Suite of Services

We see many plans that have been with the same provider for years and years, despite the fact that the plan participants and assets may have grown substantially. It is a critical fiduciary responsibility to periodically compare the current plan provider with other providers in the marketplace. Our firm will provide a vendor analysis and comparison when needed, but no less seldom than once every 36 months.

Our standard service model includes hosting 2 - 4 investment committee meetings per year. In these meetings, multiple aspects of the plan and investments are reviewed and discussed. We prepare all meeting deliverables as well as follow up minutes.

Our experience tells us that many companies that sponsor retirement plans do not understand their fiduciary responsibilities and are therefore unaware if they are managing their plan prudently.

We work to first help our clients understand what it means to be a fiduciary and what requirements the Department of Labor require them to meet. We then implement and document processes in all areas of the plan in order to minimize excess liability. We provide an annual Fiduciary File to all of our clients that acts as a storage place for all fiduciary documentation relating to the plan.

Plan fees are being scrutinized now more than ever. There has been a tremendous increase in litigation claiming a breach of fiduciary liability stemming from a lack of proper evaluation and disclosure of potentially excessive plan fees. It is critical that plan sponsors understand, evaluate, and compare all fees related to the plan. It is also important that participants are made aware of the fees that are deducted from plan assets.

We dissect all explicit and implicit plan fees to help our clients understand what they are paying and how it compares to other products. We will design notices to distribute to participants that outline all plan fees in a clear and understandable manner.

The Investment Policy Statement (IPS) provides the framework for the plan‘s investment selection and monitoring process. Without an appropriately designed IPS, it is difficult for a Plan Sponsor to know the criteria to use when selecting, monitoring, and replacing plan investments. This is a crucial document for all plan sponsors to maintain to provide evidence of a prudent investment selection and monitoring process.

Our firm designs and manages an IPS for each of our clients. We explain the different components of the document and refer to it when providing investment analysis.

We will apply the selection process outlined in the IPS to help identify which investments in the plan need to be replaced and if additions are warranted. On an ongoing basis, we meet with our client 2-4 times a year to provide full investment reviews. We are prepared to recommend when an investment should go on a “watch” and when a replacement should be made.

We have experience in the many different ways that a retirement plan can be designed. Whether the challenge is employee participation or higher contributions for executives, we can help make sure the plan is designed for maximum efficiency and effectiveness.

It has become abundantly clear that employees today are not saving enough and are not invested appropriately. Without an increase in education and advice, most participants will most likely fall financially short at retirement.

We provide group and individual education and advice services. Our messages are very simple and brief, as we have found lengthy, complex presentations simply do not get the job done. In many cases, we will walk participants through their account and help them make changes to improve their likelihood of success at retirement.

Managing a company retirement plan can often times be a daunting and cumbersome task. The complexity associated with overseeing a plan can lead to mistakes, service issues, etc.

We work closely with our clients to ease their retirement plan burden. Whether it is a service issue with the provider or a compliance correction, we are there every step of the working hard to make our clients‘ lives easier.

When a qualified retirement plan is not enough or not working effectively based on company‘s demographics, a non-qualified plan can often times be a great solution.

Non-qualified plans can provide an additional retirement benefit to a select group of employees, generally a company‘s top executives.They can be used very effectively as a means to contribute additional retirement savings and as a long-term retention tool. The design and funding of these plans can be customized to meet many different objectives.