Retirement plan risks cannot be avoided, but they can be managed in order to minimize their impact on plan participants and sponsors. Employers and sponsors that offer defined contribution (DC) plans have a fiduciary responsibility to measure, manage and mitigate the various factors and risks that could affect those plans.
Protecting a retirement savings plan and its assets requires effective governance. The need was particularly intensified in recent years by several employee class action lawsuits scrutinizing employer governance of 401(k) and other defined contribution plans (e.g., 403(b) and 457).