Podcasts

Our Excellent Fiduciary podcasts present interviews with experts in legal, risk management, and operations who provide quick access to proven risk strategies for employee benefit plan executives.

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Fresh Perspectives on Fiduciary Controls
Leading employee benefit plan managers strive for Prudent Performance, described as consistently attaining goals while dealing with uncertainty in complying with the prudence rule that legislates fiduciary conduct. Learn what defines Prudent Performance and how it transforms fiduciary outcomes.

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Evaluating Fiduciary Committee Performance
Strong fiduciary committee oversight, sound committee governance, and continual improvement are all influenced by an efficient assessment process. Learn what an evaluation reveals and how to conduct a committee review.

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Are cybersecurity warnings being heard?
Is the human resources community paying attention to the warnings about the devastating effects of lax data security on employee benefit plans? HR leaders will need to reframe their roles in order to succeed.

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Don’t Hold on to the Money!
The most common error employers make in managing 401(k), and 403(b) plans is failing to remit their employees’ wage deferrals for deposit to their employees’ retirement plan accounts on a timely basis. The IRS and the U.S. Department of Labor target this issue with aggressive enforcement efforts. On this podcast, learn the rules and how to avoid problems.

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New RFP Best Practices
Retirement plan sponsors are more active in evaluating recordkeeping vendor options than in recent history. Before launching an RFP, address two significant developments that have forced the modernization of RFP best practices for recordkeeping services.

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Human Resources Leaders as Investment Fiduciaries
Human resources executives assigned to investment-related committees often do not have experience as investment professionals making them feel uncomfortable when tasked with the scope of their committee duties. The concise insights and tips in this episode will replace discomfort with confidence.

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Top Nine Critical 401(k) Plan Errors
This podcast features a guest expert who is the head of a CPA firm’s employee benefit plan audit group. He is the ideal professional to learn about the errors that result in enforcement consequences from the U.S. Departmennt of Labor and the IRS. He explains how to avoid and fix them.

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Fiduciary Essentials for Target-Date Funds
Target-date retirement funds or TDFs can be attractive investment options for employees who do not want to manage their retirement savings actively. But severe consequences lurk for 401(k) and 403(b) plan committees that add TDFs to their plans’ investment options without ensuring that their choices perform appropriately over time. This podcast describes eight activities that alleviate that risk.

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Tips for Investment Fiduciaries When the Market Tumbles
This podcast hits turbulent decision-making moments head-on. You’ll learn the four steps that form a tried and true action plan that’s helping thousands of human resources and finance executives navigate rough waters safely.

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Cybersecurity Principles & Practices
Cybersecurity is a modern tech-savvy buzzword that often makes non-IT peoples’ eyes glaze over. That mindset is risky because cybersecurity ranks among the most challenging issues facing human resources, finance, and administration executives. Our experts discuss solutions from a business manager’s perspective, emphasizing the importance of collaboration with the IT department.

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Payroll, Fiduciaries, and the IRS
Payroll errors are the leading cause of violations of the legal duty born by employers who sponsor retirement plans qualified under the Employee Retirement Income Act (“ERISA”). The IRS has launched an amnesty-like pilot program that incentivizes employers to focus on their payroll systems during the IRS’ grace period, find errors that affect their ERISA plans, and fix them. This podcast offers a solution.

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Solving the Retirement Plan Fee Crisis
Excessive fees for services that support retirement plans, large and small, are widespread and engulf many employers in a sea of lawsuits, costly settlements, and ruined reputations. A crisis is brewing. Learn how to avoid danger and improve retirement outcomes for your enterprise’s employees. A white paper accompanies this podcast.

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Prepare for a Fiduciary Committee Sea Change
Today’s standard of performance expected of fiduciary committees is much higher than it once was. This podcast discusses the causes and implications of this sea change in retirement plan governance and presents four success factors that fiduciary committees can apply to improve their performance.

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Human Resources at the Center
The rapid decentralization of America’s workforce from on-premise to at-home settings now requires consideration of the uncertainty of all types of risks and how best to use controls to reduce that uncertainty. Learn how Principled Performance is helping forward-thinking Chief Human Resource Officers meet the challenge.

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De-Risking the Investment Fiduciary Role
This podcast focuses on how investment fiduciary risk differs from investment risk and presents five steps that resolve the differences.

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Cybersecurity in the Committee Room
It’s essential to understand that cybersecurity includes protecting digital forms of personally identifiable information or PII and employee benefit plan assets from exposure and protecting electronic systems from exploitation by hackers. Fiduciary committees are accountable for the results.

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Redefining Fiduciary Investment Risk
This podcast addresses how process management and investment performance in qualified retirement plans intersect and offers tips on confronting the trend toward expanded fiduciary investment accountability.

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GRC for Human Resources Comes of Age
Governance, risk, and compliance standards frame the management style of mature employee benefit plan operations.
Human resources leaders who adopt GRC standards find that they lighten their burden and ensure peace of mind.

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The Investment Policy Audit
A periodic third-party examination of an investment policy statement, including a test of the fiduciary committee’s conformance to its provisions, is more than a best practice; it’s a risk management imperative!

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ESG Update for Retirement Plans
Interest in environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) investing through corporate retirement plans is expanding rapidly. What are the legal implications for retirement plan fiduciaries who wish to add GRC funds to the their plan’s investment options? Learn at this update.

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Minimizing Vendor Cyber Risk
Following up on our last podcast, the host of this episode explains that vendor risks lurk in many places for employee benefit plans, and service providers represent real threats. He provides examples that prove the vulnerability of benefit plans from attacks through third-party and fourth-party vendor channels. A vendor risk management program starts with six key elements. Hear them discussed.

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Fiduciary Hazards: Cybersecurity
Our experts discuss the primary sources of cybersecurity risks that human resources executives and other managers encounter who oversee 401(k) and 403(b) type retirement plans. They present a four-part action plan to confront those risks.

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Fiduciary Hazards: Payroll
Payroll and contribution file submissions continue to be among the top plan administration errors and causes of extra costs, fines, and penalties. Payroll failures can undermine fiduciary risk strategies. Learn the actions that trigger them and how to avoid trouble.

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Simplifying Cybersecurity for Employee Benefit Plans
Online or cyber networks pose the most troubling and costly sources of threats to employee benefit data and assets and are a big challenge to control. Cybersecurity can be a confusing topic for human resources managers and fiduciary committees. Gaining clarity is vital for complying with the federal government’s cybersecurity guidelines.

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Building a Strong Risk Culture
A strong risk culture helps avert incidents in the operation of employee benefit plans that can damage corporate reputations and trigger economic penalties. Six steps improve an employee benefit plan’s environment.

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When Recordkeepers Merge
Consolidation of retirement plan recordkeeping firms has exploded. The frequency of these transactions and the different benefits and challenges that can come from each one make it as important as ever for plan fiduciaries to perform periodic due diligence of the marketplace. Here what you should do when your plan’s recordkeeper merges.

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Traits of an Excellent Fiduciary
The issues faced by retirement plan fiduciaries are not static. In order to keep pace, ERISA expects fiduciaries to achieve continuous improvement in their skills. What are the traits of those who achieve and maintain competency in the fiduciary role? Listen to this podcast and learn.

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The 3(16) Recordkeeper is a Troubling Trend
Retirement plan recordkeepers and TPAs are historically non-fiduciary service providers. That’s what makes the emergence of so-called 3(16) fiduciary services from that class of vendors noteworthy, requiring careful examination. Is the service legitimate or just a marketing ploy? Find out in this episode.

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Cybersecurity Ushers in a New Technology Era for Fiduciaries
The exploding pace of threats to the security and confidentiality of retirement plan assets and data demands that fiduciary committees embrace their enterprises’ information technology departments in a new era of collaboration.

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Questions Fiduciaries Ask
Get answers to issues that retirement plan fiduciaries tell us that trouble them most.

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Fiduciary Vulnerability Takes a Turn
Risk-taking is an integral part of sponsoring a qualified employee benefit plan such 401(k) or 403(b). But getting insurance to cover those risks might not be available for plan fiduciaries as in the past. Hear what’s happening and how to respond.

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A Fiduciary’s Guide for Volatile Investment Markets
One of the more troubling aspects of being an investment fiduciary is responding to wild swings in the U.S. securities markets. Hear what retirement plan managers should know and do.

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Implementing the DOL’s Cybersecurity Guidance – Part 3
This is the third podcast in a three part series. This episode presents topics about personal online security for use in a retirement plan’s participant communication program.

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Implementing the DOL’s Cybersecurity Guidance – Part 2
ERISA-covered plans often hold millions of dollars or more in assets and maintain personal data on participants, which can make them tempting targets for cyber-criminals. Responsible plan fiduciaries have an obligation to ensure proper mitigation of cybersecurity risks, beginning with a grasp of their vendors’ ongoing data security qualifications and methods. This episode unwraps the rules.

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Implementing the DOL’s Cybersecurity Guidance – Part 1
This podcast is the first in a three part series. Each part will present the steps human resources executives and fiduciary committees can use to implement the cybersecurity guidance issued by the Employee Benefits Security Administration. This episode embraces “Selecting a Service Provider with Strong Cybersecurity Practices.”

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Payroll is a Breeding Ground for Fiduciary Problems
It surprises many executives to learn that payroll deficiencies are the most frequent violations of ERISA fiduciary duty, outpacing investment-related violations by a wide margin. Learn how to avoid this risk.

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When Fiduciaries Fail
The consequences of failure in the fiduciary role can be grim. Learn about the five critical activities that lead to the most common violations of fiduciary duty. This episode includes a three-step way to achieve and maintain excellence.

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Cybersecurity is the Centerpiece of an RFP
A Request for Proposal or RFP is a tried and true way to periodically confirm that employee benefit plans use the best vendors.
Find out why cybersecurity is now the number one issue to consider in your next RFP and what the RFP should include.

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Mutual Fund Share Classes Can be Toxic
A crackdown on mutual funds that pay indirect compensation to investment advisors and brokers is driving the need to decide wisely on the mutual fund share classes used by defined contribution plans. Here how your retirement plan committee should respond.

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Fiduciary Committees: Formation & Conduct
Our host describes the structure and duties that fall on members of committees that oversee qualified benefit plans. Get valuable insights whether you’re a new or long-time committee member.

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Changing the Course and Cost of Retirement Plan Fees
Retirement plan fees worsen enterprise risk. Learn vital insights on why plan costs must be aggressively managed.