Episode Intro: The GAP with Eric Dyson

Your retirement plan advisor can be the difference between a 401(k) that simply exists and a plan that actually changes employees’ lives. We sit down with Eric Dyson, executive director of 90 North Consulting and host of Be More Than a Fiduciary, to get brutally practical about how plan sponsors can evaluate an advisor, run a meaningful advisor search, and avoid getting fooled by the best presentation in the room.

Episode Description:

We start with the fundamentals that protect you as a fiduciary under ERISA: understanding your duties, defining what you need before you hire, and setting priorities that reflect the reality of your workplace. Eric shares what strong RFPs and competitive bids look like today, including how to spot copy-and-paste answers, why case studies and sample reports matter, and how great advisors tailor solutions to your plan demographics, participant behavior, and internal bandwidth.

Then we dig into what sponsors should expect as “table stakes” from a retirement plan advisor: recurring investment reviews, a usable investment policy statement, and ongoing fee and service benchmarking. We also get specific about participant education, how to measure whether it’s working with clear KPIs and employee feedback, and why culture fit and true partnership with your recordkeeper and TPA can make or break outcomes. If you’re a small business owner, CFO, or HR lead with no committee and no benefits department, you’ll leave with a simple roadmap to find the right advisor and an annual habit that strengthens your due diligence: reviewing your 408(b)(2) fee disclosure to understand what you pay, what you get, and whether your advisor is a fiduciary.

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Guest Bio: Eric Dyson
Eric Dyson is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy. After graduation, he served for ten years as a highly decorated nuclear-trained submarine officer. Eric has been a professional in the financial services industry for over 30 years, serving ERISA plan sponsors for over 25 years. He is currently the Executive Director of 90 North Consulting, where he provides services including advisor and broker RFPs, fiduciary training, best practices audits, and adjunct committee membership. Eric is also the host of the Be More Than a Fiduciary Podcast and delivers keynotes focused on actionable lessons from ERISA litigation.

Contact Our Guest:

Eric Dyson
Executive Director
90 North Consulting
https://90northllc.com/
LinkedIn

Contact Our Host:

Shannon Edwards
President
TrisStar Pension Consulting
TriStarPension.com
LinkedIn