Vice President Plans to Protect Workers' Retirement Plans

Vice President Biden will announce new labor regulations to protect workers' retirement savings Friday.  These regulations are the work of the Middle Class Task Force that Mr. Biden chairs and the Department of Labor.  These new safeguards will protect workers from conflicts of interest when it comes to financial advisors and their 401(k) and IRA plans.  According to the Vice President's office, retirement investment advisors and money managers will only be allowed to give investment advice if 1) they do not get any sort of commission for steering workers into funds with which they are affiliated; OR 2) if their advice is based on an objective computer model certified to be unbiased by independent experts.  The Department of Labor will make these proposed regulations available for public comment until May 5, after which the Department will issue a final rule.  Once that final rule takes effect, these regulations will apply to all financial institutions that both provide investment options like 401(k)s to employers and offer financial advice to their employees, extending new protections to tens of millions of workers across the country.
The Vice President will announce these proposed regulations at 10:00am when he discusses the annual report of the Middle Class Task Force that he presented to President Obama on Friday.
Fox Business Channel Reporter Rich Edson contributed to this report.