Jon Chambers's blog

SF Chronicle Quotes Chambers on Retirement Plan Default Rules

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 08:46:38 -0800

Employers not liable for 401(k) losses in target account by Kathleen Pender, San Francisco Chronicle, Sunday, October 28, 2007.

The U.S. Labor Department last week issued final rules designed to get more employees participating and investing more aggressively in their 401(k) plans.

The new rules say that employers can’t be held liable for losses in a 401(k) account if they enroll employees who don’t sign up themselves and direct their contributions into one of three qualified default options: target-date funds, balanced funds and managed accounts.

SF Chronicle: Year-end income tax strategies

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 14:01:08 -0700

Jon Chambers is quoted in an article on how to plan your Year-end income tax strategies by Kathleen Pender, San Francisco Chronicle, November 28, 2006.

As the end of 2006 approaches, here are some tax- and money-saving moves to consider before Dec. 31.

Pump up your 401(k).

Think twice before buying a stock fund in a taxable account.

Think twice before buying a stock fund in a taxable account.

Maximize tax losses.

Give a gift.

SF Chronicle Quotes Chambers on Large Market Drop

Sat, 21 Jan 2006 07:56:10 -0800

Dow dives on ho-hum earnings, oil worries by Carolyn Said, San Francisco Chronicle, Saturday, January 21, 2006.

Jon Chambers, principal at investment-consulting firm Schultz Collins Lawson Chambers in San Francisco, said investors shouldn’t fret over Friday’s one-day drop.

“The market will balance itself out. We’ll have bad days and good days,” he said. In fact, Chambers said, bad days are simply the price investors pay for potentially bigger payoffs in the long run.

“A day like today reminds us why we expect 10 percent (returns over time) from the stock market,” he said. “If you didn’t have greater risk, you wouldn’t have greater reward. You do better in stocks than in a money market or a bond because you have the risk of bad days, bad months or bad years. If you were never to have a bad day, month or year, and all you could expect would be a risk-free rate of return, then you’d get the same (low) return as a money market.”

DOL and SEC Issue Guidance Addressing Potential Conflicts of Interest of Pension Consultants

Fri, 3 Jun 2005 17:34:15 -0700

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently published tips to assist fiduciaries of employee benefit plans in reviewing conflicts of interest of pension consultants. The guidance, Selecting and Monitoring Pension Consultants—Tips for Plan Fiduciaries, addresses questions raised by an SEC staff report on potential conflict of interest disclosures by pension consultants.

The tips include a series of questions that DOL and SEC believe plan sponsors should ask their pension consultants. In the interest of full disclosure, we’ve reproduced these questions, and our responses, below:

SEC Releases Report on Pension Consultant Conflicts of Interest

Thu, 27 Oct 2005 14:21:30 -0700

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently released the results of a study of 24 investment consultants. The study uncovered numerous instances of undisclosed or poorly disclosed conflicts of interest among the nation’s largest pension consulting firms. Although the study doesn’t name any of the implicated consultants, SEC officials have confirmed that many of the consulting firms examined face legal actions, fines and “deficiency letters”. SCLC first discussed this issue in a June 2004 Fiduciary Forum article.

Specifically, the SEC’s sweeps found:

More than half of the consultants or their affiliates examined regularly provided services and products to both pension funds and money managers/ mutual funds, and many earned a “significant part of their annual revenue” from dealings with the latter.

SCLC Receives Highest Overall Client Satisfaction Rating in Plan Sponsor Survey

Sun, 29 May 2005 19:37:27 -0700

During fall 2004, Plan Sponsor magazine conducted its annual survey of investment consulting firms. We are very pleased to report that Schultz Collins Lawson Chambers, Inc. (SCLC) received the highest overall client satisfaction rating of all consulting firms ranked in the Plan Sponsor 2004 Consultant Survey (free registration required).

In the survey, 921 plan sponsors rated 42 consulting firms in nine different categories. SCLC received three best in class designations, indicating that we ranked in the top 10% among rated firms. The survey results further singled out SCLC for the knowledge and experience of the firm’s personnel. Best in class awards were given for SCLC’s:

Investment News Quotes SCLC on Broker Fee Disclosure

Thu, 6 Sep 2007 20:10:54 -0700

From Advisers selling DC plans must improve fee disclosure (subsciption required) by Rick Miller on November 1, 2004:

However, there are those who believe that the majority of brokers who sell plans for a commission—and don’t consider themselves fiduciaries—are not always being straightforward about their compensation.

“In my opinion, more don’t provide disclosure in an explicit form than do,” said Jon C. Chambers, principal of Schultz Collins Lawson Chambers Inc. in San Francisco, a consulting firm and registered investment adviser supporting about $1 billion in retirement plan assets. “The majority make sure the prospectuses are delivered, things like that, but is that really disclosure?”

SF Chronicle Quotes SCLC on Bull Market Corrections

Thu, 10 Mar 2005 15:50:46 -0800

Stocks lose their footing: Steep slide by technology companies leads the region’s drop by Carolyn Said, San Francisco Chronicle, Friday, October 1, 2004.

“Every bull market since World War II has had at least one correction—a 10 percent drop, not a 20 percent drop,” said Jon Chambers, vice president of Schultz Collins Lawson Chambers, a San Francisco investment consulting firm that primarily works with institutional retirement plans. “It would be rational to assume that (the recent drop signals) a correction, without meaning that the bull market is over.”

SF Chronicle Quotes SCLC on Closure of Fidelity Low Priced Stock

Fri, 27 May 2005 11:08:32 -0700

From A fund limits its growth by Kathleen Pender, San Francisco Chronicle, Tuesday, July 20, 2004:

Fidelity Low-Priced Stock is the 10th most-popular fund in 401(k) plans. But if you don’t own it in your retirement plan by July 30, you won’t be able to buy it through your plan for the foreseeable future.

..The [Oregon state employees] plan decided to replace [Low-Priced Stock] with the American AAdvantage Small Cap Value fund. Pension fund consultant Jon Chambers is recommending the same fund to his clients as a replacement for Low-Priced Stock.

SF Chronicle Quotes SCLC on Paradoxical Rise of "F" Stocks

Thu, 10 Mar 2005 16:08:46 -0800

‘F’ stocks rise to top of class by Kathleen Pender. San Francisco Chronicle, Thursday, November 13, 2003.

So what’s out of whack: the model or the market?

Jon Chambers, a principal with Schultz Collins Lawson Chambers in San Francisco, says the results suggest that Schwab’s approach “doesn’t really work. It shows you how hard it is to come up with a system for beating the market.”

Global Finance magazine Quotes Chambers on Selecting a 401(k) Plan Provider

Mon, 23 May 2005 09:55:34 -0700

From Selecting a 401(k) plan provider: Navigating the maze
Global Finance, Sep 2003 by Gordon Platt:

Jon C. Chambers, principal at San Francisco-based Schultz Collins Lawson Chambers, an independent investment advisory firm that offers a provider-evaluation service, says many plan sponsors make frequent changes to their service vendors.

In setting up a selection committee to evaluate plan providers, Chambers says, a company needs to include participants from a range of disciplines. The plan sponsor needs to consider which investment and service configurations best suit its needs, he says.

SF Chronicle quotes SCLC on tainted funds

Fri, 13 May 2005 11:53:31 -0700

From The take on tainted funds by Kathleen Pender, San Francisco Chronicle, Sunday, September 21, 2003:

Morningstar has advised investors to avoid funds run by Nations, Janus, Strong and Bank One—the four groups named in a complaint filed by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.

Jon Chambers, a principal with Schultz Collins Lawson Chambers in San Francisco, says none of his clients use Nations funds. “If they did, I think we’d tell them that fund company is really in trouble.

DOL Issues Advisory Opinion on 12b-1 Fees Received by Directed Trustees

Wed, 25 May 2005 16:50:20 -0700

Download my article DOL Issues Advisory Opinion on 12b-1 Fees Received by Directed Trustees, prepared for the members of the Western Pension and Benefits Conference.

SF Chronicle Quotes Chambers on Bush administration plan to overhaul retirement plan structure

Tue, 8 Mar 2005 14:07:46 -0800

From Bush tax plan a boon to savers, Treasury could see quick windfall, long-term drought by Kathleen Pender, San Francisco Chronicle, Saturday, February 1, 2003:

These plans would follow existing rules for 401(k) plans, but the rules would be simplified. One rule change would let higher-paid employees contribute more to such plans, said Jon Chambers, a retirement-plan consultant with Schultz Collins Lawson Chambers.

“This plan is definitely way out there,” Chambers said. “It would basically overturn everything.”

Wall Street Journal Quotes Chambers on Retirement Plan Catch Up Contributions

Wed, 9 Mar 2005 09:28:13 -0800

From Older Investors Miss the Chance To Catch Up in Retirement Plans (subscription required) by Bridget O’Brian on September 13, 2002:

Catching up hasn’t caught on yet. Since Congress last year invited investors age 50 and older to make extra contributions to their mutual funds and other investments in tax-advantaged retirement plans, only a fraction of those who can use these “catch up” provisions have done so.

…And in any case, many eligible investors probably aren’t even aware of the catch up provisions. “Anytime there’s a tax law change, it takes a long time for the information to be disseminated” to investors says Jon Chambers, a vice president with Schultz Collins Lawson Chambers, Inc., a 401(k) consulting firm in San Francisco.