Retirement Insights
Save Time and Money with Fiduciary Training
April 9, 2024
Between the uptick in Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) litigation that targets retirement plans and the dozens of new regulatory and legislative requirements, including the SECURE 2.0 Act, you may be overwhelmed in trying to understand your current fiduciary responsibilities.
To mitigate risk for your organization and yourself, it’s crucial that you know your fiduciary obligations. Failing to meet all fiduciary requirements can expose your organization to costly litigation risk. And fiduciaries, who are required to act in the best interest of plan participants and make prudent decisions, can face personal liability when these obligations are breached. Fiduciary training is essential to help prevent these scenarios from occurring.
Training is a Best Practice
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) considers fiduciary training a critical element of prudent oversight. During routine regulatory audits, the DOL is increasingly looking for evidence that such training has been provided.
Employers are strongly encouraged to provide fiduciary training to anyone who serves on a retirement committee, so that committee members are aware of the practices and processes needed to fulfill their fiduciary obligations to plan participants. Fiduciary training helps to protect the interests of the plan participants and beneficiaries.
Having a well-documented process for making administrative and investment plan decisions is considered a best practice by the DOL — and it can bring peace of mind to employers and fiduciaries. The solution to understanding current roles and responsibilities is through fiduciary training and a fiduciary governance self-review.
ERISA fiduciary responsibility imposes a high standard of care and loyalty on those responsible for managing retirement plans.
USI Consulting Group (USICG) helps employers understand their roles and responsibilities by educating them about ERISA fiduciary obligations, developing processes, avoiding conflicts of interest and maintaining documentation. Equipping your retirement plan committee with comprehensive fiduciary training is essential to minimizing fiduciary risk.
USICG provides three levels of fiduciary training:
Basic plan
fiduciary training
Customized plan
fiduciary training
Compliance and
governance review
Case Study: Training solutions save time and money
Fiduciary training proved advantageous for a USICG client that had appointed a new investment committee for its 403(b) plan. The committee members had limited experience with retirement plans and needed guidance on their roles and responsibilities.
USICG provided training that covered these fiduciary basics:
- Duty of loyalty
- Duty of prudence
- Duty to follow plan documents
- Duty to diversify plan investments
Our fiduciary experts helped the client avoid potentially hefty fines for deficiencies in plan governance under review by the DOL. The training also saved the organization money and HR staff time by creating plan governance documents and an investment policy statement.1,2
How USI Consulting Group Can Help
Employers face ever-evolving, complex fiduciary responsibilities. We can provide training to help you understand your fiduciary obligations, minimize risk and create better outcomes for your retirement plan participants.
To help employers mitigate their fiduciary risk, we provide additional support, including:
- Ongoing investment due diligence support2
- Plan operations & management
- Regulatory & plan compliance oversight
- Periodic retirement service provider searches
- Plan design consulting & fee benchmarking services
To learn more, please reach out to your local USICG representative or information@usicg.com, or visit our Contact Us page.
1 Actual results will vary. The use of any stated benefits in this case study is intended for illustrative purposes only and may not be used to predict or project future results.
2 Investment advice provided to the Plan by USI Advisors, Inc. Under certain arrangements, securities offered to the Plan through USI Securities, Inc. Member FINRA/SIPC. Both USI Advisors, Inc. and USI Securities, Inc. are affiliates of USI Consulting Group.
This information is provided solely for educational purposes and is not to be construed as investment, legal or tax advice. Prior to acting on this information, we recommend that you seek independent advice specific to your situation from a qualified investment/legal/tax professional. | 1023.S0222.0015
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