  Securities and investment advisory services offered through H. Beck, Inc., Member FINRA, SIPC. H. BECK, Inc. and BRE Financial Solutions, Inc, are unaffiliated entities
  
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An investment fiduciary is someone who is managing the assets of another person and stands in a special relationship of trust, confidence, and/or legal responsibility according to Fiduciary 360. Furthermore, as it relates to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), the Department of Labor has stated that fiduciaries must act in the sole interest of the participants and beneficiaries of the plan."Fiduciaries must always act with the care, skill, and prudence, and diligence under the circumstances then prevailing that a prudent person acting in a like capacity and familiar with such matters would use in the conduct of an enterprise of a like character and with like aims."(ERISA404(a)(1)(B). Retirement Benefits are one of the most important benefits an employer can offer. "We believe that a good retirement plan can help attract good employees, but a great retirement plan can help retain them." We feel strongly that in order to run a plan effectively, a plan sponsor should work with an advisor that truly understands the requirements of ERISA and can help the plan sponsor manage his or her fiduciary responsibilities. One way to know that an advisor is serious about their responsibilities to the plan sponsor is through their continuing education efforts. This can be evidenced through their designations.
Fees are not well understood or disclosed in the retirement plan arena. There are custodial fees, administrative fees, participant fees, investment management fees, revenue sharing fees, wrap fees, and 12-b1 fees, just to name a few.  Let's face it, most plan sponsors do not understand what their fiduciary responsibilities are, nor how to manage them. Hopefully, deposits are made in a timely manner, and some person tells them every so often to add to this fund or that fund.
What makes for a prudent decision? According to a recent Department of Labor seminar on Fiduciary responsibilities, the result of the decision does not necessarily mean the decision was prudent.They were very clear to illustrate:Prudence = Process.
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