Acceptance of this recommendation by Orange County Commissioners resulted in approximately a $1 million savings per year for Orange County employees.
I provided this document to Orange County Commissioners in 2008; therefore, the document is public information despite any license that the Slideshare form may indicate.
The document summarizes the Main Street Lending Program (MSLP) established by the Federal Reserve to provide support to small and medium-sized businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. It describes the three types of loans offered through the program - the New Loan Facility, Priority Loan Facility, and Expanded Loan Facility. It provides details on loan sizes, terms, fees, and the role of the Federal Reserve and eligible lenders. It also outlines restrictions on borrower compensation, stock repurchases, dividends, debt repayment, and use of funds to qualify for the program.
This memorandum provides a critical analysis of a recent study by Professors Ayres and Curtis on 401(k) plan costs. The memorandum identifies several deficiencies in the study, including its failure to consider fiduciary practices that have led to cost reductions, plan design differences, the impact of revenue sharing, and reliance on outdated and potentially incorrect data. Due to these deficiencies, the memorandum concludes that the study's findings are not reliable indicators of reasonable fund fees for individual plans or for determining fiduciary duty breaches.
Customer Experience Self-assessment: Belgian Benchmark 2010Geert Martens
What is customer experience? Why have most market leaders been investing in customer experience? How have they aligned their organization to consistently deliver a deliberate customer experience? The "Naïve-to-Natural" model is a maturity assessment that shows organizations to what extent they are capable of delivering a customer experience. This presentation includes a Belgian benchmark study.
The truth about the Moments of Truth (preview)Geert Martens
What are "Moments of Truth"? What is customer experience? Why have most market leaders been investing in customer experience? This presentation (part of a larger one called "The truth about Moments of Truth") focuses on defining what Moments of Truth are for an organization from the customer's perspective and links Moments of Truth to Customer Experience Management.
ANTLR v3 is an improved version of ANTLR that provides more robust grammars, error recovery, attributes, tree construction and code generation capabilities compared to version 2. Some key features include single element EBNF grammar syntax, support for parameters and return values in rules, dynamic scoping of attributes, automatic and rewrite-based tree construction, tree grammars, and internationalization through string templates. The runtime is also better organized and separated into modules for parsing, trees, and debugging.
Customer Experience in a Digital Age (#ddmc2012)Geert Martens
Key note speech for the data-driven marketing congress by Stima (#ddmc2012)
How to win in the age of the customer? What is customer engagement and how do I get to the heart of my customer? It's all about emotions. Emotions will determine what you do and emotions will determine how you remember things. Unlock the power of emotions by delivering great customer experiences.
This document provides a list of keyboard shortcuts for tools, commands, and navigation in Adobe Photoshop CS3. It is organized by category such as tools, edit, layer, and includes shortcuts for common actions like copy, paste, zoom in/out. The shortcuts allow photographers to work efficiently in Photoshop without using the mouse or menus.
Unlock the power of emotions (#NTKY2012)Geert Martens
The document discusses customer experience and the importance of emotions. It notes that when customers are emotionally engaged with a brand, they will forgive mistakes, buy more, stay loyal, and promote the brand. A customer experience is defined as how a customer feels and remembers their journey of interactions with an organization. Each interaction can evoke different emotions that impact perceptions of the brand, company, products, service, and people. Great customer experiences are deliberate, make customers feel valued on an emotional level, are perfect across all "moments of truth", and are consistent across touchpoints and the customer lifecycle. Emotions color the experience and how it will be remembered.
The document summarizes the Main Street Lending Program (MSLP) established by the Federal Reserve to provide support to small and medium-sized businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. It describes the three types of loans offered through the program - the New Loan Facility, Priority Loan Facility, and Expanded Loan Facility. It provides details on loan sizes, terms, fees, and the role of the Federal Reserve and eligible lenders. It also outlines restrictions on borrower compensation, stock repurchases, dividends, debt repayment, and use of funds to qualify for the program.
This memorandum provides a critical analysis of a recent study by Professors Ayres and Curtis on 401(k) plan costs. The memorandum identifies several deficiencies in the study, including its failure to consider fiduciary practices that have led to cost reductions, plan design differences, the impact of revenue sharing, and reliance on outdated and potentially incorrect data. Due to these deficiencies, the memorandum concludes that the study's findings are not reliable indicators of reasonable fund fees for individual plans or for determining fiduciary duty breaches.
Customer Experience Self-assessment: Belgian Benchmark 2010Geert Martens
What is customer experience? Why have most market leaders been investing in customer experience? How have they aligned their organization to consistently deliver a deliberate customer experience? The "Naïve-to-Natural" model is a maturity assessment that shows organizations to what extent they are capable of delivering a customer experience. This presentation includes a Belgian benchmark study.
The truth about the Moments of Truth (preview)Geert Martens
What are "Moments of Truth"? What is customer experience? Why have most market leaders been investing in customer experience? This presentation (part of a larger one called "The truth about Moments of Truth") focuses on defining what Moments of Truth are for an organization from the customer's perspective and links Moments of Truth to Customer Experience Management.
ANTLR v3 is an improved version of ANTLR that provides more robust grammars, error recovery, attributes, tree construction and code generation capabilities compared to version 2. Some key features include single element EBNF grammar syntax, support for parameters and return values in rules, dynamic scoping of attributes, automatic and rewrite-based tree construction, tree grammars, and internationalization through string templates. The runtime is also better organized and separated into modules for parsing, trees, and debugging.
Customer Experience in a Digital Age (#ddmc2012)Geert Martens
Key note speech for the data-driven marketing congress by Stima (#ddmc2012)
How to win in the age of the customer? What is customer engagement and how do I get to the heart of my customer? It's all about emotions. Emotions will determine what you do and emotions will determine how you remember things. Unlock the power of emotions by delivering great customer experiences.
This document provides a list of keyboard shortcuts for tools, commands, and navigation in Adobe Photoshop CS3. It is organized by category such as tools, edit, layer, and includes shortcuts for common actions like copy, paste, zoom in/out. The shortcuts allow photographers to work efficiently in Photoshop without using the mouse or menus.
Unlock the power of emotions (#NTKY2012)Geert Martens
The document discusses customer experience and the importance of emotions. It notes that when customers are emotionally engaged with a brand, they will forgive mistakes, buy more, stay loyal, and promote the brand. A customer experience is defined as how a customer feels and remembers their journey of interactions with an organization. Each interaction can evoke different emotions that impact perceptions of the brand, company, products, service, and people. Great customer experiences are deliberate, make customers feel valued on an emotional level, are perfect across all "moments of truth", and are consistent across touchpoints and the customer lifecycle. Emotions color the experience and how it will be remembered.
Getting started in modeling can be done through several routes, but the most common is contacting modeling agencies directly. Other options include knowing someone already in the industry, being discovered at public events, or independently building a portfolio through test shoots. However, modeling schools, contests, and other programs aimed at "buying success" rarely lead to actual modeling careers. Requirements like height, size, and age vary depending on the type of modeling, but high fashion typically demands women be between 5'6"-6' and a size 3-4. Model pay ranges widely, but outside major markets like New York, fees are usually around $150/hour, providing steady work can be secured. While initial snapshots can help agencies screen candidates, professional
This presentation was given during the DeepDive Workshop on Customer Journey Management. An one day workshop in which the attendees experienced the way Customer Journey Management could be implemented in their own organisations.
Feel free to ask us anything about the DeepDive. The presentation is in Dutch.
The counterintuitive nature of customer experience managementGeert Martens
Beyond Philosophy is a consulting firm that helps companies improve their customer experience management. They address tough questions about defining the customer experience, understanding customer expectations, measuring the experience gaps, and ensuring employees are engaged in delivering the desired experience. Improving the customer experience can result in increased customer satisfaction, reduced costs, and higher revenues and profits for companies. The customer experience is both a rational interaction and emotional experience for customers.
From customer experience to candidate experienceGeert Martens
How can we learn from customer experience to win the war for talent? From customer experience to candidate experience is the keynote address by Geert Martens on the Candidate Experience workshop organised by Vacature/Références on 30/11/2011 in Wemmel, Belgium.
This document discusses designing a cross-channel strategy for small enterprise customers of Belgacom. It emphasizes creating an emotional customer engagement through consistent experiences across touchpoints. The strategic imperatives are to move from a multi-channel to cross-channel approach based on customer preference, with channels guided by behavioral principles to make customers feel proud to be with Belgacom. The vision is outlined as designing customer journeys, determining appropriate channels, optimizing the channel mix, and processes to ensure a simple and friendly experience across all channels.
Customer experience in a digital age (preview)Geert Martens
We're no longer living in material world, we're living in an experience world. It's no longer Madonna, it's Lady Gaga who rules the world. What is the impact of the digital age on the way consumers take decisions? And how can you impact this from a business perspective? The answer: great customer experiences
Customer experience & moments of truth: best practice highlightsGeert Martens
What should you do to excell on all "Moments of Truth" and deliver a great customer experience? What are best practices in Moment of Truth Management? This presentation (part of a larger one called "The truth about Moments of Truth") discusses global best practices in CEM en MoTM.
QP Steno offers a unique tool that can assist with the evaluation of a service provider’s fees. The reports generated by this tool give plan sponsors the ability to see how much time, effort and cost is going into each of the provider’s activities, and it can break out the provider’s gross compensation across different activities and convert such compensation into an hourly rate, project rate, or per-participant rate.
New Department of Labor rules will increase transparency around 401(k) fees paid by participants. Rule 408(b)(2) will require service providers to disclose their fees and whether they act as fiduciaries. Rule 404(a) will require quarterly reports to participants on plan costs. This increased transparency is expected to lead to fee reductions as pricing models are modified, and some participants may be surprised by costs. Standards of full fee transparency and elimination of revenue sharing are expected to emerge, allowing for more reasonable pricing of plan components.
401(k) Advisors service model starts with a Fiduciary Fitness program, Including a Fiduciary Investment and plan review and providor benchmarking analysis. Our RFP and provider search process is second to none where we gather over 300 data points on each provider and provide a detailed breakdown of Fees, Fund performance, and service. Our propriatery investment scorecard system takes in to account, Investment style, risk, peer group ranking, and qualitative analysis to help plan sponsors provide the necessary investment due dilligence to satisfy their fiduciary compliance obligations.
Under ERISA Section 408(b)(2), retirement plan fees must be reasonable in light of the services being rendered. Retirement plan fees are also a hot target in the courts, most notably with last year's Tussey vs. ABB, Inc. decision. In this presentation, we discuss just what the reasonableness standard means for today's retirement plan sponsors, and an action plan for employers.
Retirement Plan Fees and Expenses - What a Fiduciary Needs to KnowCBIZ, Inc.
1. The document discusses the responsibilities and potential legal risks for company fiduciaries who oversee 401(k) retirement plans. Fiduciaries are responsible for selecting and monitoring service providers and plan fees to ensure they are reasonable.
2. Recent lawsuits have challenged 401(k) plan fees and fund selections, resulting in hundreds of millions in settlements. Common issues cited in lawsuits include excessive fees, underperformance of target date funds, availability of lower-cost share classes, and failure to regularly monitor investments and fees.
3. The document provides guidance on how fiduciaries can determine if plan fees are reasonable, including benchmarking fees against similar plans, ensuring fee transparency, and seeking guidance from qualified advisors. F
SEC Study Financial Literacy of Retail InvestorsSteven Reta
This document summarizes a study by the SEC staff regarding financial literacy among investors as required by the Dodd-Frank Act. The study was based on research including a literature review by the Library of Congress, public comments, focus groups, and an online survey. Key findings include:
1) Existing studies show U.S. retail investors have weak understanding of basic financial concepts and lack knowledge to avoid fraud. Certain subgroups have even less knowledge.
2) Feedback and research identified methods to improve disclosure timing, content, and format including providing disclosures before decisions, using summaries and layered formats, and clear plain language.
3) Useful information for investors includes fees, performance, strategies, risks for financial products and intermedi
The document provides an overview of JP Energy Partners LP and discusses its three business segments: crude oil pipelines and storage, refined products terminals and storage, and NGL distribution and sales. It also discusses JP Energy's Q3 2016 financial results, balance sheet and liquidity position, and its planned merger with American Midstream Partners to create a larger, more diversified midstream company.
The document summarizes the Quality- and Cost-Based Selection (QCBS) process for selecting consultants by World Bank borrowers. It outlines the key steps: 1) developing terms of reference and a cost estimate, 2) advertising the project, 3) creating a shortlist of 6 qualified firms, and 4) issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP) to the shortlisted firms. The RFP includes the letter of invitation, instructions to consultants, terms of reference, and draft contract. The process aims to select consultants based on both quality of proposal and cost in a competitive and transparent manner.
Plan Sponsors looking for lower-cost investment vehiclesDan Brennan
The rise of CITs and their broader availability means that plan sponsors should be evaluating these vehicles as part of their due diligence process when selecting investments for their plan lineup. Given the unique features of CITs compared with mutual funds and the different approaches providers take when constructing their products, evaluating these products may take an extra level of due diligence.
This document summarizes the findings of a survey of Canadian investors on fees, advisory services, and disclosure. Key findings include:
- Most investors rely on advisors at least somewhat and advised investors tend to have higher satisfaction with performance and investment options.
- While some investors raised concerns about conflicts of interest and fees, most advised investors gave their advisors high satisfaction ratings.
- Disclosure and reporting has improved according to many investors, though awareness of new requirements is still low.
- Knowledge of fees varies, with many only somewhat familiar, and awareness of trailing commissions is also moderate.
Washington Financial Group provides the services, experience and resources you seek to deliver an efficient and effective retirement plan to your employees.
How does the cost of your 40(k) plan compare to similar sized plans? As a retirement plan fiduciary, it is your responsibility to know the cost of your plan, and whether those costs are reasonable. Learn more about the fee benchmarking process.
Rhode Island RFP 2015 for 529 Program ManagementPaul Curley, CFA
This document is a request for proposals from firms to serve as the program manager for Rhode Island's 529 college savings plan. It provides an overview of the program, including its assets of over $7 billion spread across 411,000 accounts. It outlines the scope of services required, including legal/regulatory compliance, administration, investment management, marketing and customer service. Respondents must have at least 5 years experience managing a 529 plan or similar program, $50 billion or more in assets under management, and agree to qualify to do business in Rhode Island. Proposals are due by August 5, 2015.
Fee Policy Statement Kit: Best Practices for Managing Plan Expenses - Brian B...BPAS
The document discusses the evolution of defined contribution plan governance from the 1970s to present day. It emphasizes the importance of fiduciary duties to pay only reasonable plan expenses and follow a prudent process. A fee policy statement is recommended as a tool to document how a plan will monitor and allocate costs. It explains concepts like revenue sharing, expense recapture accounts, and expense allocation methods to help fiduciaries meet regulatory requirements.
Getting started in modeling can be done through several routes, but the most common is contacting modeling agencies directly. Other options include knowing someone already in the industry, being discovered at public events, or independently building a portfolio through test shoots. However, modeling schools, contests, and other programs aimed at "buying success" rarely lead to actual modeling careers. Requirements like height, size, and age vary depending on the type of modeling, but high fashion typically demands women be between 5'6"-6' and a size 3-4. Model pay ranges widely, but outside major markets like New York, fees are usually around $150/hour, providing steady work can be secured. While initial snapshots can help agencies screen candidates, professional
This presentation was given during the DeepDive Workshop on Customer Journey Management. An one day workshop in which the attendees experienced the way Customer Journey Management could be implemented in their own organisations.
Feel free to ask us anything about the DeepDive. The presentation is in Dutch.
The counterintuitive nature of customer experience managementGeert Martens
Beyond Philosophy is a consulting firm that helps companies improve their customer experience management. They address tough questions about defining the customer experience, understanding customer expectations, measuring the experience gaps, and ensuring employees are engaged in delivering the desired experience. Improving the customer experience can result in increased customer satisfaction, reduced costs, and higher revenues and profits for companies. The customer experience is both a rational interaction and emotional experience for customers.
From customer experience to candidate experienceGeert Martens
How can we learn from customer experience to win the war for talent? From customer experience to candidate experience is the keynote address by Geert Martens on the Candidate Experience workshop organised by Vacature/Références on 30/11/2011 in Wemmel, Belgium.
This document discusses designing a cross-channel strategy for small enterprise customers of Belgacom. It emphasizes creating an emotional customer engagement through consistent experiences across touchpoints. The strategic imperatives are to move from a multi-channel to cross-channel approach based on customer preference, with channels guided by behavioral principles to make customers feel proud to be with Belgacom. The vision is outlined as designing customer journeys, determining appropriate channels, optimizing the channel mix, and processes to ensure a simple and friendly experience across all channels.
Customer experience in a digital age (preview)Geert Martens
We're no longer living in material world, we're living in an experience world. It's no longer Madonna, it's Lady Gaga who rules the world. What is the impact of the digital age on the way consumers take decisions? And how can you impact this from a business perspective? The answer: great customer experiences
Customer experience & moments of truth: best practice highlightsGeert Martens
What should you do to excell on all "Moments of Truth" and deliver a great customer experience? What are best practices in Moment of Truth Management? This presentation (part of a larger one called "The truth about Moments of Truth") discusses global best practices in CEM en MoTM.
QP Steno offers a unique tool that can assist with the evaluation of a service provider’s fees. The reports generated by this tool give plan sponsors the ability to see how much time, effort and cost is going into each of the provider’s activities, and it can break out the provider’s gross compensation across different activities and convert such compensation into an hourly rate, project rate, or per-participant rate.
New Department of Labor rules will increase transparency around 401(k) fees paid by participants. Rule 408(b)(2) will require service providers to disclose their fees and whether they act as fiduciaries. Rule 404(a) will require quarterly reports to participants on plan costs. This increased transparency is expected to lead to fee reductions as pricing models are modified, and some participants may be surprised by costs. Standards of full fee transparency and elimination of revenue sharing are expected to emerge, allowing for more reasonable pricing of plan components.
401(k) Advisors service model starts with a Fiduciary Fitness program, Including a Fiduciary Investment and plan review and providor benchmarking analysis. Our RFP and provider search process is second to none where we gather over 300 data points on each provider and provide a detailed breakdown of Fees, Fund performance, and service. Our propriatery investment scorecard system takes in to account, Investment style, risk, peer group ranking, and qualitative analysis to help plan sponsors provide the necessary investment due dilligence to satisfy their fiduciary compliance obligations.
Under ERISA Section 408(b)(2), retirement plan fees must be reasonable in light of the services being rendered. Retirement plan fees are also a hot target in the courts, most notably with last year's Tussey vs. ABB, Inc. decision. In this presentation, we discuss just what the reasonableness standard means for today's retirement plan sponsors, and an action plan for employers.
Retirement Plan Fees and Expenses - What a Fiduciary Needs to KnowCBIZ, Inc.
1. The document discusses the responsibilities and potential legal risks for company fiduciaries who oversee 401(k) retirement plans. Fiduciaries are responsible for selecting and monitoring service providers and plan fees to ensure they are reasonable.
2. Recent lawsuits have challenged 401(k) plan fees and fund selections, resulting in hundreds of millions in settlements. Common issues cited in lawsuits include excessive fees, underperformance of target date funds, availability of lower-cost share classes, and failure to regularly monitor investments and fees.
3. The document provides guidance on how fiduciaries can determine if plan fees are reasonable, including benchmarking fees against similar plans, ensuring fee transparency, and seeking guidance from qualified advisors. F
SEC Study Financial Literacy of Retail InvestorsSteven Reta
This document summarizes a study by the SEC staff regarding financial literacy among investors as required by the Dodd-Frank Act. The study was based on research including a literature review by the Library of Congress, public comments, focus groups, and an online survey. Key findings include:
1) Existing studies show U.S. retail investors have weak understanding of basic financial concepts and lack knowledge to avoid fraud. Certain subgroups have even less knowledge.
2) Feedback and research identified methods to improve disclosure timing, content, and format including providing disclosures before decisions, using summaries and layered formats, and clear plain language.
3) Useful information for investors includes fees, performance, strategies, risks for financial products and intermedi
The document provides an overview of JP Energy Partners LP and discusses its three business segments: crude oil pipelines and storage, refined products terminals and storage, and NGL distribution and sales. It also discusses JP Energy's Q3 2016 financial results, balance sheet and liquidity position, and its planned merger with American Midstream Partners to create a larger, more diversified midstream company.
The document summarizes the Quality- and Cost-Based Selection (QCBS) process for selecting consultants by World Bank borrowers. It outlines the key steps: 1) developing terms of reference and a cost estimate, 2) advertising the project, 3) creating a shortlist of 6 qualified firms, and 4) issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP) to the shortlisted firms. The RFP includes the letter of invitation, instructions to consultants, terms of reference, and draft contract. The process aims to select consultants based on both quality of proposal and cost in a competitive and transparent manner.
Plan Sponsors looking for lower-cost investment vehiclesDan Brennan
The rise of CITs and their broader availability means that plan sponsors should be evaluating these vehicles as part of their due diligence process when selecting investments for their plan lineup. Given the unique features of CITs compared with mutual funds and the different approaches providers take when constructing their products, evaluating these products may take an extra level of due diligence.
This document summarizes the findings of a survey of Canadian investors on fees, advisory services, and disclosure. Key findings include:
- Most investors rely on advisors at least somewhat and advised investors tend to have higher satisfaction with performance and investment options.
- While some investors raised concerns about conflicts of interest and fees, most advised investors gave their advisors high satisfaction ratings.
- Disclosure and reporting has improved according to many investors, though awareness of new requirements is still low.
- Knowledge of fees varies, with many only somewhat familiar, and awareness of trailing commissions is also moderate.
Washington Financial Group provides the services, experience and resources you seek to deliver an efficient and effective retirement plan to your employees.
How does the cost of your 40(k) plan compare to similar sized plans? As a retirement plan fiduciary, it is your responsibility to know the cost of your plan, and whether those costs are reasonable. Learn more about the fee benchmarking process.
Rhode Island RFP 2015 for 529 Program ManagementPaul Curley, CFA
This document is a request for proposals from firms to serve as the program manager for Rhode Island's 529 college savings plan. It provides an overview of the program, including its assets of over $7 billion spread across 411,000 accounts. It outlines the scope of services required, including legal/regulatory compliance, administration, investment management, marketing and customer service. Respondents must have at least 5 years experience managing a 529 plan or similar program, $50 billion or more in assets under management, and agree to qualify to do business in Rhode Island. Proposals are due by August 5, 2015.
Fee Policy Statement Kit: Best Practices for Managing Plan Expenses - Brian B...BPAS
The document discusses the evolution of defined contribution plan governance from the 1970s to present day. It emphasizes the importance of fiduciary duties to pay only reasonable plan expenses and follow a prudent process. A fee policy statement is recommended as a tool to document how a plan will monitor and allocate costs. It explains concepts like revenue sharing, expense recapture accounts, and expense allocation methods to help fiduciaries meet regulatory requirements.
The document summarizes the state of the qualified retirement plan space in mid-2010. It discusses that markets have been volatile but not truly down for the year. Legislative changes have increased oversight and fee disclosure requirements. Plan designs are seeing more automatic enrollment and Roth options. The remainder provides case studies on situations involving a participant's market timing, the impact of suspending safe harbor contributions, and implementing a carve-out plan design. It encourages analyzing plans for customization and fiduciary support.
Groom law group RiXtrema optimizer report final 12-20-19Daniel Satchkov
- The memorandum discusses the use of RiXtrema's Reg. BI Optimizer Report by financial advisors in making rollover recommendations subject to fiduciary duties under ERISA or Regulation Best Interest.
- The Report appears to contain information establishing elements courts have found important for prudent decisions, and the SEC suggests are important for best interest recommendations, regarding rollover decisions.
- Using and completing the Report could help create a documented record supporting a best interest recommendation to roll over from one account to another, though courts may also consider substantive prudence and fiduciary standards.
FinCorp is an investment banking firm established in Egypt in 1998 that provides services including mergers and acquisitions, private placements, IPOs, corporate bonds, loans, business valuation, and portfolio management. It has relationships with similar firms globally. The document provides an overview of FinCorp, its services, experience in sectors like real estate and manufacturing, and profiles of its professionals.
Fiduciary Protection: Is Your Retirement Plan Ready for a DOL or IRS Audit?Citrin Cooperman
The document discusses retirement planning challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. It notes that the pandemic severely impacted many businesses, leading to high unemployment. While testing and cases have improved, there is still uncertainty around reopening plans and potential summer spikes. The stock market rebounded from initial declines but volatility remains. The document provides tips for retirement plan participants and sponsors, such as maintaining a diversified portfolio and long-term focus during volatile times. It emphasizes continuing retirement contributions where possible.
Open Source Capital provides an innovative new way for private equity investors to invest in single assets through "Dequity Notes". The notes offer high risk-adjusted returns through quarterly payments that are treated as 1099 income, avoiding more complicated K1 tax forms. Open Source Capital identifies deals, conducts due diligence, and structures debt financing with profit participation for the notes. This allows individual investors access to professionally vetted deals typically reserved for large financial sponsors and accredited investors.
1. The document discusses structuring a Social Benefit Bond (SBB) between Westpac, the Benevolent Society, and the NSW Government.
2. Key terms of the proposed SBB include a $10 million bond with $7.5 million in moderate risk Class P notes and $2.5 million in high risk Class E notes to fund family preservation services over 5 years.
3. Investor returns are linked to performance outcomes, with Class P notes protected but interest returns variable, and Class E notes having 100% capital at risk but higher potential interest returns.
Similar to The Bogdahn Group Report to Orange County Commissioners laying out a "fiduciary imperative" (20)
Falcon stands out as a top-tier P2P Invoice Discounting platform in India, bridging esteemed blue-chip companies and eager investors. Our goal is to transform the investment landscape in India by establishing a comprehensive destination for borrowers and investors with diverse profiles and needs, all while minimizing risk. What sets Falcon apart is the elimination of intermediaries such as commercial banks and depository institutions, allowing investors to enjoy higher yields.
[4:55 p.m.] Bryan Oates
OJPs are becoming a critical resource for policy-makers and researchers who study the labour market. LMIC continues to work with Vicinity Jobs’ data on OJPs, which can be explored in our Canadian Job Trends Dashboard. Valuable insights have been gained through our analysis of OJP data, including LMIC research lead
Suzanne Spiteri’s recent report on improving the quality and accessibility of job postings to reduce employment barriers for neurodivergent people.
Decoding job postings: Improving accessibility for neurodivergent job seekers
Improving the quality and accessibility of job postings is one way to reduce employment barriers for neurodivergent people.
Falcon stands out as a top-tier P2P Invoice Discounting platform in India, bridging esteemed blue-chip companies and eager investors. Our goal is to transform the investment landscape in India by establishing a comprehensive destination for borrowers and investors with diverse profiles and needs, all while minimizing risk. What sets Falcon apart is the elimination of intermediaries such as commercial banks and depository institutions, allowing investors to enjoy higher yields.
2. Elemental Economics - Mineral demand.pdfNeal Brewster
After this second you should be able to: Explain the main determinants of demand for any mineral product, and their relative importance; recognise and explain how demand for any product is likely to change with economic activity; recognise and explain the roles of technology and relative prices in influencing demand; be able to explain the differences between the rates of growth of demand for different products.
5 Tips for Creating Standard Financial ReportsEasyReports
Well-crafted financial reports serve as vital tools for decision-making and transparency within an organization. By following the undermentioned tips, you can create standardized financial reports that effectively communicate your company's financial health and performance to stakeholders.
Seminar: Gender Board Diversity through Ownership NetworksGRAPE
Seminar on gender diversity spillovers through ownership networks at FAME|GRAPE. Presenting novel research. Studies in economics and management using econometrics methods.
In a tight labour market, job-seekers gain bargaining power and leverage it into greater job quality—at least, that’s the conventional wisdom.
Michael, LMIC Economist, presented findings that reveal a weakened relationship between labour market tightness and job quality indicators following the pandemic. Labour market tightness coincided with growth in real wages for only a portion of workers: those in low-wage jobs requiring little education. Several factors—including labour market composition, worker and employer behaviour, and labour market practices—have contributed to the absence of worker benefits. These will be investigated further in future work.
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The Bogdahn Group Report to Orange County Commissioners laying out a "fiduciary imperative"
1. Simplifying Your Investment and Fiduciary Decisions
To: Sharon Donoghue, Deputy County Administrator
Orange County
Mark Fostier, Assistant Comptroller
Orange County Comptroller’s Office
From: Darlene Malaney, Senior Consultant
Herb Whitehouse, Chief Fiduciary Officer
Tim Nash, Senior Consultant
Date: August 28, 2008
Re: Review of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office RFP for
457(b) Deferred Compensation Services Providers
OVERVIEW:
As an initial step in conducting a thorough review of the Orange County (the County) 457
Deferred Compensation Plan, The Bogdahn Group (TBG) was asked to perform a due
diligence review of the Orange County Sheriff's Office (OCSO) competitive procurement
process. The purpose of this assignment is to determine the adequacy thereof, and whether
the procurement was conducted in a fair, open and impartial manner. Depending on the
results of this review, we hoped to test the viability of a path for the County to accelerate its
own positive change for County employees; viz., “piggy-backing” on the OCSO RFP and
OCSO’s positive experience with Vanguard during the transition and after.
Our written report describing the scope of our due diligence review and related findings is
presented below. The due diligence review is organized into four sections as listed below.
1. OCSO Advertisement and Distribution of a Request for Proposal (RFP)
2. OCSO Vendor List
3. Contents of the OCSO RFP
4. OCSO Evaluation of the Responses Received
Our conclusions and recommendations are presented at the end of this report.
2. August 28, 2008
Page 2 of 9
THE BOGDAHN GROUP’S DUE DILIGENCE FINDINGS
1. Advertisement and Distribution
We have verified the legal advertisement of OCSO’s RFP #132-08 (The RFP) in the
Orlando Sentinel on 4/30/06 and 5/4/06. The advertisement provided all necessary
information, including the submission deadline, delivery address, date the sealed bids
would be opened, and OCSO Procurement Department contact information. In addition,
the RFP was mailed to eighteen potential service providers on 5/1/06. The Advertisement
and RFP advised potential applicants of the Tuesday, May 16, 2006, submission deadline.
2 . Vendor list
The OCSO mailed the RFP to a diverse group of eighteen professional deferred
compensation service providers, which are listed below. We believe this was an adequate
distribution and that the OCSO obtained a satisfactory number of responses.
Potential Providers:
Mass Mutual Retirement Services
CPI Qualified Plan Consultants, Inc.,
Moreno, Peelen and Company
MetLife Resources,
Merrill Lynch
Smith Barney
Hummel, Voight Insurance
Dimensional Fund Advisors
Raymond James & Associates, Inc.
Vanguard
T. Rowe Price Retirement Plan Services,
Fidelity Investments
Nationwide Retirement Solutions
Morgan Stanley
John Hancock
The Hartford
ING Financial Services
CoAdvantage
3. Contents of the RFP
The RFP asked respondents to answer a wide variety of questions and to provide certain
detailed information and documentation to determine their qualifications and ability to
deliver the scope of services requested.
The RFP was organized into four main sections: Service, Cost, Investments, and Spanish
Addendum. A summary of each section is presented below.
Service - The RFP asked respondents to answer questions pertaining to their ability and
qualifications in performing administrative, operations, technology, documentation and
3. August 28, 2008
Page 3 of 9
reporting certain services, conversion and implementation services, investments, and
independent investment advice.
Cost - The RFP requested information about the following: plan costs, investment
expenses, employee costs, investment advisory services, fiduciary review and process, self
directed brokerage account, compensation to broker/agent or advisory.
Investments – The RFP provided a worksheet entitled “Mutual Fund Proposal”. The
worksheet allowed respondants to list recommended funds in the following categories:
Large Growth, Large Blend, Large Value, Mid Cap, Small Cap, Growth & Value, Specialty
Funds (REIT, etc.), International (Foreign) Stock, International Small, Emerging Markets,
Intermediate Bond, Intermediate Government, TIPS Short Bond, Money Market, Short
Government Bond, Stable Value, Life Cycle Funds. The worksheet requested that the
respondents provide the Morningstar asset class, ticker symbol, expense ratio, revenue
sharing(12b-1 fees), finders fee/sub-TA fees, and whether it was a propriety fund.
Spanish Addendum – The RFP requested information regarding the respondents Spanish
communication abilities.
The information requested was very comprehensive and provided OCSO with all the
necessary tools to make an informed decision.
4. Evaluation of the responses received and selection of Vanguard -
Based on reviewing OCSO evaluation documentation and confirming discussions with the
lead staff person for the OCSO evaluation process, TBG finds that the OCSO evaluation
process was thorough, fair, and produced not only a reasonable, but an excellent result for
the OCSO and the participants in the OCSO 457 Deferred Compensation Plan through the
selection of Vanguard and Dimensional Fund Advisors (a small cap fund subcontractor to
Vanguard)
More specifically, our review of the OCSO documentation included analysis of the
following:
o OCSO’s Comparison Chart of Proposals in Response to RFP#132-6
o OCSO’s Investment Advisory Summary
o OCSO’s Fiscal Chart of Basic Expenses
o RFP responses from the 13 service providers that submitted proposals
o Meetings, phone conversations and correspondence with Bernie Rice,
General Counsel, Orange County Sheriff’s Office
o Trust Agreement between OCSO and Vanguard Fiduciary Trust Company
o Declaration of Trust Establishing Vanguard Trust Company Retirement
Savings Trust
o Employer’s selection of Vanguard and DFA funds
o Employer’s fund mapping strategy
4. August 28, 2008
Page 4 of 9
o Holland & Knight letter confirming the OCSO deferred compensation plan
status as a governmental plan within the meaning of Section 818(a)(6) of the
Internal Revnue Code
o Vanguard Plan Provisions and Services Summary
o Vanguard Retirement Savings Trust Investment Authorization Form
Additional Advantages to Using Vanguard
The price that OCSO secured from Vanguard for its services was appropriate and
competitive for the OCSO Deferred Compensation Plan. However, using the same
Vanguard approach for the rest of Orange County also permits Vanguard to offer reduced
relationship pricing for very similar services in the same geographic location and amortized
over several thousand more participants.
The cost of the Vanguard program at OCSO is provided in four basic parts:
1. Investment fees for Vanguard funds ranging from 15 basis points (Vanguard 500 Index
Fund Investor Shares and Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund Investor Shares) to
56 basis points (Vanguard Mid-Cap Growth Fund).
2. Investment fees for DFA funds ranging from 27 basis points (DFA U.S. Large Value
Index) to 60 basis points (DFA Emerging Markets Value I).
3. A 25 basis point wrap fee payable to Vanguard on all assets invested in DFA funds.
4. An annual $60 per participant fee.
Vanguard has proposed providing OCSO and Orange County with the same level of
services and cost. However, at the initiation of the program the annual per participant fee
will be $50 instead of $60. In addition, as assets subject to the current vendors’ market
value adjustments and deferred surrender charges are transferred into the new program, the
annual per participant fee will be reduced to $27 according to the following schedule:
Assets Moved to Vanguard
$90,000,000 -- $119,999,999 $50 per participant
$120,000,000 -- $150,000,000 $42 per participant
Over $150,000,000 $27 per participant
We estimate that total cost per participant (excluding termination fees), even in the first
year of the new program, will be reduced by more than half of the current program costs.1
1
Attachment A compares the expenses of the current Nationwide, ING, and ICMA-RC programs to the expense that
would be available from piggy backing onto the OCSO RFP.
It is important to note that while The Bogdahn Group obtained detailed fee and expense disclosures from the current
vendors, that there is no expense disclosure for the Nationwide and ING fixed income accounts. These accounts
represent approximately 28% of the combined Nationwide and ING assets. Accordingly, The Bogdahn Group, in
consultation with Nationwide and ING, has estimated the cost of these investments at 100 basis points.
Vanguard costs are estimated on the assumption that participants allocate their investments consistent with the
allocations in the OCSO program.
5. August 28, 2008
Page 5 of 9
Transition Approach
Employee Communication
OCSO, with the dedicated support and direction from Vanguard, did a very good job in
communicating the deferred compensation plan changes to its employees. OCSO
communicated these changes to employees through hard copy correspondence, on-site
meetings, and a dedicated website. Examples of the various forms of communication
included:
o Frequently Asked Questions (and Answers) Handout – Created by OCSO
o “Your Retirement Plan is On the Move” handout provided by Vanguard –
this document outlined information about who Vanguard is, key dates, new
fund line-up and mapping, target retirement funds, Vanguard brokerage
option, Vanguard account services contact information, On-site group
meeting dates and locations, Individual meeting dates and locations, and
dedicated OCSO transition website portal.
o “Simplifying your Investment Decision” handout provided by Vanguard.
This document explains the various investment strategies, options and
services available to employees and provides a questionnaire to assist in
making this determination.
o “Vanguard Target Date Retirement Funds” brochure – this document
provided an overview of what target date funds are and how they can benefit
certain investors.
Vanguard will provide similar communications support for the County 457 Deferred
Compensation Plan.
Termination Fees and Expenses
At the time the OCSO RFP was issued, the contracts in place with ING and Nationwide
imposed transfer restrictions on certain funds. OCSO made prudent decisions with respect
to these issues, and acted with appropriate fiduciary care when it provided clear and
concise information outlining the charges that applied to each participant. OCSO gave
employees the choice of paying termination fees and moving to Vanguard immediately, or
participants could choose to leave the assets with ING or Nationwide until conditions were
met for transferring without penalty. OCSO had all unrestricted monies transferred to
Vanguard immediately, where participants benefited from significantly lower fees, a
simplified and improved fund line-up and no surrender charges, termination fees or market
value adjustments like the previous providers imposed.
Fund Mapping
While the same fund mapping process that Vanguard and OCSO implemented for the
Sheriff’s plan is a viable approach for the overall Orange County Plan, The Bogdahn Group
suggests a different approach; namely, mapping to portfolios.
The success of every defined contribution plan depends not only on the quality and cost of
the investment options made available to participants, but on whether participants put
6. August 28, 2008
Page 6 of 9
together an efficient portfolio. Portfolio investing is the core of modern portfolio theory,
and it allows participants to do more than simply trade risk for return. Efficient portfolios
reduce risk by way of the combination of funds used in order to obtain the greatest
expected return for a given level of risk.
Ordinary participants find this task of creating efficient portfolios impossible to execute,
and often hard to even comprehend as a concept. Accordingly, we would like to send an
effective message to participants about the value of portfolios by automatically mapping
every participant to an age appropriate Vanguard Target Fund, subject to the participant’s
right to direct the mapping of their investments to any fund or funds of their choice.
The Overall Evaluation of the Change to Vanguard
The Bogdahn Group collected extensive fee, expense, and conflict of interest information
from the current vendors serving the Orange County 457 Deferred Compensation Plan. We
have also met with each vendor. If we were to evaluate the current program on a scale
ranging from negative ten (-10) to positive ten (+10), we would place it at a negative seven
(-7) or negative eight (-8). Moving to the approach adopted by OCSO, at the more
favorable relationship pricing available, would move the program somewhere from a
positive six (+6) to a positive eight (+8).
A compelling case can be made for the urgency of making an immediate decision to adopt the
same program as OCSO – even at the same annual $60 per participant cost. We believe that it
would be a serious failure of fiduciary responsibility for the County to delay, even if that delay
would be in connection with doing a new RFP on the model that OCSO conducted. Participants
require the immediate cost reductions that “piggy backing” on the OCSO RFP will provide. But
The Bogdahn Group’s negotiation with Vanguard has resulted in annual fees that will be
signficantly less per participant. The Bogdahn Group is of the opinion that these fees are
reasonable for the assets and number of participants in the Orange County Plan.
CURRENT PROVIDER REVIEW
In addition to evaluating the OCSO procurement process, The Bogdahn Group conducted a
review of the current vendors providing services for Orange County. The review process
involved meeting with each provider, numerous telephone calls, emails, comprehensive
data requests, fee and conflict of interest disclosure. A summary of our findings is
presented below:
ICMA-RC
There are approximately 47 investment options available to plan participants under the
ICMA platform. The ICMA platform also provides mulitple offerings in most fund
categories. For example, there are sixteen funds in the large-cap space alone (6 large
blend, 4 large growth and 6 large value). This line-up also contains some funds of
questionable quality. For example, the Legg Mason Value fund, with a Morningstar Rating
of one star, and an expense ratio over 1%, has been in the bottom one percent vs. its peers
over the trailing year-to-date, one year, three year and five year time periods.
7. August 28, 2008
Page 7 of 9
ING Financial Advisors
There are currently over 100 investment options available to plan participants on the ING
platform. Having this many options is overwhelming for typical employees. ING provides
multiple choices in most every fund category. A strong case can be made regarding the
lack of oversight provided by ING in monitoring the quantity and quality of the investment
options it has in place under the current Orange County 457 Plan fund line-up. For
example, the ING OpCap Balanced Value fund, has a Morningstar Rating of one star and
has ranked in the bottom five percent vs. its peers over the trailing one, three and five year
periods. This OpCap fund also carries a very high expense ratio of 1.2 %.
Nationwide Retirement Solutions
There are approximately 45 investment options available to plan participants on the
Nationwide platform. The platform provides mulitple offerings in most fund categories.
For example, there are fifteen funds in the large-cap space alone (5 large blend, 5 large
growth and 5 large value). As explained later in this report, this is counterproductive to
participants. In addition, the quality of some funds offered is of concern. For example, the
Morgan Stanley Institutional Fund Trust has ranked in the lowest quartile vs. its peers over
the trailing one, three, five and ten year average time periods and has a Morningstar Rating2
of two stars.
Nationwide also appears to provide $600,000 to the Florida Association of Counties.3
The
Bogdahn Group is of the opinion that the financial support that Nationwide provides to the
Florida Association of Counties is a matter of fiduciary concern for a Florida county that is
a member of this Association. The financial support and the apparent conflict of interest
that may exist for Orange County decision makers should be addressed by legal counsel if
Orange County continues to use Nationwide as a vendor.
Adopting the core conclusions of the diligent RFP process conducted by OCSO would
immediately provide Orange County with a clear arms length vendor relationship, and
would remove even the appearance of a conflict of interest.
OVERVIEW OF CURRENT MULTI-PROVIDER STRUCTURE
High administration and investment fees reduce the ultimate level of retirement savings
available to participants. Multiple vendor structures are invariably more expensive than
single recordkeeper administrative platforms. While investment choices may utilize more
than one fund company, there should be only one point of contact for employees for all
aspects of the plan. Moreover, having a menu of investment choices that is selected not by
2
This is a proprietary Morningstar data point. Morningstar rates mutual funds from 1 to 5 stars based on how well
they've performed (after adjusting for risk and accounting for sales charges) in comparison to similar funds. Within
each Morningstar Category, the top 10% of funds receive 5 stars, and the bottom 10% receive 1 star. Funds are rated
for up to three time periods-three-, five-, and 10-years and these ratings are combined to produce an overall rating.
Funds with less than three years of history are not rated. Ratings are objective, based entirely on a mathematical
evaluation of past performance.
3
Florida Association of Counties Budget Proposal FY 2007/08.
8. August 28, 2008
Page 8 of 9
several vendors, but by a formal fiduciary process with professional assistance is a critical
component of an effective and well managed defined contribution plan.
Offering too many investment choices, as each of the current provider platforms do,
increases the complexity and confusion for participants. The result is that poor investment
decision are made. Academic studies definitively confirm that too many choices results in
poor outcomes for participants in general. A smaller, well-constructed and rational
investment menu is necessary when participants are permitted to direct their own
retirement investments..4
CONCLUSION
There are two important factors involved in making the decision to move to a single
provider. The first is timing. Orange County participants deserve an immediate change
that will move the program from a negative seven/eight (-7/-8) to a positive six to eight (+6
to+8). Making the decision to use the vendor and the approach already vetted by the OCSO
RFP gives Orange County decision makers the unique opportunity to make this decision
quickly and without undue delay. A second factor is confidence that the decision to change
to a single vendor will have a sucessful outcome. Again, Orange County can confidently
make a decision to use a vendor that has sucessfully managed a very similar transition right
here in Orange County. Not only is Vanguard’s experience with the OCSO transition very
transferable, but Orange County also has access to the advice and counsel of the very
competent team at OCSO that had oversight over the transition to Vanguard.
The key to the approach adopted by OCSO is the administrative, cost, and employee
communications advantages of a single vendor. Single vendor managed plans create
economies of scale that can deliver higher quality retirement plans at lower cost. Plan
structures that have multiple vendors offering independent administration and investment
services are more expensive than single vendor approaches. These higher costs will have a
direct and negative impact on participants’ accumulations, particularly over the long-run.
Multiple vendor approaches are also more difficult to manage and almost always result in
participants investing in less efficient investment portfolios; namely, portfolios that will
have lower expected returns for any given level of risk, or greater risk for the expected
returns.
4 C.f., April 2008, DEFINED CONTRIBUTION PENSION PLANS IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR: A BEST
PRACTICE BENCHMARK ANALYSIS, Roderick B. Crane, J.D., Director, Institutional Client Relations, Public
Sector Market TIAA-CREF, Michael Heller FSA, MAAA, EA, Vice President, Actuarial Consulting Services
TIAA-CREF, Paul Yakoboski, Ph.D., Principal Research Fellow TIAA-CREF Institute.
9. August 28, 2008
Page 9 of 9
It is our opinion that it is imperative that Orange County immediately move away from the
current multiple vendor approach. By adopting the same approach and using the same
vendor selected by the OCSO, Orange County can make this move immediately, without
the delay of beginning a new and largely duplicative RFP process.
For The Bogdahn Group:
____________________________
Herbert A. Whitehouse
Chief Fiduciary Officer