Unfortunately, the pain of this new-found will be most acute for small 401(k) plan sponsors. Without full-time HR departments, they've had to take on the burden of managing their company plan all by themselves. As the new fee disclosure reveals the layers of fees in those "low cost" group annuity plans so popular with this demographic, small 401(k) plan sponsors will suddenly discover the true onus of their charge. They might not have thought they were buying oil filters, and the "pay-me-now-or-pay-me-later" reality of their decision also never occurred to them as they bought from a no-doubt slick salesman.

But all is not lost. Full fee disclosure has been a clarion cry of fiduciary advocates for many years. It represents a welcomed and long-awaited change, as well as an opportunity for service providers, plan sponsors and employees alike. For service providers, it will finally level the playing field. For plan sponsors, it has the potential to reduce their personal fiduciary liability by making fees and conflicts-of-interest more transparent. Finally, for 401(k) investors, it will provide information in (hopefully) a plain-English format that will help them to avoid making the same tried and true investment decision errors past reporting has encouraged them to make.

In the end, it remains up to the 401(k) plan sponsor to ensure the intent of this new rule is implemented in a manner that extracts the most important information from service providers and can best help employees. Come Spring thaw, all 401(k) plan sponsors – and especially those of smaller 401(k) plans – will learn they can run but they cannot hide.

So, let us all welcome in the New Year. 2012 is destined to be the Year the Fiduciary finally gets it. And by "gets it," think of the fourth kind of close encounter.