How do financial professionals defeat a lumbering foe that lacks the depth to move with agility in the ever-changing environment that is the 401(k) universe? “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” (Photo: Shutterstock)
Until such time as an unambiguously open 401(k) MEP becomes the corporate retirement plan standard, plan sponsors will continue to need to educate themselves on the art and maintenance of their firm’s 401(k) plan. There are plenty of tried and true methods they use to explore self-education (see “This is How 401k Plan Sponsors Get Education Answers to These Three F-Words,” FiduciaryNews.com, July 30, 2019).
If you disassemble the route plan sponsors take towards education, you’ll discover a significant similarity. As you might expect, many of them rely on their service providers to offer the needed teaching materials – both for their own edification as well as for the needs of their employees.
But that’s not the only place where they find what they’re looking for. And this alternative source has been the bane of many a financial professional. Its lessons come through unfiltered and unverified. You’ll find it regularly contains both alluring myths and outright lies. The lectures often echo out in memorable soundbites. Each message chisels another chip off the credibility of the financial professional.
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Christopher Carosa
Chris Carosa has been writing a weekly article and monthly column for BenefitsPRO online and BenefitsPRO Magazine since 2011 and is a nationally recognized award-winning writer, researcher and speaker. He’s written seven books, including From Cradle to Retire: The Child IRA; Hey! What’s My Number? – How to Increase the Odds You Will Retire in Comfort; A Pizza The Action: Everything I Ever Learned About Business I Learned By Working in a Pizza Stand at the Erie County Fair; and the widely acclaimed 401(k) Fiduciary Solutions. Carosa is also Chief Contributing Editor of the authoritative trade journal FiduciaryNews.com and publisher of the Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel, a weekly community newspaper he founded in 1989. Currently serving as President of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and with more than 1,000 articles published in various publications, he appears regularly in the national media. A “parallel” entrepreneur, he actively runs a handful of businesses, including a small boutique investment adviser, providing hands-on experience for his writing. A trained astrophysicist, he also holds an MBA and has been designated a Certified Trust and Financial Advisor. Share your thoughts and story ideas with him through Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/christophercarosa/)and Twitter (https://twitter.com/ChrisCarosa).
