COLLECTED WISDOM™ on Investment Committees
Most would agree the plan fiduciaries must establish Investment Committees that will clearly define a process of plan administration. However, the only thing worse than not having an Investment Committee is having an Investment Committee that doesn't know what it's doing or never follows its own rules. Learn more from these resources.
Other topical areas you may find of interest that are not fully covered here include
ERISA 404(c) Compliance and Fiduciary Duty and
Fiduciary Responsibility and Liability Issues.
Summary: Building and monitoring an investment array fopr a qualified retirement plan is a complex task with numerous difficult decisions. Great care should be taken when assembling the team that oversees the array. White paper shows employers what to look for in a service provider's due diligence process.
Source: Securian 
, April 2012
Summary: The Fourth Circuit's ruling in the Plasterers' case is a reminder that liability for breaching the fiduciary duty to investigate and diversify retirement plan investments occurs only when the plan incurs an actual quantifiable loss. However, the expenditure of significant resources in litigation in that case could have been avoided if the defendant trustees had conducted periodic reviews of the merits of their investment program.
Source: Wagner Law Group , March 2012
Summary: All too often, new investment committee members are either left to fend for themselves or they are overloaded with information that they struggle to get through. Here are some tips for positioning new investment committee members for success.
Source: Vanguard, February 2012
Summary: Yet the Towers Watson 2011 survey on qualified retirement plan governance finds that the process of decision making and oversight varies widely. While most employers are concerned with compliance, many are not taking all the steps available to manage the financial, organizational and other risks created by ineffective plan governance. A sizable number of employers, however, are getting the message.
Source: Towers Watson , December 2011.
Summary: The committee by-laws are essential for establishing the process by which the committee operates. Other industry best practices with respect to investment committees include nine items.
Source: Fi360.com, June 2011.
Summary: Vanguard examined the impact of various leadership styles on investment committee decision-making. Results of this survey reinforce the presumption that there will always be powerful situational determinants that drive leadership effectiveness. This reality should serve as a reminder to all investment committee leaders to focus on what they can control.
Source: Vanguard , June 2011.
Summary: While leadership styles on investment committees may vary, the democratic style is most common, according to a new Vanguard survey.
Source: Vanguard, May 2011.
Summary: Investment committees steward trillions of dollars in assets, and their ability to function effectively as a team can have a tremendous impact on the performance of those assets. This white paper discusses the potential pitfalls and biases of group behavior that can affect investment committees and explore how a committee can make the best use of its collective knowledge and diversity of experience.
Source: Arnerich Massena , October 2010.
Summary: This update to a previously published Vanguard paper discusses the best practices for investment committees as well as advice on how investment committees can adopt these best practices for their committees.
Source: Vanguard , May 2010.
Summary: Recent market volatility and uncertainty have put a renewed focus on the role, governance, and fiduciary responsibilities of investment committees. This paper offers insights on how to bring clarity, self-awareness, discipline, and perspective to the investment committee process.
Source: Vanguard , September 2009.
Summary: Author explains how plan sponsors and plan fiduciaries can limit liability by forming an investment committee with a clearly defined process.
Source: fi360.com , December 2007.
Summary: This article addresses salient legal issues confronting plan fiduciaries today in connection with the investment of employee benefit plan assets.
Source: Benefits & Compensation Digest , May 2005.
Summary: In this article, the author contends that, due to changes in the investment process, regulatory and legal environments, the procedures for oversight used by many plan sponsors may no longer be prudent. The article sets out a best practices approach to process, asset allocation and investment monitoring, including 10 analytics plan sponsors should focus on, intended to mitigate fiduciary liability for plan sponsors and improve the investment choices made available to participants.
Source: 401khelpcenter.com, January 2005.
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