Feature of 401kFiduciaryOptimizer

401kFiduciaryOptimizer has a hidden tool providing information on average advisory fee based on the plan assets and zip code of the plan the advisor is working on. It’s called Fee Benchmark and it can be found at the very bottom of the Edit Plan section: It shows the fees breakdown for different advisors parsed from their recent statements, the source can be viewed, criteria can be changed: Overall percentage represents nationwide fees, while the local number is for the fees charged locally. This is just an average number, but can be used for the calculation, to make comparison of two plans (current and proposed) more precise. If you would like...

Daniel Satchkov

05 Dec 2018

Post DOL Fiduciary Rule Regulatory Challenges

The DOL Fiduciary Rule is dead. All we know is that something will replace it, someday. Maybe. As this article from InvestmentNews points out, that leaves advisors in a state of regulatory uncertainty. And given the recent market volatility, the article mentions an important point: that if your IRA Rollover clients experience a suboptimal outcome and second guess their rollover decisions, there could be additional risks to the advisor. Other than avoiding rollovers completely (which really isn’t an option at all), how can advisors conduct business in a state of regulatory ambiguity? Many of our largest clients are treating rollovers as if the rule is still there. When the DOL...

Daniel Satchkov

04 Dec 2018

How Continuous is Continuous? Reasons Quarterly Review is Not Enough After Tibble vs Edison

As a fiduciary to an ERISA plan a few years ago you could have been forgiven to think that you are not responsible for decisions that were made long before you arrived on the scene. But you would be wrong. The Supreme Court ruling in Tibble vs Edison essentially stated that it is not enough for a fiduciary to make a prudent decision to invest in a fund when it is brought into the plan menu. A fiduciary must continuously monitor ‘at regular intervals’ and make decisions with the same vigor as if it was the decision to first admit a fund into the plan. There you have it. Every...