Daily Money Manager Bookkeeping: Retainers, Bill-Pay Trust Controls, and the Fiduciary Line
A daily money manager is not a fiduciary until formally appointed — price retainers deliberately, never commingle funds, and log every bill-pay.
#fiduciary
Fiduciary
Legal and tax responsibilities of trustees, executors, personal representatives, and other fiduciaries managing trust and estate assets
Former Employees Left Money in Your 401(k)? How to Find Them, Handle Uncashed Checks, and Document the Search
The DOL expects certified mail, record checks, beneficiary contact, and free online searches — and IRS Rev. Rul. 2019-19 taxes a 401(k) check never cashed.
Sponsoring a 401(k) Makes You Personally Liable: What Fiduciary Liability Insurance Covers That Your ERISA Bond Doesn't
An ERISA fidelity bond protects the plan from theft, not you. Fiduciary liability insurance covers 401(k) breach-of-duty claims for $500–$2,500 a year.
Switching 401(k) Providers? The Blackout Notice You Owe Participants
Switching 401(k) recordkeepers freezes accounts — ERISA requires a blackout notice 30 to 60 days ahead, or the DOL can assess $173 per participant per day.
Robo-Advisors vs. Human Advisors: A Small Business Owner's Guide to Fees, Fiduciary Duty, and When Automation Makes Sense
A 1% AUM fee costs roughly 24% of a 30-year balance versus 7% at 0.25% — pick a robo, hybrid, or human fiduciary by your business stage, not by price alone.
What's Inside Your 401(k)'s Default Fund? How Target-Date Funds Pick Your Investments, and the Fees to Compare
Target-date funds hold about $4.9 trillion and are the default in 99% of the auto-enrollment 401(k) plans Vanguard tracks. Here is how glide paths, "to" versus "through" designs, and expense ratios shape your retirement balance, plus a 15-minute checkup for savers and the fiduciary duties for owners who sponsor a plan.
401(k) Forfeiture Accounts: The 12-Month Deadline for Unvested Match Dollars
When an employee quits before the employer match vests, the unvested dollars land in the plan's forfeiture account. The IRS's proposed rule would give sponsors 12 months after the plan year closes to use them — on plan expenses, on reducing future employer contributions, or by reallocating to participants — and stale multi-year suspense balances are already a standard audit finding.
Elder Financial Exploitation: A Business Owner's Guide to Protecting Aging Parents' Money
Banks tied roughly $27 billion in suspicious activity to elder financial exploitation in the year ending June 2023, per FinCEN. A practical guide for business owners — the five scams draining parents' accounts, the warning signs to watch in their finances, how to get read-only visibility without starting a family fight, and the bookkeeping rules that protect you if you end up holding the power of attorney.
SECURE 2.0 Auto-Portability and the December 31, 2026 401(k) Plan Amendment Deadline: What Small Business Sponsors Must Do Now
SECURE 2.0 Section 120 lets a departing employee's $1,000–$7,000 401(k) balance follow them into their next employer's plan through the Portability Services Network, and IRS Notice 2024-2 requires most calendar-year plans to adopt a consolidated SECURE 2.0 amendment by December 31, 2026. This guide covers how auto-portability interacts with force-out rules, what the amendment must memorialize, whether small employers should opt in, and the payroll, census and expense records to reconcile before year-end.
Law Firm Trust Accounting: Why a Three-Way IOLTA Reconciliation Is Your Best Defense Against Bar Discipline
A three-way reconciliation proves the bank statement, trust ledger, and every individual client ledger agree to the penny. It is the monthly process that keeps a pooled IOLTA account compliant with ABA Model Rule 1.15 and out of bar discipline.
Sale Barn Bookkeeping: How Livestock Auctions Must Handle Custodial Trust Accounts Under the Packers and Stockyards Act
Livestock auction markets are federal fiduciaries under the Packers and Stockyards Act — custodial accounts must be funded by the next business day, reimbursed in full within seven days, and reconciled monthly. This guide covers the chart of accounts a sale barn needs, how the required surety bond is calculated from sale volume, and why Beef Checkoff and brand-inspection fees must stay out of revenue.
The DOL's Fiduciary Rule Just Died Again: What Small Employers Running a 401(k) Need to Know Now
Texas federal courts vacated the DOL's Retirement Security Rule in March 2026, reverting fiduciary status for retirement advice to the 1975 five-part test — the second such rule struck down since 2018. Here's what 401(k) plan sponsors should check now: advisor fiduciary status in writing, compensation disclosures, and a documentation checklist, plus what the DOL's new alternative-assets safe harbor proposal means for small plans.