‘Lay Fiduciaries’ Are Managing Retirement Plans and It’s a Problem

401k Lay Fiduciaries

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There are 17.5 million men and women, including “lay fiduciaries”, who bear the legal responsibility for managing the assets of pension plans, foundations, endowments, health and welfare plans, and personal trusts.

These “lay fiduciaries” generally come from outside the financial services industry, usually don’t get paid for their “fiduciary jobs” and have little, if any, training on what the law requires of them in managing more than $26.6 trillion of investments, according to the Center for Board Certified Fiduciaries (CBCF).

CBCF has completed its first, of what it says will become an annual, survey on lay fiduciaries and the different pools of assets they manage.

“Although lay fiduciaries have extraordinary control over many of our investments, they tend to be underappreciated by both themselves and their beneficiaries,” Allan Henriques, who led the research and analysis team, said in a statement. “This analysis is the first step in helping increase awareness and respect for the scope of their powerful impact.”

Key Findings include

Of the different pools of assets

In conducting the research, CBCF analyzed data from the Internal Revenue Service, Federal Reserve, U.S. Department of Labor, and numerous private-sector publications.

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