Things I Worry About (8): DOL Investigations and Unsuspecting Plan Sponsors (2)
Key Takeaways The Employee Benefit Security Administration (EBSA) of the US Department of Labor (DOL) recently released its Fact Sheet: EBSA Restores Nearly $1.4 Billion to Employee Benefit Plans, Participants, and Beneficiaries: ebsa-monetary-recoveries.pdf One of the targets of their investigation is “missing participants”. The DOL refers to that program as the “Terminated Vested Participant Benefits […]
Discretionary Management of IRAs: Conflicts and Prohibited Transactions
Key Takeaways Where an investment adviser charges different fees for managing fixed income in a portfolio than for managing equities, and has discretion to determine the allocation between the two in an IRA, the investment adviser has control over its fees, which appears to violate a prohibited transaction provision in the Internal Revenue Code. The […]
Best Interest Standard of Care for Advisors #83: Compliance with PTE 2020-02: Enforcement of the Exemption
The Department of Labor’s “Fiduciary Rule,” PTE 2020-02: The FAQs This series focuses on the DOL’s new fiduciary “rule”, which was effective on February 16. This, and the next several, articles look at the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) issued by the DOL to explain the fiduciary definition and the exemption for conflicts of interest. Key […]