Protecting Your Client From Fiduciary Litigation

Stephen Abramson is the President and founding partner of APS Pension & Financial Services established in 1979, a mid-size consulting and actuarial firm employing twenty-two professional and support staff specializing in pension and pension-related services. For over 40 years, APS has been providing closely held businesses and non-profits with financial services including pension design and administration, business succession planning, and wealth preservation planning. In 2015 APS Investment Management was established to provide ERISA 3/38 fiduciary services to 401(k) and 403(b) plans and in 2018 APS Wealth Management, LLC, a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA), was established to provide investment management services to individual clients and retirement plans replacing a previous relationship with a Broker/Dealer. Steve has taught professional level education programs for the American Society of Pension Actuaries; lectured to various professional groups, including the National Conference of CPA Practitioners, The NYS Society of CPAs, provided continuing education webinars for the Foundation for Accounting Education (FAE), the Nassau Bar Association, the C.W. Post Tax Institute, and the National Institute of Pension Administrators; and conducted continuing education seminars for Certified Public Accountants for the past 35 years. Steve is an Associate member of the NYSSCPAs, a member of their Employee Benefit Committee, and chairs a sub-committee on Fiduciary Compliance. Steve also hosts webinars on various retirement plan topics, some of which are jointly sponsored by the NYSSCPAs through the Foundation for Accounting Education (FAE). He is co-author of Plan Smart, Retire Rich published by McGraw Hill in 1998; author of Advisor’s Guide to Qualified Plans originally published by Aspen Publishing in March, 2002 and recently updated with the 7th edition in 2018, and Retirement Financial Management for Clients Approaching Retirement published by Aspen Publishing in August, 2002. A less technical version of Advisor’s Guide to Qualified Plans entitled Guide to Qualified Retirement Plans: A Plain Language Primer was published by the International Association of Employee Benefits in March 2005. The second edition of this book was released in 2008. Steve graduated from Cornell University in 1964, earned the designation of Chartered Life Underwriter in 1967 from the American College, Certified Pension Consultant in 1970 from the American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries and Chartered Financial Consultant from the American College in 1972.