Politics has no place in your 401(k) but that’s just what the U.S. government is trying to do
OUTSIDE THE BOX
© Getty Images
The Department of Labor released its interim final rule about employer-sponsored retirement account statements.
Investors are inundated with brochures that market the “ideal” approach to crating a portfolio that addresses environmental, social and governance (ESG) concerns.

Load Error
ESG has a lot of room for individual interpretation in both meaning and application, so it would seem appropriate for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to provide guideposts for investors. Instead, two recent ESG-related proposals from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) are under consideration. Why the DOL? The agency regulates the massive $10+ trillion in employee benefit plans covered under ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act).
Individually, each of the two proposals seems to offer solid investor-first logic for the fiduciaries that run these plans. The first looks to provide rails around what the plans can hold in ESG-themed funds, while reiterating its ban
Politics has no place in your 401(k) but that’s just what the U.S. government is now trying to do
OUTSIDE THE BOX
© Getty Images
The Department of Labor released its interim final rule about employer-sponsored retirement account statements.
Investors are inundated with brochures that market the “ideal” approach to crating a portfolio that addresses environmental, social and governance (ESG) concerns.

Load Error
ESG has a lot of room for individual interpretation in both meaning and application, so it would seem appropriate for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to provide guideposts for investors. Instead, two recent ESG-related proposals from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) are under consideration. Why the DOL? The agency regulates the massive $10+ trillion in employee benefit plans covered under ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act).
Individually, each of the two proposals seems to offer solid investor-first logic for the fiduciaries that run these plans. The first looks to provide rails around what the plans can hold in ESG-themed funds, while reiterating its ban