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| Retirement Articles and White Papers |
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401(k) Bundled Service Provider Request for Proposal
Bridgebay was engaged by the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP) to lead a national taskforce of retirement plan experts and treasury professionals to develop a comprehensive prototype 401(k) bundled service provider request for proposal. This RFP assists plan sponsors in fulfilling their fiduciary duty to select and monitor their service plan providers through a prudent due diligence process.
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Building a Viable Retirement Committee
Building a retirement investment committee takes significant planning on the part of the plan sponsor. An investment committee is responsible for the structured review and analysis of a retirement plan and the investment options offered to employees.
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Stable-Value Funds
Stable-value funds have played an integral role in employer retirement plans and have evolved, growing in complexity and structure. Despite issuer downgrades and constraints on wrap capacity, demand for stablevalue funds continues to be strong as participants seek safety from the volatility of equity markets. This article examines the unique characteristics of stable-value funds and identifies the benefits and potential downsides of this investment strategy.
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Selecting and Monitoring Fiduciary Advisors
Effective December 27, 2011, the Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) issued its final rule regarding the provision of investment advice to participants in individual account plans, such as 401(k) and 403(b) plans, and beneficiaries of individual retirement accounts.
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Simple Steps to Being a Stellar Plan Sponsor
Based on our experience in working with pension and retirement plans and meeting with providers and plan sponsors, we have seen there is frequently a difference between the requirements of the law and the steps needed to keep your plan in top shape.
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Automatic Enrollment & Default Funds for Defined Contribution Plans
Enticing new employees to enroll in the 401(k) plan and diversify their investments from the money market fund or stable value fund has always been a challenge for plan sponsors. Finally employers now have regulatory help in their endeavor to increase enrollment and participant levels.
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Fund Performance
is Just the Beginning
Many treasury professionals sit on
their employer's 401(k) Retirement
Plan Committee and share the
responsibility of monitoring and
reviewing their plan's investments. As a member of
the Committee and a fiduciary, it is
also important for you to have a
disciplined understanding of your
advisor's due diligence and evaluation
process for recommending
investment funds for your retirement
plan.
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On Being a Fiduciary: Minimizing Risk
Under ERISA, an individual or firm becomes a fiduciary by performing investment tasks and accepting the responsibility that comes with performing those tasks. A thorough understanding of how to properly perform these duties using prudent tactics appropriate to managing and minimizing risk is essential to a fiduciary.
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Fiduciary Benchmarks
ERISA imposes high standards upon fiduciaries responsible for
managing the operations of retirement plans – the courts refer to those duties as “the highest known to law.”
Although they may be broken down into a number of subparts, these duties are, in substance: (i) the duty of
loyalty to the participants and beneficiaries; (ii) the exclusive purpose requirement; and (iii) the prudent man
rule.
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Payment Of Plan Expenses Is A Fiduciary Decision
The decision to pay expenses from the
assets of a plan is a fiduciary decision subject to the fiduciary rules of ERISA.
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Combining Automated Services
When automated services are used in combination, they can have a cumulative effect.
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Benchmarking Your 401(k) Plan
The benchmarking process is not just a cost analysis; it involves identifying best practices, limiting fiduciary liability, setting improvement targets, measuring progress, comparing the plan with other companies' in the industry, and most impor- tantly limiting fiduciary liability to the plan sponsor.
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Identifying the Hidden Costs in Your 401(k) Plan
By conducting a comprehensive cost analysis of your 401(k) plan in relation to comparable plans, you may be rewarded with substantial cost savings. If your plan was implemented or last modified over three years ago, competitive market pressures should enable you to benefit handsomely from a cost audit of your plan.
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Defined Contribution / 401(k) Fee Study
Inside the Structure of Defined Contribution / 401(k) Plan Fees: A Study Assessing the Mechanics of What Drives the 'All-In' Fee
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Investment Policy Statements – A White Paper from the Profit Sharing/401k Council of America
ERISA states that plans must “provide a procedure for establishing and carrying out a funding policy in a method consistent with the objectives of the plan.” This has been interpreted to mean that qualified retirement plans, including defined contribution plans, should have established procedures for plan investment-related decision making.
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403(b) Target-Date Fund Survey July 2009
PSCA’s 403(b) Target-Date Survey reflects the current plan practices of 144 not-for-profit organizations that currently sponsor a 403(b) plan. Data in this survey is often categorized by plan size, and in some instances, by industry. Plan size is determined by the number of active participants in the organization’s plan.
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