The Supreme Court wants a benchmark. Savers should get the numbers

The Supreme Court is considering whether 401(k) lawsuits alleging poor fund performance must compare investments with a “meaningful benchmark”. The issue arose in Anderson v. Intel Corp. Investment Policy Committee, which challenges private equity and hedge fund holdings in Intel’s custom retirement funds.

The article’s author, who says they have spent 30 years investing in private equity and hedge funds, agrees that comparisons must use a suitable yardstick: underperformance against the wrong benchmark proves little. Justices Neil Gorsuch and Elena Kagan raised the benchmark question at a hearing on 6 October, with Kagan saying the comparison should be “kind of an apple”. The author argues that savers need access to the figures required to make that comparison.