Litigation Storms Impacting the 401(k) Climate
401(k) plans have been in the news a lot this past year, 仅在2015年第四季度，就有11起针对计划赞助商或提供商的诉讼. Common problems alleged include improper revenue-sharing, excessively high fees charged to plan participants, 当有低成本的选择时，专注于高成本的共同基金. 所有的诉讼都要求成为集体诉讼，并获得数百万美元的赔偿金. 到目前为止，诉讼的焦点一直是大型计划的赞助者, 甲骨文公司等, 国歌, and Reliance Trust, 这些影响开始扩散只是时间问题, and smaller companies become targets as well.
This kind of news can be worrying, and with these issues in mind, 以下是你可以根据自己的计划采取的步骤，以帮助防范潜在的诉讼.
- Understand Your Fiduciary Responsibility
Even if you have hired strong service providers to manage your plan, you still bear fiduciary responsibility to your plan participants. 了解你的计划正在发生什么，并定期与你的澳洲幸运10正规官网提供商沟通. - Stay On Top of Investment Selection
Regularly review the investments in your plan. Select investments that have a well-documented performance history, 并定期监控他们，以确保他们继续表现良好. Don’t select high-cost retail classes of funds when identical, lower-cost institutional classes are available, as this generates unnecessary fees for your plan participants. 最后, 在选择投资时，要注意大局——不要完全根据相关费用来选择(或拒绝)投资. 检查整体价值，看看投资是否适合你的计划. - Evaluate Your Service Providers
Similar to your investments, 你还应该定期检查你的澳洲幸运10正规官网提供商，以确认你从他们的澳洲幸运10正规官网中获得了有竞争力的市场价格, and not paying excessive fees. - Be Careful With Revenue Sharing
通过收入分享模式向澳洲幸运10正规官网提供商付费并不违法, and not necessarily problematic. However, problems do arise when the revenue generated for services (i.e. recordkeeping) outstrip the value of the service. 这些问题可以通过向你的澳洲幸运10正规官网提供商支付固定的费用来避免, or by instituting a cap on revenue sharing, and kicking any excess revenue generated back into the plan, where it can continue to benefit plan participants. - Document, Document, Document
也许你能为你的计划做的最重要的一步是起草一份强有力的投资政策声明和计划管理文件, and follow them closely when making all investment decisions. 清楚地说明你为你的计划选择何种基金和澳洲幸运10正规官网供应商的原因. This may seem like a time-consuming process, 但归根结底，这是保持健康计划的最重要方法之一，它将使你远离风暴.
