Originally Published 09/18/2025 At the end of Part I we noted that many Advisors and Plan Sponsors are reluctant to recommend Alternative Investments (private market investments, real estate, digital assets, commodities, infrastructure development, and longevity pools) in Defined Contribution (DC) retirement plans due to heightened litigation concerns. Alternatives’ inherent fiduciary risk, complexity, high fees, lack of liquidity and  transparency, and operational hurdles, e

Originally published 09/24/2025 Sponsors and Fiduciaries successfully argued (in the Intel Cases) that including alternatives among the account owner’s investment choices is not automatically a breach of fiduciary duty if managed with care and diligence. Intel’s policy committee demonstrated that they followed a comprehensive, well-documented, and prudent decision-making process under ERISA standards. The Courts agreed with them, finding no breach of fiduciary duties. The de

Originally Published 09/30/2025 At a recent seminar we were asked to identify the most frequent estate planning and administration blunders we encounter in our estate and trust management and planning practice. There are three that stand out: 1.      Not having a plan or not documenting it 2.      Not having an estate inventory 3.      Having a plan and inventory but storing it in your safe deposit box. Not having a plan or documents. Estate planning is uncomfortable to think

Original Post - 10/06/2025 The battle over 501c4 organizations appears to be heating up again. The last round involved alleged IRS targeting of Tea Party organizations (technically under 501c3, not c4). The current one seems to be a replay - based heavily on a very vague IRS definition. From Politico - Tax Weekly. Your thoughts? The IRS’s guidelines for determining whether a politically active group can be tax-exempt under 501(c)(4) of the tax code are “unconstitutionally vag