PLAN SPONSOR’S ADVOCATE

 

Our goal is to create successful retirement plan experiences for Plan Sponsors and Participants. With our many years of experience in corporate retirement plans, we serve as your company’s advocate – helping you connect your goals with the resources you need to accomplish them.

We offer comprehensive services for a variety of defined contribution plans, including 401(k) Plans, Profit Sharing or Stock Bonus Plans, 403(b) Plans, Simplified Employee Pension Plans (SEPs), and SIMPLE IRA Plans (Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees of Small Employers).

Our approach is based on a business model supported by three core pillars: Simplicity, Focus and Balance.

icon_circlechart_Simplicity

Simplicity: We Do the Work for You

  • Evaluate your current retirement plan, including identifying places where you may be paying hidden and unnecessary fees
  • Vendor benchmarking
  • Maximize tax benefits
  • Protect you and your company’s fiduciaries from unnecessary litigation
  • Monitor your plan investments
  • Educate and motivate your employees to participate

Focus: Results, Not Procedures

  • Our expertise is in getting you the results you want, without getting you bogged down in complex rules and regulations.
  • We sit on your side of the negotiating table to find the best retirement plan solution for your company.
  • Once your plan is implemented, we monitor it regularly to make sure it continues to meet your company’s goals and objectives over time.
  • That leaves you free to focus on what you do best: running your business.

Balance: Minimizing Costs; Creating Exceptional Value

  • Often, we are able to uncover places where you are paying unnecessary expenses and use that money to reduce your plan’s future expenses and cover other plan fees. If your plan is costing the business more than 1%, we have many options for reducing those fees.
  • Our Retirement Plan Diagnostic™ is conducted at the outset of our relationship and then, on a regular basis, to determine if there are opportunities for cost savings or program enhancements. This allows us to identify strategies and elements that may have been overlooked or not kept current.

OUR PROCESS

CONNECTING YOUR GOALS WITH RESULTS

Whether you are seeking cost-effective ways to offer attractive retirement plans to your employees and executives, or wish to optimize your plan’s management and performance, we employ a disciplined six-step process and unique analytical tools to help connect your goals to results.
1. RETIREMENT PLAN DIAGNOSTIC
We help you define your organization’s benefit plan and investment objectives, and review your existing program using our Retirement Plan Diagnostic.
2. RETIREMENT PLAN DESIGN
Based on our review and analysis, we design the plan. With existing plans, we recommend opportunities for cost savings or benefit enhancements by identifying strategies and elements that may have been overlooked or not kept current.
3. FIDUCIARY SHIELD
We help you meet your fiduciary responsibilities and control risk by developing a formal Investment Policy Statement. The IPS is based on your plan design and benefit structure, and establishes clear, objective criteria for selecting and monitoring investment managers and asset management strategies.
4. REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP) MANAGER
We sit on your side of the negotiating table to walk you through the RFP process. We help you manage the flow of information and analyze and compare proposals to guide you in making informed decisions about providers such as custodians and third-party administrators.
5. EDUCATION EXPERIENCE
We manage every step of the transition from your current retirement program to your new program. We enroll your employees and educate them about the benefits of their new program. We engage their interest and participation through regular education briefings.
6. WEALTHCARE MONITOR
We manage the health and welfare of your retirement program over its lifetime, advising you of regulatory changes, program enhancements and investment due diligence. We regularly perform Diagnostic Reviews to continually gauge your program’s performance in light of changing regulations, market conditions and your company’s situation.

FOCUSED SOLUTIONS

Part of our value to you is our capability to deliver significant resources with focused solutions based on your company’s needs. We offer comprehensive services for a variety of defined contribution plans, including 401(k) Plans, Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs), Profit Sharing or Stock Bonus Plans, 403(b) Plans, and Simplified Employee Pension Plans (SEPs).

Through our years of experience working with corporate retirement plans, we have acquired a broad-based knowledge of pricing and plan providers across multiple platforms. This enables us to offer a comprehensive suite of services and allows us to guide you in making smart, objective decisions in a wide range of areas, including:

RECORDKEEPING
  • Participant-level recordkeeping/accounting
  • Employee and employer reports
  • Tracking investment allocations/changes and contribution changes
TECHNOLOGY SERVICES
  • Services that enhance plan efficiency, productivity, understanding and value
  • State-of-the-art technology
  • Web-based participant investment tools
  • Web-based employer tools
EMPLOYEE COMMUNICATIONS
  • Employee enrollment meetings
  • Personalized retirement counseling
  • Materials describing plan design and investing
  • Enrollment kits
  • Newsletters
COMPLIANCE
  • Plan document
  • Summary plan description
  • Annual 5500 and pertinent schedules
  • ERISA Plan audit (if applicable)
  • Discrimination testing
INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT
  • All available investment offerings including cash, income, hybrid and equity investments
  • Open architecture
COST ANALYSIS
  • Hard dollar fees (that are a specific amount) – paid by the employer or employees, including participant recordkeeping, compliance, loan administration, hardship and distribution fees
  • Soft dollar fees (that are a specific percentage) – generally paid by employees for investment management expenses and to subsidize some or all of the administrative fees