Government DC Plan Disparity

In my last piece I talked about the problems in Government DC plans - see Thrown To The Wolves. This is just a quick update.

In the past few months the Department of Labor's (DOL) Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) has been busy. They have done some excellent work in updating fee disclosures, transparency and fiduciary obligations, specifically they have released the following regulations or proposed rules:

408(b)2 Interim Final Regulations
404(a) Participant Fee Rules
Definition of Fiduciary Proposed Rule

There are substantial changes including increased disclosures, greater transparency and more participant protections and yet, none of these rules apply to Government Defined Contributions plans such as 403(b) and 457(b). Sure, many government employers will adopt some or all of these rules/regs but the majority will not. Why is that one set of employees in America is treated so differently than another set just because their income comes from the Government. Is it ironic that these government plans are not subject to government rules/regulations?

Its time that Government employees receive the same rights and protections that private-sector employees receive in relation to their Defined Contributions plans.

Scott Dauenhauer CFP, MSFP, AIF