Fred's Blog

Explore Fred’s latest insights on fiduciary responsibility, ERISA developments, retirement policy, regulatory guidance, and the evolving landscape of financial and retirement services.

DOL

Alternative Assets (5)—DOL Proposal and the Fiduciary  Safe Harbor

In my last post in this series– Alternative Assets (4), I discussed the provision in the DOL’s proposed regulation on the Selection of Designated Investment Alternatives for participant-directed plans (2026-06178.pdf) that requires that “all relevant factors” be considered in the process of making a prudent investment decision. Later in the

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DOL

Alternative Assets (3)—DOL Proposal and Selection of Plan Investment Menu

In my first post in this series, Alternative Assets (1), I said that a surprise in the DOL’s proposed regulation on selecting investments for participant-directed plans (2026-06178.pdf) was that it went beyond the alternative assets mentioned in last August’s Executive Order and instead applied to all investments in participant-directed plans—both

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DOL

Alternative Assets (1)—the Executive Order and Proposed Regulation

The Employee Benefit Security Administration (EBSA) of the US Department of Labor (DOL) has issued a proposed regulation on the selection of investments for participant-directed plans, such as 401(k) plans. 2026-06178.pdf The Beginning: An Executive Order The proposal is the direct result of an August 7, 2025 White House Executive

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401(k)

The Last Rodeo

Last year, I asked ChatGPT to write lyrics for a country and western song about retirement . . . about the uncertainty of moving into a new phase of life. It wrote these lyrics about a cowboy who had a 401(k) plan.  While we don’t often think of cowboys having

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