Qualified retirement plans are financial intermediaries, in some ways comparable to earlier forms of financial intermediation -- banks, insurance companies, securities markets and mutual funds. A financial intermediary is positioned between suppliers of capital (savers and investors) and users of capital (borrowers, business organizations). The intermediary pools wealth for investment, monitors investments, and distributes investment returns.

Find the assets and you will find the three horsemen: fear, greed and the government. Most of us can do little to combat fear and the government. But, greed, as Willie Sutton responded when asked by an apprentice journalist, "Mr. Sutton, Why do you rob banks?" -- "Son, because that's where the money is," can somewhat be controlled. The owner of an interest in a qualified retirement plan may be the subject of a smooth, handsome, well-respected financial intermediary whose interests are exactly the opposite of the asset accumulator. ERISA is designed to "level the playing field" by imposing the highest degree of loyalty and freedom from self-dealing upon those who control plan assets.