If You're the Smartest Person in the Room, You're in the Wrong Room!

This title is one of my favorite quotes that is so very wise.  It was originally said by a noted academic, Dr. David Weinberger.  By applying this adage to my professional life, I've almost universally been the better for it.  If it weren't for this philosophy, I never would have tried to write papers, blogs and the like, and thus would never have decided to create this blog.  I've recently realized, that this blog is really the only independent place where I can document all of the work I've done in my career.  So, here are a few of my notable papers in one place, the better ones co-written by someone who is most definitely the smartest person in my two person rooms, HA!  Hope you enjoy these.

Retirement Success: A Surprising look into the Factors that Drive Positive Outcomes - This is the very first paper I published in my professional career, originally published in the Summer edition of the ASPPA Journal in 2011.  Interestingly, this piece has been a weight baring beam in my career, a foundational notion for everything I've done since.  The smart co-author on this gem is David Blanchett (now head of Retirement Research at Morningstar) who took my original question and did 100% of the math! - September 1, 2011

Deconstructing the Fiduciary Models: 3(38) vs. Discretionary Trustee - In this piece, my very smart associate, Mike Samford and I try to tackle a highly nuanced area of ERISA fiduciary service, taking discretion over plan investments.  While I would change some of what I've written here nearly ten years later, most of this still holds.   - July 11, 2012

Third Party Fiduciaries; Myth and Reality- Occasionally, I managed enough nerve to write solo, and invariably the result never as good as when I've written with a partner.  This is my first ever solo piece, originally self published but picked up by Retirementsolutionsnow.com. - June - 2013 (Orig. Jan. 17, 2013)

Retirement Income—In-Plan vs. Out-of-Plan Solutions, Which Is Better?

Retirement Income - In Plan vs Out-of-Plan Solutions, Which Is Better?  - This is still today (in 2021) a hot topic, annuities in retirement plans.  We had this published in the Journal of Pension Benefits and it explores Retirement Income solutions, as they exist within 401(k) plans, whether individuals would be served better with those solutions or out-of-plan solutions and provides ideas for how to adequately deliver retirement income for retired Americans.  The 'smart' on this one was my co-author, Dr. Greg Kasten. - Feb. 1, 2013.

How 401k Advisors can Effectively Offer 316 Services - Here's a piece I authored in 401(k) Specialist which discusses the 'at the time' new spate of administrative fiduciary services and a model for retirement plan advisors to gain a competitive advantage.  No co-author on this one, AND you can tell! - June 14, 2016

- Jason Grantz, QPA, QKC, QKA, AIFA

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Discretionary Trustee vs. Inv. Mgr. or other fiduciary roles

An old colleague and current competitor of mine, and ours at my firm recently put out a very nice blog post articulating some of the nuances of the trustee role in context vs. other fiduciary roles, Investment Managers and directed trustees.  Certainly worth a quick read, linked here.

http://pentegra.com/expertise/current-thinking/misconceptions-about-the-three-principal-fiduciary-roles-in-a-retirement-plan-the-trustee.aspx

Enjoy!
Jason

Not all 3(38) Fiduciaries are alike - Repost

Pulled this brief blog post from Ary Rosenbaum's blog.  Linked below.

http://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/not-all-338-fiduciaries-are-alike-01959/

In this post Ary discusses one of the current industry trends, the selling of 3(38) services and discusses briefly how they come in different shapes and sizes and he equates many of these new services to getting a meal at McDonald's.  Love his sarcasm.

About 18 months ago, I authored a paper on this topic as well.  It has many of the same themes as Ary's post, but goes a bit deeper into the topic.  Below is a link to that paper.  Enjoy!

https://www.unifiedtrust.com/documents/Third-Party-Fiduciaries-Myth-and-Reality.pdf

Advisor and Carrier Capacity- Does Size Matter

Last week I was interviewed by Chuck Hammond of The 401(k) Study Group on his weekly podcast.  We discussed a variety of topics including Advisor and Carrier Capacity, business models and new services.  We discussed the challenges Advisors face when working with carriers in the DC Space.  Here is the write up and a link to the podcast.

"Can you differentiate yourself by not taking on all comers?  Is choosing the right client and right partner more important than how large either of them may be?
Listen in to find out!"

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/the401kstudygroup/2014/03/27/advisor-and-carrier-capacity-does-size-matter

- Jason

Fiduciaries, Know thy Duty!

Good article posted this AM on NAPA.net authored by John Lekel.  Within the article it cites a webinar that was conducted for NAPA in January presented by Dr. Greg Kasten of Unified Trust Company regarding fiduciary duty for retirement plan fiduciaries.  Within the webinar, Dr. Kasten offers a variety of good pointers on best practices and some warnings about what is being sold in the market vs. what clients think they are buying.  Here's a short list of best practices;
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"Prudence is key, Kasten argued, in exercising fiduciary duty. He offered these pointers:
• consider what information is relevant to the decision;
• obtain the information;
• analyze the information;
• make a reasoned decision that other experts in similar situations would make; and
• document the decision"

Thanks John and thanks Dr. Kasten.