Products January 9, 2017

Ameritas Adds Stadion Planning Solution to Recordkeeping Platform

The end goal of StoryLine is to have each participant on an investment path personalized to their own circumstances and needs.
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Ameritas has added Stadion’s StoryLine small business 401(k) solution to its retirement platform.

StoryLine, built with SPDR exchange-traded funds (ETFs), is designed specifically for 401(k) participants in adviser-sold, small-market plans.

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The StoryLine process first seeks insight into the overall plan make-up with the intent of tailoring default options for each individual company. Then, with Stadion’s participant-centric web interface, employees will be encouraged to further define their individual investment paths based on personal risk profiles, expectations, and goals.

StoryLine will also allow—at the employee’s discretion—the inclusion of outside and spousal assets to facilitate more comprehensive retirement planning. The end goal of this is to have each participant on a path personalized to their own circumstances and needs.

Speaking with PLANSPONSOR last year about the StoryLine approach, Jud Doherty, president and CEO of Stadion, explained that a participant is initially placed into one of the many potential portfolios based on their input on the risk questionnaire and the current market environment. “As the participant ages or the fundamental market situation changes, or as their outside asset situation evolves, their appropriate risk exposure may also change and so the participant will be automatically routed into the new portfolio.”

Compliance January 9, 2017

Fiduciary Rule Could Soon Be Delayed By Congress

According to its author, the legislation will “delay the implementation of a job-destroying rule … giving Congress and President-elect Donald Trump adequate time to re-evaluate this harmful regulation.”

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A new bill introduced to halt the implementation of the Department of Labor (DOL) fiduciary rule offers a dramatic contrast to the complicated rulemaking due to take effect in April, running less than 200 words in total compared with thousands of pages of rule language.

The measure stands before the House Ways and Means Committee; it provides simply for a two-year delay in the effective date of the rule—ostensibly to give Congress more time to dismantle the conflict of interest rule entirely.  Given the recent shift in political power, it stands a much better chance of passage than previous attempts to influence the DOL and could in fact spell the end of the road for the longstanding effort to revamp advice standards under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. 

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Introducing the bill, Congressman Joe Wilson (R – South Carolina) described the “Protecting American Families’ Retirement Advice Act” as a necessary step to maintain open access to different forms of financial advice.

“The Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule is one of the most costly, burdensome regulations to come from the Obama Administration,” he suggests. “Rather than making retirement advice and financial stability more accessible for American families, they have disrupted the client-fiduciary relationship, increased costs, and limited access.”

The claims echo many of the “unintended consequences” critics of the rulemaking have warned about since the very beginning. Congressman Wilson has taken up the same warnings despite the fact that many firms have apparently already accepted and embraced the new fiduciary standard as a competitive advantage.  

Still, Wilson says his legislation will delay the implementation of a “job-destroying rule … giving Congress and President-elect Donald Trump adequate time to re-evaluate this harmful regulation.”

Congressman Wilson names as supporters of his bill Dirk Kempthorne, president and CEO of the American Council of Life Insurers, who also feels there is a “need for immediate action to extend the April 10th compliance deadline of this rule.”

Tim Pawlenty, CEO of the Financial Services Roundtable, is also cited by Wilson as supporting a delay; however he still believes a “best interest” standard is “common sense.” 

“FSR strongly supports requiring companies to act in their customers’ ‘best interest’.  That’s just common sense,” Pawlenty is quoted. “However, the current rule is overly complex, involves too much red tape, and is already negatively impacting consumer choice and service. Rep. Wilson’s bill will allow time for a less bureaucratic ‘best interest’ standard to be developed.”

Others cited in support of a fiduciary rule delay include the Insured Retirement Institute; the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors; and SIFMA. The full text of the bill is here. 

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