Creating a plan has to be done according guidelines and government requirements. Our team has experience creating plans and can help you merge what is important to you and your employees with the current legal requirements and industry best practices.

The SECURE Act of 2019 created significant tax credits to encourage formation of new plans. Contact us to learn how that could apply to your unique situation.

Let’s first learn why you want to change advisors so we can better understand how to help. After that, it just requires some signatures for us to start supporting you and your plan participants.

You should have a reason to change providers. Let’s talk about your goals and objectives so we can help you find the provider that can best meet your needs. This will usually require an RFP, and we’ll review the bids that the marketplace returns for your plan. Once you decide on a provider, we’ll start the transition. Depending on the complexity of the plan, this could take several months. We’ll build a timeline and work with you on the process.

Each of these fulfill an important, required role in an effective retirement plan. The 401(k) recordkeeper is essentially the bookkeeper of the 401(k) plan, and they track who’s in the plan, what investments they own, and what money is going in or out. The TPA (Third Party Administrator) prepares employer and employee benefit statements, monitors the plan for compliance with IRS requirements, and prepares the annual reports required by federal agencies like the IRS and Department of Labor (DOL).

We have found that a good benchmarking study can identify cost savings in three key areas: Investment Fund Expense, Recordkeeping and, Third Party Administrator (TPA). In a benchmarking study, we evaluate each area and look to a competitive marketplace to find comparable or better service at a lower price. In many instances we are successful, but there are situations when your plan is operating efficiently. You won’t know until you work with us to find out.

This is compensation paid directly from the mutual fund company to the advisor. Typically, this indicates that the mutual funds offered in your plan may not be in the lowest cost share classes. If you have indirect compensation, please contact us so we can do a plan benchmarking study and see if we can find lower cost share classes to save your participants money.

The fund choices should be well-diversified, in the lowest cost share class available, meet your goals and objectives, and align with the needs of your participants. Many times, you will see several Target Date Funds, Large, Mid and Small Cap Funds, International Funds, Index Funds, Real Estate Funds, and others. We can help you review your fund line-up and point out any opportunities.

Offering employer matching contributions is a major incentive to encourage employees to participate in the plan. We can work with you as the employer to figure out what percentage of employees’ salary you would like to match and what can the business afford to offer. Examples: 50% match of salary deferrals; up to 6% of compensation. Alternatively, 100% match up to 3%; plus 50% match on deferrals between 3% and 5% of compensation.

We specialize in providing education through in-person meetings, 1-on-1 sessions, new employee orientation, and trustee/employer education. We also offer video presentations for remote learning. One of our key points of differentiation is the depth and quality of our educational materials.