Cornerstone Research Experts in Focus: Jules van Binsbergen
NOWOTNY KNOWS SQUAT! Helping Financial Advisors Build a Clientele and Assets Under Management (AUM)!
NOWOTNY KNOWS SQUAT! Helping Financial Advisors Build a Clientele and Asset Under Management (AUM)!
Podcast: Federal Court Rejects Mutual Fund Fee Claims and Recognizes Market Realities
Thomson Reuters Session 2: Investment Management, Hedge Funds and Registered Mutual Funds: What's Happening Now?
Cole-Frieman & Mallon partner/co-founder Bart Mallon Discusses CFTC Regulation 4.5, the Volcker Rule & Other Compliance Issues
A California district court recently denied a motion to dismiss claims that the fiduciaries of a 401(k) plan breached their ERISA fiduciary duties of prudence and loyalty by selecting underperforming, high-cost investments...more
Since late July, at least 10 lawsuits have been filed against large 401(k) plan sponsors that offer certain BlackRock Inc. target-date funds (TDF) among their investment options. In an unexpected pivot away from the 401(k)...more
The Sixth Circuit recently issued a mixed opinion in a 401(k) plan investment litigation. The Court upheld the dismissal of the plaintiffs’ fiduciary-breach claims relating to the investment management fees and performance...more
On Friday, the Ninth Circuit became the first circuit court to rule in a 401(k) plan fee and investment litigation following the Supreme Court’s January 2022 decision in Hughes v. Northwestern University, 142 S. Ct. 737...more
In the first decision since the Supreme Court’s ruling in Hughes v. Northwestern Univ., No. 19-1401, 595 U.S. ___ (U.S. Jan. 24, 2022), a Georgia federal district court held in favor of plaintiffs and declined to dismiss...more
I’m still amazed when I find participant-directed 401(k) plans without a financial advisor. While I understand how solo 401(k) plans don’t have an advisor because individuals think they can do it on their own, it makes no...more
Mutual of Omaha Insurance Co. and its subsidiary United of Omaha has agreed to settle Mutual of Omaha’s 401(k) plan over allegations of self-dealing....more
Fidelity Investments settled a class-action lawsuit regarding its own 401(k) plan for $28.5 million. The class-action case alleged that Fidelity breached its fiduciary responsibility to plan participants by including its...more
The Department of Labor (DOL) released some new guidance that might facilitate the inclusion of private equity (PE) exposure in participant-directed defined contribution (DC) plans ERISA. The guidance contemplates the...more
A settlement has been in a lawsuit accusing fiduciaries of the JPMorgan Chase 401(k) Savings Plan of self-dealing. Records show that a settlement of $9 million will be made to “fully, finally and forever resolve, discharge...more
I am still how often I find participant-directed 401(k) plans without a financial advisor. While I understand how solo 401(k) plans don’t have an advisor because individuals think they can do it on their own. I have a solo...more
Several highly publicized lawsuits were brought against the Fidelity organization in 2019 in connection with Fidelity’s receipt of “infrastructure fees” from mutual fund families and other investment providers made available...more
One of my favorite sayings is that you should never make yourself a target, but when you are a mutual fund company and you use your own proprietary funds as an investment option in your 401(k) plan, you are certainly a target...more
The recent settlement of the Anthem class action lawsuit (Bell v. ATH Holding Company, LLC) reflects some trends in 401(k) litigation: the focus on share classes, arguments to support inclusion of non-mutual fund investments...more
The 9th Circuit upheld the dismissal of a complaint by participants in the Walt Disney Co. 401(k) plan that Disney violated their fiduciary duty by offering the Sequoia Fund, a mutual fund that had plummeted in value....more
On February 21, 2019 attorneys for Andrew Wong, a participant in the T-Mobile USA Inc. 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan & Trust, filed a class action complaint in the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts against FMR LLC,...more
American Century Investments recently won a class-action lawsuit alleging that they profited from their company 401(k) plan at the expense of employees by loading the retirement plan with in-house mutual funds....more
I have always been concerned about the use of proprietary funds, especially belong to mutual fund companies and their use in their own 401(k) plans because they’re ripe to be a target for a class action lawsuit. Fidelity...more
Despite the change in seasons, there appears to be no change in the pace of complex and class action ERISA litigation. Investments in defined contribution plans—both 401(k) and 403(b) plans—continue to be the leading target...more
A federal court ruled that Edison International must pay more than $7.5 million to compensate plan participants for its decision to include high-fee retail share mutual funds in its 401(k) plan when identical institutional...more
Financial institutions that sell mutual funds to the public often maintain 401(k) and other retirement plans for their own employees. In these plans, many financial institutions make their own mutual funds available to...more
A plaintiffs' class action law firm in St. Louis made national headlines last August when it filed a series of breach of fiduciary duty lawsuits under ERISA, the federal employee benefits law, against the fiduciaries of...more
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued the final version of its “fiduciary investment advice” regulation (Final Rule) on April 6, 2016, following a lengthy proposal and re-proposal process. Although the Final Rule reflects...more
The First Circuit joined the Eighth Circuit in finding that Fidelity’s practice of earning overnight “float” interest on the cash paid out to 401(k) participants redeeming shares in mutual funds did not violate ERISA’s duty...more
Some interesting links we found across the web this week: - How The Fiduciary Rule Will Harm Fintech And Startups - The Department of Labor may not be the first federal agency on an early-stage startup founder’s...more