DAILY UPDATE: Retirement Security Rule, National Drug Take Back Day, Spotify, Cleveland Clinic, NAR and the Mixed Stock Markets

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Otherwise known as “National Prescription Drug Take Back Day,” National Drug Take Back Day on April 25th is sponsored by the Drug Enforcement Agency. Its goal is to keep the public aware of the dangers of prescription drug use and misuse. Many Americans don’t know how to safely dispose of the prescription drugs that have been sitting in the medicine cabinet past their prime. Using these expired drugs, or using someone else’s, is dangerous and puts both the public and the environment at risk.

CITE: https://www.r2library.com/Resource

Spotify made money in Q1. According to Morning Brew, the streaming music giant grew its revenue last quarter by 20% to $3.8 billion on a record $180 million in profit, it announced yesterday. The smash report comes after Spotify cut costs last year, which included laying off more than a quarter of its workforce. The company also raised prices in 2023 for the first time in a decade as it further expanded beyond music into audio books and other categories. Spotify shares soared ~11% following the news.

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Here’s where the major benchmarks ended:

  • The S&P 500 index® (SPX) rose 1.08 points (0.02%) to 5,071.63; the Dow Jones Industrial Average® ($DJI) fell 42.77 points (0.1%) to 38,460.92; the NASDAQ Composite® ($COMP) added 16.11 points (0.1%) to 15,712.75.
  • The 10-year Treasury note yield rose more than 4 basis points to 4.644%.
  • The CBOE Volatility Index® (VIX) rose 0.28 to 15.97.

Transportation shares were among the market’s weakest performers Wednesday behind a drop of more than 10% in Old Dominion Freight Line (ODFL), which reported lighter-than-expected quarterly revenue. The shipper’s nosedive helped send the Dow Jones Transportation Average ($DJT) down 2.3%. Consumer staples, semiconductors, and utilities posted moderate advances. The Dow Jones Utility Index ($DJU) gained for the sixth straight day and ended at a three-and-a-half-month high.

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The National Association of Realtors’ $418 million settlement over an alleged conspiracy to inflate commissions received preliminary approval yesterday. It’s a new world order: Sellers won’t have to pay buyers’ agents anymore. There’s been talk of a metaphorical death of real estate agents, or a mass extinction; the jury is still out, but RE/MAX cofounder and chairman Dave Liniger doesn’t seem too concerned. 

CITE: https://tinyurl.com/2h47urt5

The Labor Department announced it has finalized its Retirement Security Rule, which aims to protect American workers who are saving for retirement and relying on advice from fiduciaries for it. The new rule will update the definition of an investment advice fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and the Internal Revenue Code.

CITE: https://tinyurl.com/tj8smmes

Clinicians don’t always get it right, and their mistakes can be costly: Studies show misdiagnoses lead to roughly 800,000 patient deaths or permanent disabilities each year in the US and cost the healthcare system an estimated $20 billion annually. Cleveland Clinic is using telehealth to try to combat misdiagnoses via its virtual second opinions program, which has saved an average of $8,705 per patient by avoiding unnecessary treatments, according to an analysis released in March.

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Retirement Plan Risks for Physician-Employers

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Advantages Well Known – Disadvantages Not So

By Brian J. Knabe, MD

[Certified Medical Planner™ candidate]

A source of risk often overlooked by the physician-employer is the risk involved in offering a retirement plan.

Medical practice owners, like other small business owners, find several advantages to starting a retirement plan. The plan can be used to allow the owners to save money in a tax-advantaged manner, and a generous retirement plan can help to attract and retain quality employees.

Administration Risks 

The recent “Great Recession” and turbulence in the stock market have highlighted the risks involved in administering these plans. There is a long history of fraud and neglect in the field of retirement savings plans, and a series of legislative efforts have been enacted to counter these abuses.

Current standards are based primarily on four federal laws, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), the Uniform Prudent Investors Act (UPIA), the Management of Public Employee Retirement Systems Act (MPERS), and the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA).

ERISA Standards 

According to ERISA standards, you may be considered a fiduciary for a retirement plan if you meet any of the following tests:

  • You exercise discretionary authority or control over plan assets or plan management.
  • You are specifically identified in the written documents of a plan as a named fiduciary.
  • You have discretionary responsibility in the administration of the plan.
  • You manage the plan or its assets or render investment advice for a fee.

Recent court decisions have found fiduciaries to be personally liable, even for acts of which they were unaware or in areas not considered within their scope of responsibility. Acting with good intentions or in good faith is not an acceptable defense. Neither is ignorance of your responsibilities.

www.CertifiedMedicalPlanner.com

Liability Mitigation 

The liability of the administrator (or business owner) can be diminished by taking these steps:

  • Act in a procedurally prudent manner.
  • Diversify investments to minimize the risk of large losses.
  • Provide sufficient information and education to employees to enable them to exercise control over their investments.
  • Offer a broad, diversified investment menu having at least three (preferably five or six) “core” alternatives, each of which must be diversified.

Assessment

The most efficient way to meet these and other requirements is to hire a retirement plan provider which is a certified as a fiduciary, and which accepts “co-fiduciary” status along with the practice owner.  The Centre for Fiduciary Excellence (CEFEX) offers certification as a fiduciary.

For more information, see www.savantcapital.com/cefex.

Savant Capital Management, Inc®

190 Buckley Drive

Rockford, IL 61107

Tel 815-227-0300

Fax 815-226-2195

bknabe@savantcapital.com

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