PLANADVISER - January/February 2018 - 4

intro
The Next Big Thing
I
t has been more than a decade since passage
of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA).
While that legislation benefited retirement
plans in many ways-most notably by its expansion
of automatic enrollment and the creation of
a qualified default investment alternative safe
harbor for defined contribution (DC) plans-
some experts think retirement plan industry
advocates, academics and lobbyists may come to
some agreement, possibly even this year, to pass
another industry-shaking act.
" Big Ideas " (page 19) examines some of these
thoughts and the pertinent bills in Congress,
including for expanding the potential for small businesses to join together to
create multiple employer plans (MEPs) without requiring them to be in related
industries, and potentially requiring higher deferral rates for auto-enrollment
and automatic escalation. There is even talk of easing the fiduciary burden for
offering in-plan lifetime income products.
The retirement plan market continues to grow in assets, with many thanks
to the market, but for obvious reasons the plan segment that is growing
the most is that of micro plans. The 2018 PLANADVISER Micro Plan Survey
(page 31) gives you an in-depth look at how those plans function and shows
opportunities for improvement.
Live polling during the 2017 PLANADVISER National Conference (PANC)
found that nearly half, 46%, of advisers think their plan sponsor clients fail to
value their work as a fiduciary. Thus, this issue's Servicing Strategies article,
" Value Added " (page 38), explores ways that advisers can help their clients
appreciate this critical and complex work they contribute. A good place to
start is to stress to clients how you can troubleshoot regulatory and compliance
requirements. Advisers also find that sponsors appreciate being briefed
on regulatory developments. One advisory practice interviewed for the piece
uses an online fiduciary compliance tool that can show clients the status of
fiduciary documents on a user-friendly dashboard.
We introduce a new department in this issue, Marketing Mechanics, which
will appear in every other issue. In the debut installment, " The Magic of Local
Events " (page 40), we explore how, in 2015, Chepenik Financial launched the
4.01k Race for Financial Wellness and how it has raised $250,000 for financial
literacy education for Junior Achievement. Last year, the race expanded to
six cities, and Chepenik expects there will be nine this spring. Examining
the needs of your local community could help you devise your own event to
highlight other focus points in the industry such as retirement income or
retirement readiness.
Although the 2018 PLANSPONSOR Defined Contribution Benchmarking
Report found that less than half, 47.0%, of plan sponsors of all sizes offer a
health savings account (HSA), this figure rises to as much as 75.8% of plans
with over $1 billion in assets. " HSAs in Retirement Planning " (page 44) lays out
the rationale for plan sponsors to offer these accounts to their participants.
" Warming to ESG " (page 42) explains why environmental, social and governance
(ESG) investing is beginning to take hold among DC plans-and how it
could become a major factor for participants and sponsors alike.
We would love to know what you think of these features, how they help
your practice and what additional topics you'd like us to cover. Happy 2018!
-Lee Barney, Managing Editor
editor-in-chief: Alison Cooke Mintzer
Alison.Mintzer@strategic-i.com
creative director: SooJin Chun Buzelli, svp
SooJin.Buzelli@strategic-i.com
managing editor: Lee Barney
Lee.Barney@strategic-i.com
deputy editor, planadviser.com: John Manganaro
John.Manganaro@strategic-i.com
editorial staff: Judy Faust Hartnett, Rebecca Moore,
Amanda Umpierrez, Karen Wittwer
contributors: John Keefe, Judy Ward
surveys & research: Quinn Keeler, svp;
Brian O'Keefe, Jackie Scott
design & production: Lynn Connelly, Chris Kwon,
Claire Merchlinsky, Tiffany Pai, Micky Walls
design contributor: Cherese Rambaldi
art contributors: Samuel Berenfield, Tim Bower,
Andrea D'Aquino, Jon Han (cover), Yinfan Huang,
Alex Kiesling, Uijung Kim, Claire Merchlinsky,
Alex Eben Meyer, Giulia Sagramola, Katherine
Streeter, James Yang, Graham Yarrington
head of media sales: Katie Bacon, vp
Katie.Bacon@strategic-i.com
online & digital products: Paul Zampitella, vp
Paul.Zampitella@strategic-i.com
advertising sales: Meighan McGowan, Bill Murray,
Lisa Reilly
global sales administrator: Anthony Groccia
conferences: Carol Popkins, vp;
Katie Campbell, Ana-Alyse Castelluccio,
Melissa Groccia, Lucille Velander
global controller: Younes Ismael-Aguirre
accounting operations: Abeer Abu-Issa, Mayrillane
Bahi, Ruth Fissaha, Doreen Fucci, Kristin Keeler,
Ricky Kostik, Karen Kurtz, Vivian Panton,
Harris Weinstein
chief technology officer: Phil Herzog
development director: Justin Hoffman
technology operations: Stephen Dennis, Ray Lucibello,
Bhakti Patel, Jigar Patel, Dexter Reaves, Stephen
Widom
custom media program manager: Drew Donaldson,
Drew.Donaldson@strategic-i.com
reprints: Michelle Judkins 203-595-3276
Michelle.Judkins@strategic-i.com
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chief executive officer: Joel Mandelbaum
chief financial officer: Karl Jaeger
chief content officer: Tony White
PLANADVISER (ISSN 1935-9098) is published
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PLANADVISER - January/February 2018

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