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 […]
What’s Going On?
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 […]
Are you In or Out?
What sense does it make to pay for investment advice that comes from someone who is putting his or her interests before yours? The Department of Labor, through Phyllis Borzi, is fighting to make sure that a loophole allowing conflicted advice to retirement plans is closed. As of last week, an online petition was started […]
Water Cooler Wisdom: Fourth Quarter 2014
Major events at the close of 2014, specifically the fourth quarter of 2014, included: the abnormally low prices of oil; the unique position of the Federal Reserve and the US dollar; US Treasury Rates poised (still) to rise; and American manufacturing ramped up to march on ahead of other world leaders, while an embroiled Europe […]
Sometimes life isn’t fair…for a fiduciary.
Sometimes the law isn’t fair. But sometimes, it seems unfair because you don’t know the rules. In the recent case of Santomenno v. John Hancock, poor understanding led plan sponsors to agree to terms that led to excessive fees charged by the service provider to the plan. Either the plan sponsors were unaware of […]