Commentary: Bob's favorite 401(k) Web sites, part two

Daily Record (Rochester, NY), Feb 4, 2008 by Bob Easterly

Welcome to the second part of my review of the top 401(k) Web sites. (Part one was published in the Jan. 28 edition of The Daily Record.)

Hopefully, you had an opportunity to access some of the sites listed in part one, and will find the Web sites listed today equally valuable.

Let's begin with a U.S. government site, www.dol.gov/ebsa, the Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) Web site. The EBSA protects the integrity of pensions, health plans and other employee benefits for more than 150 million people. EBSA's mission is to:

* Assist workers in getting the information they need to exercise benefit rights;

* Assist plan officials to understand the requirements of the relevant statutes in order to meet their legal responsibilities;

* Develop policies and regulations that encourage the growth of employment-based benefits; and

* Deter and correct violations of the relevant statutes through strong administrative, civil and criminal enforcement efforts to ensure workers receive promised benefits.

The EBSA site is the place to go to obtain information about the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and legislative action such as the Pension Protection Act of 2006. There are numerous helpful articles, including tips on choosing a plan service provider and meeting fiduciary responsibilities.

Plan participants also will find helpful articles such as "Top 10 Ways to Prepare for Retirement." If you want to hear it straight from the horse's mouth, surf over here.

For an excellent daily update on news in the 401(k) industry, visit www.investmentwires/401kwire, a fee-based news delivery Web site.

Employee Benefit News also offers articles on retirement plan issues along with other benefit-related news at ebn.benefitnews.com.

If you're interested in fiduciary matters within 401 (k) plans, head to www.fi360.com. The Foundation for Fiduciary Studies is the leading voice on fiduciary concerns. Founder Don Trone recently was voted one the most influential people in the 401(k) industry by The 401(k) Wire.

The Web site for the American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries (ASPPA) is located at www.aspa.org. ASPPA is the premier national organization for career retirement plan professionals. If you are looking for training programs and designations valuable in the 401(k) industry, check out this site.

I mentioned two excellent Web sites with a research focus in the first part of my list. Three more can be found at www.mrrc.isr.umich.edu; crr.bc.edu and www.nber.org/programs/ag/ rrc. These sites take you to The University of Michigan Retirement Research Center, The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College and the NBER Retirement Research Center, respectively. All three are part of the Social Security Administration's Retirement Research Consortium and many interesting research articles can be found on these sites.

If you are looking to market to companies with 401(k) plans, a good place to start is www.freeerisa.com. Here you can access Form 5500 data, which can provide a good starting point for understanding market opportunity by region. Two other fee-based sites can be useful as well: www.pensionplanet.com and www.larkspurdata.com.

The law firm of Reish, Luftman, Reicher & Cohen is online at www.reish.com. Fred Reish is widely regarded as the preeminent attorney in the 401(k) industry. In fact, in 2007 he was named the most influential person in the 401(k) industry by The 401(k) Wire. He has written scores of articles on 401(k) topics, which you can access on his site.

Two other law firms prominent in the 401(k) industry are The Groom Law Group and The Wagner Law Group, at www.groom.com and www.erisa-lawyers.com. There also are many excellent ERISA attorneys in our local area. Having a local person to call on regarding retirement plan issues can be of great benefit.

Last but not least, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention our very own Web sites: EPIC's corporate site at www.epic1st.com, which provides information about our company and links to many IRS retirement news publications; and www.401ktalk.com, which features all the articles we have written for The Daily Record. We'd love to hear any comments or feedback on our articles. Happy surfing!

Bob Easterly is a sales consultant at EPIC Advisors Inc., a full- service retirement plan provider with an emphasis on 401(k) plans. Offices are located at 150 State St., Suite 200, Rochester, N.Y. 14614; phone (585) 232-9060; www.EPIC1st.com and www.401kTALK.com.