Investment selection and monitoring is an important fiduciary duty, one of the hardest for plan sponsors, and often the subject of retirement plan litigation. Plan sponsors have an array of investments to choose from—different vehicles, different asset classes, different costs. There are questions about which is the best qualified default investment alternative (QDIA) for their plans and whether plan participants understand investments or need help. Then, if there is a wide swing—especially a downturn—in the markets, both plan sponsors and their plan participants need to keep a cool head and think about the long-term. We hope that this edition of PLANSPONSOR Weekend offers some helpful information about retirement plan investing.
According to Jake Tshudy at SEI, “An actuarial valuation approach akin to a defined benefit (DB) plan is the best strategy to determine if a TDF series has the appropriate level of risk based on a plan’s demographics.”Read more >
PLANSPONSOR speaks with John Diehl, senior vice president of strategic markets for Hartford Funds, on the subject of equity market volatility and ways to help ease plan participant concerns amid big price swings.Read more >
According to Cerulli researchers, one of the biggest hurdles in turning environmental, social and governance (ESG) interest into actual investment, both by current users of ESG portfolios and non-users, is the perceived impact on investment performance.Read more >
Attorneys say the requests plan fiduciaries have received ask for a broad amount of information and documentation, and they urge fiduciaries to act on the DOL’s recent guidance.
