Alex Assaley, AIF®

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Avoiding Retirement Plan Sponsor Lawsuits: Three Ways to Protect Your Company and Employees

As an employer with a company-sponsored retirement plan, you have a fiduciary responsibility to act in the best interests of your employees. This includes ensuring that the plan is administered in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations. In recent years, there has been an increase in lawsuits filed by participants against plan sponsors alleging breach of fiduciary duty, among other claims. These lawsuits can be costly and time-consuming, so it is important that everyone take steps to protect themselves.

Here are three ways an employer with a company-sponsored retirement plan can improve their fiduciary oversight and minimize risk of litigation:

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How to ‘Crack the Financial Wellness Nut’: Wealth@wor(k) 2022

Alex Assaley, AIF®

Alex Assaley, AIF®

Blog Post

Reposted from 401(k) Specialist by John Sullivan, Editor-In-Chief

Understated isn’t a term generally associated with Alex Assaley, but he managed to pull it off when describing current market conditions.

“It’s been a really interesting year for investors and advisors,” Assaley, Managing Principal with AFS 401(k) Retirement Services, said from the floor of the Wealth@wor(k) conference in Las Vegas.

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2022 Employee Benefits Symposium: Register Today!

What is our Employee Benefits Symposium?

Since 2006, we have challenged our partners and clients to think differently about the employee benefits landscape.

This event is our primary opportunity to share these ideas and for 2022, we will be celebrating our 16th Annual Symposium providing clients, prospective clients, business colleagues, and the Washington, DC business community with expert speakers, engaging presentations, and motivational breakout sessions with peers from all industries. 

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How Can I Evaluate a Financial Advisor?

Alex Assaley, AIF®

Alex Assaley, AIF®

Blog Post

As retirement plan advisors, we’re often asked about how to evaluate a financial advisor so here are five questions from our team to ask yourself and ensure your current advisor is adequate for your financial life. The beginning of the year is a perfect time to check in on your financial life to ensure you are on target with your financial goals and initiatives. A respectable advisor will have you feeling confident in how your financial life is progressing, and assessing your financial life goes together with evaluating your advisor.

 

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Are Incentive-Based Programs Worth it?

Alex Assaley, AIF®

Alex Assaley, AIF®

Blog Post

Companies and organizations across America are constantly struggling with two major workplace challenges: attracting top talent, and then, retaining that talent. This is especially true as we go through the Great Resignation when 4.2 million Americans quit their jobs back in October. When an employee thinks about your benefits program, are they content, confused, disappointed, or simply unaware?

Regardless of industry or service, every HR department and Corporate Executive wants to keep their best current and future employees satisfied. In order to push employees to their fullest potentials, leaders in an organization should demonstrate they are making positive strides to better their employees’ lives, both inside and outside the workplace.

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How Do You Know When It's Time for a New Retirement Plan Advisor?

As a benefits professional, the relationship you have with your retirement advisor is a crucial one. Their role is to help you navigate some of the most complicated aspects of your job. A few phrases we often hear employers use to justify sticking it out with their current advisor are (even if the relationship isn’t working): "I think my advisor does everything they're supposed to do, performing an advisor search isn't worth the effort, and we've been doing business with them for years." Relationships are important in business, but it's not always equitable to getting the best service possible and doing what's right for your organization and, most importantly – your employees?

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IRS Updates 2021 Pension Plan Limits

Alex Assaley, AIF®

Alex Assaley, AIF®

Blog Post

Effective January 1, 2021 the IRS announced the 2021 Pension Plan Limitations. These changes will take effect in the upcoming tax year for retirement plans. 

Check out our infographic that details all the changes you'll want to be aware of in the upcoming year when it comes to your role managing an employer-sponsored retirement plan. 

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Mid-Year Check-Up: Legislation and the State of Retirement

As you continue to navigate the second half of this unprecedented year, we want to provide you with an update on the most important legislative changes enacted in 2020 thus far that directly impact you and your employees. The following information will help you gauge the changes to the retirement, employee benefits, and employer-sponsored retirement plan landscape throughout this year to ensure you are aware of what you are responsible for as an employer and/or committee member. In addition to discussing the items managers and HR executives should be aware of in terms of their organizations’ employees’ well-beings, financial lives, and benefits, I’ll also shed light on the overall state of retirement in this COVID-19 environment and explain how challenges can also create opportunity for long-term investors.

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