The Department of Labor (DOL) issued a final rule titled “Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder Rights.” The title does not mention Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors in making investment decisions, but ...
At the beginning of this year, we established our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. Our Committee serves as an ...
Offering access to cryptocurrency for retirement plan investors has been a hot topic (as discussed in Multnomah Group’s annual ...
Recently, class action lawsuits were filed against 11 plan sponsors that offer the BlackRock Lifepath Index Target Date Funds. ...
U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) declined at an annualized pace of 0.6% in the second quarter, a slower rate than the 1.6% ...
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The IRS announced 2023 dollar limits on benefits and contributions for qualified retirement plans. Watch our short video ...
Being aware of cybersecurity best practices is an ongoing responsibility and not a point-in-time event; however, periodically ...
Each year, our Technical Services Committee creates a Regulatory Update covering the legislative, regulatory, and litigation ...
I have written on several occasions about some of the primary risks facing the retirement plan industry. Chief among them may be ...
Our Technical Services Committee has released the 2022 Regulatory Update! Our annual Regulatory Update provides an overview of ...
We are very pleased to share with you some exciting news at Multnomah Group! Pacific Retirement Partners, a Pacific ...
I was a relatively early adopter of LinkedIn. I’m not sure when but based on the headshot I’m guessing it has been a minute. I ...
Given the increase in the volume of cases being brought against retirement plan sponsors, we are often asked by our clients (1) ...
We are very proud to share that our retirement plan analyst, Chad Greenwood, completed his Doctorate in Business Administration!
Markets have been unhappy coming out of the recent Jackson Hole Economic Symposium. U.S. equity markets did well coming out of ...
Last week, the Biden Administration announced its student loan forgiveness program. How could this impact retirement plan ...
The IRS recently announced an extension to the deadline for plan document amendments related to 2019’s SECURE Act and 2020’s ...
In a Twitter post recently, I quipped about the state of the retirement plan industry. For many years, mergers and acquisitions ...
U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fell at an annualized pace of 1.6% in the first quarter, a sudden reversal off of the U.S. ...
With the Fed in full battle to break the current inflationary cycle, U.S. Treasury yields have surged over the past six months in ...
On June 14, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee approved the Retirement Improvement and Savings ...
Last week, the Fed increased the Federal Funds rate by 0.75% to 1.75%, the largest increase in the benchmark rate since 1994. The ...
On Monday, the U.S. equity market entered bear territory (a decline of 20%) as concerns continue to grow about the impact of ...
Class action ERISA lawsuits continue to rise, and with the recent Northwestern case and the newly introduced legislation ...
For more than a decade, providers of defined contribution plans have been trying to solve the real challenge of retirement ...
The market continues to be a topic of conversation and questions from our clients, understandably! Taking a look at the market ...
Target date funds (TDFs) are one of four qualified default investment alternatives (QDIA) provided under the 2006 Pension ...
In what is becoming a familiar story, Washington University has agreed to settle the excessive fee lawsuit for $7.5 Million. This ...
Over the last week, the topic of cryptocurrency has been top of mind for us and our plan sponsor clients. We have responded to ...
On April 4, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report, “Defined Contribution Plans: 403(b) Investment ...
U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew in the fourth quarter at an accelerated annualized pace of 6.9%, making 2021 the strongest ...
I am pleased to announce that our firm has established a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. We recently spent several ...
We are excited to share that five of our advisors have been included in the 2022 PLANADVISER Top Retirement Plan Adviser list! ...
Update May 17, 2022 - To watch the recording of our presentation on this topic, click here.
The House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2022 on a 414-5 vote. The Act is ...
We are pleased to share we have been included on the National Association of Plan Advisors’ (NAPA) Top DC Plan Advisor Teams list ...
On March 10, the Department of Labor (DOL) released Compliance Assistance No. 2022-01, which cautions plan fiduciaries to ...
Russia has invaded Urkaine. What does this mean for plan sponsors and their participants? We know the unrest in Ukraine creates a ...
At some point, all good plan fiduciaries are going to make a change in their investment menu. It may be a simple replacement of a ...
All large retirement plans will face challenges related to lost or missing participants. These are individual plan balances where ...
In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court has revived the excessive fee lawsuit Hughes v. Northwestern University by returning ...
U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew at a slower annual pace in the third quarter (2.3%), adversely affected by rising COVID-19 ...
In our first blog of this series focused on a committee's understanding of the importance of continuous growth for their ...
In our first blog of this series focused on a committee's understanding of the importance of continuous growth for their ...
Each time the retirement plan committee meets, does it feel like there is a new rule or legislation your plan is required to ...
This holiday season, we are very grateful for your loyalty, business, and continued support. We offer our heartfelt thanks for ...
For the past 13 years, I have had the great fortune to work alongside Alan Dick here at the Multnomah Group. But I have known him ...
As a consultant, I sometimes hear the collective ‘sigh’ from investment and retirement plan committees when I get to the ...
Two members of the Center for Retirement Research (CRR) at Boston College, Laura D. Quinby and Gal Wettstein, published a brief ...
In the waning moments of 2019 in the “before times,” the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act was ...
Each year, our Technical Services Committee creates a Regulatory Update covering the legislative, regulatory, and litigation ...
The IRS announced 2022 dollar limits on benefits and contributions for qualified retirement plans.
I started my career in retirement plans inauspiciously. I had graduated from the University of Iowa, was engaged to be married to ...
I work on defined contribution plans all day, every day, and I witness firsthand their ability to build wealth for American ...
Each year, our Technical Services Committee creates a Regulatory Update covering the legislative, regulatory, and litigation ...
A few weeks ago, we shared that our consultant and director of vendor services, Hailey McLaughlin, had been nominated for the ...
Last week, the Department of Labor (DOL) proposed a rule to explicitly permit plan fiduciaries to consider environmental social ...
GDP expanded in the second quarter (most recent available) at an annual pace of 6.7% as the economy surpassed its pre-pandemic ...
Each year, our Technical Services Committee creates a Regulatory Update covering the legislative, regulatory, and litigation ...
When discussing retirement plan fees, recordkeeping expenses are usually the primary focus for plan fiduciaries. The reasons for ...
Each year, our Technical Services Committee creates a Regulatory Update covering the legislative, regulatory, and litigation ...
We are pleased to share our Technical Services Committee has released our 2021 Regulatory Update!
Let's recap, so far we've covered our three guiding priciples to investment menu design, what we look for within an investment ...
New York is my favorite city in the country to visit. I fell in love with it as a teenager and have visited dozens of times since ...
Today NAPA announced its 2021 Top Women Advisor nominees, and we are very proud to share that our consultant and director of ...
So far in this series, we've covered our three guiding priciples to investment menu design and what we look for within an ...
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently conducted a study on retirement plan participants’ understanding of the fees ...
Three years ago, the 403(b) excessive fee case of Sacerdote v. New York University was decided in favor of New York University. ...
Over the course of a series of blogs, our investment research team is discussing our investment manager selection process for ...
Over the course of the next several blogs posts, our investment research team will be discussing our investment manager selection ...
ERISA Section 408(b)(2) requires service providers to the plan to provide the plan’s fiduciaries with the information they need ...
On July 16, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced changes to the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS). ...
The U.S. economy grew during the first quarter of 2021 (most recent) at a 6.4% annual pace after contracting at an annualized ...
We are excited to share that Multnomah Group recently welcomed a new team member, Bryson Sadama.
In response to the growing number of questions surrounding Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investments, we've pulled ...
Many plan sponsors delegate the oversight of investments and administration of their retirement plan to a committee within their ...
With more than 50% of adult Americans now fully vaccinated from COVID, the world is slowly reopening. My last trip for business ...
We are excited to share that Multnomah Group recently welcomed a new team member, Becca Dobson.
Another university ERISA lawsuit settles with monetary and non-monetary penalties. Columbia University agreed to a $13 million ...
We often remind clients of the importance of not using past returns to predict an investment manager’s future success. Instead, ...
At Multnomah Group, we celebrate Spring by getting into the weeds on recordkeeping fees. During most of our meetings this ...
Spring is in the air, and for those of us here at Multnomah Group, that means we are in the middle of our annual recordkeeping ...
We are excited to share that Multnomah Group welcomed a new team member last week, Brittanie Abayare.
The Internal Revenue Service maintains the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS) to provide plan sponsors with the ...
As an institutional retirement plan consultant, I spend an enormous amount of time educating myself and staying current on ...
A Pooled Employer Plan (PEP) is a new type of retirement plan that was created by the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement ...
The Department of Labor (DOL) recently provided its first guidance for plan sponsors related to cybersecurity for retirement ...
The U.S. economy expanded in the final quarter of 2020 (the most recent data available) at a 4.3% annual pace. This expansion ...
We are proud to share that David Imhoff, our financial planner, has obtained his CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ certification!
How do your employees enroll in your retirement plan? How do they make investment changes or allocations? If you offer tools to ...
Retirement plan sponsors and fiduciaries should understand the insurance products that are available to protect the plan and its ...
The past decade has seen explosive growth in passive, index investments. This growth has been for good reasons; these funds ...
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report[1] on cybersecurity risks facing defined contribution retirement ...
We are pleased to share we have been included on the National Association of Plan Advisors’ (NAPA) Top DC Plan Advisor Teams list ...
The Department of Labor (DOL) has stated it will not enforce two final rules, “Financial Factors in Selecting Plan Investments” ...
Investment menu construction is a classic responsibility that frequently requires plan sponsors to retain experienced and ...
We are excited to share that we have been recognized as a 2021 Best Places to Work for Financial Advisers as announced ...
Are you a Board Member of an organization that sponsors a retirement plan? If so, are you aware of your fiduciary ...
Your retirement plan audit has been completed, now what? You may think the completion of the audit ends the work to be done, but ...
If a meeting takes place and there are no minutes or formal record, did the meeting really occur? The meeting attendees could of ...
So far in this blog series we have covered the first two phases of a recordkeeping vendor search. Phase 1 (Steps 1 and 2) covered ...
Plan sponsors frequently ask which of their retirement plan’s expenses can be paid with assets of their plan. Under ERISA, ...
Fiduciaries are required by ERISA to monitor service providers to the plan. That includes monitoring for any conflicts of ...
We recently walked you through the first phase of conducting a vendor search. Phase 1 covered the preparation portion of ...
Of the three most common Qualified Default Investment Alternative (QDIA) solutions, (1) balanced fund, (2) target date funds, and ...
As a plan sponsor, do you believe there are unique aspects to your retirement plan, participants, and/or the goals and objectives ...
The U.S. economy grew at a 33.4% annualized rate in the third quarter (most recent available) after GDP plunged 31.4% in the ...
The Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) has released new guidance for locating missing ...
You’ve decided it is time to conduct a full recordkeeping vendor search, and you know it can be a detail-laden, time-intensive ...
As we covered in Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, recordkeeping and administration of retirement plans is multifaceted, and the ...
In late December, the most recent stimulus relief package, The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, was signed into law. This ...
As we kick off the New Year, it’s a good time to be reminded that the waiver of Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) expired on ...
As we approach the end of 2020, we reflect on a year like none that we have seen in recent decades. We know the coronavirus ...
As we covered in Part 1 of this series, recordkeeping and administration of retirement plans is multifaceted, and the proposals ...
We previously covered categories of content that are important to incorporate into a best practice Investment Policy Statement ...
We’re heading into the last category of our blog series focused on what materials a plan sponsor should include in their ...
A recent survey by the Plan Sponsor Council of America focused on the impact the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has had on ...
Recordkeeping and administration of retirement plans is multifaceted, and the proposals for these services reflect that ...
With the plan sponsor requirement to report investment fees and performance at least annually to plan participants through the ...
A target date glidepath reflects how a fund’s mix of investments changes over time. When participants are further away from ...
As we have covered three of the five categories (Legal Plan Documents, Service Provider Contracts & Communications, ...
Each year, our Technical Services Committee creates a Regulatory Update covering the legislative, regulatory, and litigation ...
Earlier this year, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued a proposed rule related to the use of Environmental, Social and ...
Broadly, an investment policy statement (IPS) is intended to outline the rules and policies pertaining to a pool of assets. For ...
In September, we shared with you how excited we were that our consultant and director of vendor services, Hailey McLaughlin, had ...
Each year, our Technical Services Committee creates a Regulatory Update covering the legislative, regulatory, and litigation ...
On October 27, the House Ways & Means Committee introduced the Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2020, a follow up to the ...
The IRS recently announced 2021 dollar limits on benefits and contributions for qualified retirement plans. Many of the limits ...
The coronavirus pandemic has revealed what survey data had reported for years, many Americans lack access to emergency liquidity. ...
Multnomah Group is proud to share that our managing principal, Erik Daley, has been named to the 2020 edition of the Financial ...
The U.S. economy shrank at a 31.4% annualized rate in Q2 (most recent available). This was a historic contraction amid the ...
Each year, our Technical Services Committee creates a Regulatory Update covering the legislative, regulatory, and litigation ...
One of the most important things a retirement plan service provider is responsible for is securing the Personally Identifiable ...
We continue down our path of covering the materials you should include in your fiduciary file with the third category, Fiduciary ...
2020 has brought retirement plans non-stop changes from Washington, D.C. Right before the beginning of the year, the SECURE Act ...
Many Board of Directors establish a Retirement Plan Committee to whom they formally delegate oversight of their organization’s ...
We recently posted an update on the Department of Labor’s (DOL) new safe harbor for electronic plan disclosures. This update ...
We are very proud to share that our consultant and director of vendor services, Hailey McLaughlin, has been included among the ...
In the first blog of our series on what you should include in your fiduciary file, we discussed the legal plan documents you ...
We recently posted a blog covering what you should include in your investment policy statement (IPS). In this follow up blog, we ...
Retirement plans are designed to be long-term programs for participants to accumulate and receive benefits at retirement. As a ...
While industry practice has generally held that an investment policy statement (IPS) is considered a best practice for plan ...
As part of the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act, plan administrators will be required to ...
Schlichter Bogard & Denton LLP, a law firm in St. Louis, continues to identify targets of class action litigation for ...
The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) released its Advance Estimate of U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the three months ...
Plans break operationally from dozens of causes, but without regard to cause, these are the most common failures continually ...
The private pension system has been tremendously successful in providing U.S. employees the ability to save on a tax-preferred ...
The U.S. economy shrank at a 5.0% rate in the first quarter of 2020, the most recent GDP figure available. The decline ...
On June 24, the Department of Labor’s (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) issued a proposed rule for the ...
IRS Notice 2020-51
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released Notice 2020-50 which provides guidance on coronavirus-related distributions (CRDs) ...
I have written extensively on the issues of economics that impact the cost of services, how those costs are allocated, and the ...
The Department of Labor (DOL) recently published its final rule providing a safe harbor to allow retirement plan administrators ...
The concentration level in the Russell 1000® Growth Index (Russell 1000® Growth) has been on the rise as a handful of mega cap ...
Individuals who have suffered a financial impact due to the coronavirus pandemic may consider tapping their retirement savings to ...
Given the COVID-19 pandemic, I’ve had several clients request to cancel their March 31, 2020 investment reviews. Earlier this ...
In response to the coronavirus pandemic, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) Act was signed by the ...
The COVID-19 virus is having an unprecedented impact on employers of all shapes and sizes, and many are having to review employee ...
As Erik Daley wrote last year, we have three committees that govern and drive our consulting activities. These committees are ...
We are very honored to share that we have been recognized as a 2020 Best Places to Work for Financial Advisers as announced ...
Earlier this month, the Trustees of Princeton University settled a class action suit brought by participants in their retirement ...
The U.S. economy came to a halt as the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic caused the sudden and historic shutdown of most aspects of ...
As we work with clients on their retirement plan investment menus, I have increasingly been looking back on our work from 2008 – ...
The CARES Act includes a provision to allow Coronavirus Related Distributions (CRDs) of up to $100,000. This can have a ...
The CARES Act is complicated! Never fear, retirement plan sponsors everywhere are asking the same questions about how the CARES ...
With the current health and economic challenges presented by the coronavirus (COVID-19), organizations may be forced to downsize ...
The CARES Act provides plan sponsors the opportunity to provide access to retirement funds for individuals impacted by the ...
We are both proud and saddened to share our senior consultant Rex Kim is leaving Multnomah Group. He has taken a position as the ...
Yesterday, the Senate passed HR 6201, a House-passed coronavirus (COVID-19) bill focused on establishing funding for Emergency ...
As the impact of the COVID-19 virus continues to become more evident in the U.S., we want you to know what our consulting team at ...
We are pleased to share we have been included on the National Association of Plan Advisors’ (NAPA) Top DC Plan Advisor Teams list ...
In response to concerns about slowing global economic growth resulting from the spread of the coronavirus, the U.S. Federal ...
Too much has now been written and said about the SECURE Act and the fact that it is the “most substantial piece of retirement ...
Morningstar established its ‘style box’ nearly 30 years ago. Since then, the style box has become the primary method for ...
Recent news reports have highlighted an issue that many Americans struggle with, and when looking at the underlying data, it ...
While the SECURE Act has gotten a lot of attention in the retirement plan industry recently, and with good reason, there is ...
The Setting Every Community Up for Retirement (SECURE) Act was signed into law in December 2019. The Act is the most substantive ...
The opening of a new year is always a good opportunity to take stock of where you are and set goals for the New Year. At ...
The U.S. economy continued to muddle through in 2019, slowing from the prior year’s quicker pace. Real GDP grew at an annual rate ...
This past decade of January 2010 to December 2019 provided investors with extraordinary returns, consistently rising, with ...
Last year, I wrote a piece outlining how many retirement plan consulting firms are changing their structure and approach to ...
We are pleased to share that Greg Johnson has joined Multnomah Group as a senior consultant and the director of ERISA technical ...
During this season, we take time to reflect upon the good things we have, like our partnership with you. We appreciate working ...
As Erik Daley wrote last month in a blog post, we have three committees that drive our consulting activities. These committees ...
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) established the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS) to provide retirement plan ...
On Nov. 7, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) issued a ...
Higher education institutions are vibrant workplaces where administrators, faculty, and staff all move toward a common purpose of ...
Recently, the IRS proposed new regulations that would change the calculations used for required minimum distributions (RMDs) for ...
On Aug. 31, 2018, President Trump issued an Executive Order (EO) that focused on key initiatives to improve the retirement ...
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced the cost‑of‑living adjustments affecting pension plans and other ...
Earlier this month, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) launched an investigation into the sales and compensation ...
While the cases against 401(k)s and 403(b)s continue to make their way through the courts, these cases continue to see new legal ...
Every client we work with has established committees that are responsible for providing oversight, governance, and ultimately ...
The Department of Labor (DOL) has announced the release of a new proposed rule for safe harbor for electronic delivery of ...
When anticipating a merger or acquisition, coordinating and analyzing the impact of changes in employee benefits is often the ...
Historically, the retirement plan industry has focused on a single goal: successful retirement plan outcomes. This statement ...
The U.S. economy has steadily slowed in 2019, from 3.0% in the first quarter to 2.0% for the second quarter (most recent ...
Multnomah Group is proud to share that our managing principal, Erik Daley, and our principal, Brian Montanez, have been named to ...
On September 23, the IRS published its final regulations on hardship distributions, which can be found here. This codifies ...
We are pleased and proud to share that our consultant Hailey McLaughlin has earned her Certified Investment Management Analyst ...