Castle Rock Investment Company

Independent Guide, Trusted Partner.

408(b)(2) Regulation Checklist

What’s Going On?

by

Source: Bloomberg
Source: Bloomberg

A fiduciary duty, the obligation to uphold the clients’ interest above all else, is Phyllis Borzi’s long sought and tunneled for goal that we at Castle Rock uphold and agree whole-heartedly with. Together, our standards are the highest in the retirement industry. She says that, like in the movie Groundhog Day, bad policies keep being relived over and over. We want to stop the origin of the problem: the poor incentive structure.

Her aim is to make incentives to advisors as straightforward as possible in retirement plans so that the resulting fees will not surprise retirees and leave them with less than they planned.

When investment advisors do not sign up to be fiduciaries to the plans they advise, it leads to corruption and changes the fee structures of these plans so that the retirees no longer have the same security after 65 (typical retirement age). Liability to the Plan Sponsor also changes, and the integrity of the investment advisor themselves is challenged as well.

One example of how the Plan Sponsors are hung out to dry is the John Hancock case, where unreasonable fees were not seen as criminal because of this legal loophole.

Sign your support for reform here at SaveOurRetirement.com!

 

Michele L. Suriano, Accredited Investment Fiduciary™, is president of Castle Rock Investment Company, a woman-owned SEC registered investment advisory firm serving qualified retirement plans. www.CastleRockInvesting.com

408(b)(2) Regulation Checklist

by

The Department of Labor (“DOL”) published its final regulations under Section 408(b)(2) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) in February 2012, specifying the disclosure requirements of retirement plan service providers (“fee disclosure rules”).  Plan sponsors as “responsible plan fiduciaries” of covered plans must ensure that they receive all of the information that service providers are obligated to furnish by July 1, 2012.

Castle Rock Investment Company has compiled a checklist to help plan sponsors determine if their plan is covered, which service providers are obligated to comply with the fee disclosure rules, and a brief summary of the disclosures plan sponsors should receive.

408(b)(2) Regulation Checklist

If you have questions about the checklist, please contact Michele Suriano at 303-725-7086.

 

 

408(b)(2) Regulation Checklist

by

The Department of Labor (“DOL”) published its final Section 408(b)(2) regulation in February, prescribing the disclosure requirements that are required from retirement plan service providers. Fiduciaries and service providers of covered plans must ensure to abide by the new regulation by July 1, 2012. Now that you have had a chance to review the regulation, expect the disclosures to cross your desk soon.

Castle Rock Investment Company (CRIC) has compiled a checklist to help plan sponsors determine if they are responsible for a covered plan and outline the steps necessary to ensure that fiduciaries have fulfilled their new obligations. You will need to establish a process to keep track of the disclosures as they flood your desk since a summary roadmap is not required yet. Please contact us at 303-725-7086 for a copy of the checklist.

Please plan to attend our workshop on May 10th where we will teach a step-by-step-process for plan sponsors that want to take a hands-on approach in fulfilling their 408(b)(2) obligations. Please be on the lookout for more details on this informative event.

If you have any questions, or need assistance, please feel free to contact me at 303-725-7086.

Best Regards,

Michele L. Suriano, QPFC, TGPC, AIF®
President