No one cares about your stick-figure family and bumper sticker slogans—political or otherwise. They’re silly, sophomoric and reduced to their most basic elements for simpletons to shout. The underlying argument is always more complicated and requires deconstruction and critical-thought too often shoved aside for a self-serving Twitter smear.
We increasingly find ourselves defending the 401(k)—an investment vehicle with well over $5 trillion in assets and 55 million-plus participants with income replacement rates on par with sainted pensions of paychecks past—but so be it.
Whether it’s some life-insurance affiliated author with a book to sell or, more concerningly, New School professor Teresa Ghilarducci pitching her government-required Guaranteed Retirement Accounts for the umpteenth time, the arguments are easily swatted.
The latest is a Seeking Alpha screed subtly titled “The 401k Program Is in Shambles and Is Not Serving Americans.”
Like the aforementioned bumper stickers, the author heavily relies on infographics; great as visual aids, not so for supporting evidence of a central argument, and always more complicated.
His contradictions are many and make our job easy.
For instance, he hits early and often on fees, and how they’re “lining the pockets of the salespersons.”
We hope he had a restful multiyear nap; the low-fee fight is evergreen and ongoing, with the introduction of zero-fee shares the latest salvo.
He’s also apparently unaware of Jerry Schlichter’s courtroom stylings, or Tibble Vs. Edison at all.
“Interestingly a ‘commenter’ on the site did mention that some of the data used is 6 years old, but I cannot imagine that things have changed that much or at all, as the regulatory environment has not offered change,” he notes with awkward redundancy, before mentioning industry changes with regards to 401(k) fees that have specifically occurred since 2012 (408b2).
Whether fully implemented or not at all, the fiduciary rule fallout has plan sponsors scrambling for 3(38) protection. To fail to even mention the term “fiduciary” in a piece about 401k shortcomings posted to a site like Seeking Alpha shows that there just might be another agenda afoot.
When respected industry pundits like Alicia Munnell (with whom we often disagree) admit DC plans are in fact effective for the vast majority of workers, we know we’re onto something, and it’s only getting better.
With more than 20 years serving financial markets, John Sullivan is the former editor-in-chief of Investment Advisor magazine and retirement editor of ThinkAdvisor.com. Sullivan is also the former editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines, and has a background in the insurance and investment industries in addition to his journalism roots.
