Best Practices for 401(k) Investment Committees by Rocco DiBruno (Marketplace Books: $19.95)

As financial advisors venture further into the 401(k) plan-sponsor marketplace, a growing number will find themselves confronting a complicated and unfamiliar compliance landscape. Where as traditional financial planning involves one-on-one relationships with clients, working with 401(k) plans involves managing a relationship with something much more nebulous: the investment committee.

Fortunately for these advisors, Rocco DiBruno, a former Merrill Lynch executive with decades of experience in servicing employer-sponsored retirement plans, has produced Best Practices for 401(k) Plan Investment Committees. "Small-plan sponsors," DiBruno writes, "typically argue against having investment committees, especially for smaller plans, and suggest that it is too timeconsuming." To get advisors moving in a better direction, the book explores both the reasons why it makes sense to assemble an investment committee and how actually to go about it.

DiBruno first explores the federal legislation that governs employer-sponsored plans and explains tricky rules about investment options and the fiduciary obligations in play even when employees choose their own investment allocations. He also explores the nuts and bolts of choosing managers and how employer stock--in the post-Enron era, that is--can be used in a 401(k) plan. Just as helpful are chapters on how to choose an investment committee, write an investment policy, monitor plan performance and help the committee understand where its responsibility begins and ends. At only 110 pages and $19.95 per copy, the text would also be a great handout for new and existing committee members alike.

(c) 2006 Financial Planning and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

http://www.Financial-Planning.com http://www.sourcemedia.com