The Wall Street bullies will not give up without a fight. I have read fee disclosure documents that were 42 pages long. Plan sponsors need to study these documents or hire someone to do it for them. Only then will we know what the actual costs of the plan are. The banks and the other Wall Street bullies have used the 401(k) plan as a cash cow. We now have the tools to stop them.

“The best part of this rule is that the company executives or those responsible for managing 401(k) plan benefits must take the time to understand the flow of money or the economicsof the 401(k) plan,” said Jason Chepenik, managing partner of Orlando-based Chepenik Financial, a planning company that manages 401(k) plans.”It is their fiduciary responsibility to benchmark their plan across other plans of similar size,” he said. “They can no longer get away with the explanation that the owner’s ‘brother-in-law,’ or perhaps their bank, provides the plan. The key is this: It’s not the owners’ money; they have only one responsibility, [and] that is to do what is best for the participants at all times.”

Plan sponsors can no longer rely on their bank or ‘relative’ to take care of their company retirement plan. The DOL is watching.

Please comment or call to discuss how this affects you and your company 401(k) plan.