The DOL Rule and Why Brokers and Insurance Agents Should be Concerned

By Mack Bekeza Are you currently a Registered Representative or an Insurance agent? If so, you will want to keep reading! As you may know, the Department of Labor will have new regulations in effect on April 10, 2017, which will change how Brokers and Insurance agents conduct business with retirement investors. For starters, when […]

Declaration of Independence

“Can you be more specific?” Embarrassing, but true: the retirement industry is asking that of the US government. The definition of a Fiduciary needs to be more specific because of cases where Plan Sponsors are legally charged unreasonable fees for a long time, but the Department of Labor’s interpretation is undesirable to Wall Street. Of […]

Not that Complicated

In any fight, there are two sides waving their arms around. The Financial Services Institute, or FSI, states in response to a recent White House memo that changing the way the delicate fiduciary system is run will ruin everything. The Financial Services Institute, or FSI, is in opposition to redefining the Fiduciary Standard as it […]

Risk Management: Employee Retirement Plans

Castle Rock jumps through hoops to be among the best investment advisors. Not every investment advisor goes through the same rigorous training because these hoops are not legally required. We do not think that making best practices a legal requirement will diminish our status as one of the best firms around, but we do think […]

Retirement Security with Simplicity and Ease

While “Retirement Security with Simplicity and Ease,” is Castle Rock Investment Company’s tagline. nothing is actually easy or simple about figuring out retirement plans. To give an example, we are in the trenches this week – up to our ears in work. Our team works tirelessly because we care about our clients’ employees’retirement accounts that […]

It’s Time for Nondiscrimination Testing!

Happy New Year from Castle Rock Investment Company! The New Year means many tasks for your to-do list, which may include passing the Actual Deferral Percentage (ADP) test. If you fail the test, it means that your company’s highly compensated employees, or those who made more than $110,000 in 2010 or own five percent of […]

How to Hire Your Plan’s Auditor

Generally, Federal law requires employee benefit plans with 100 or more participants to have an audit as part of Form 5500.  Selection of your plan’s auditor is one of the most important duties of the plan administrator so the Department of Labor provides guidance to selecting an auditor at http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/publications/selectinganauditor.html. In addition, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) provides a […]