Our PROCESS for building your plan

We strive to optimize your defined contribution, defined benefit or profit sharing plan by focusing on these three key areas – fiduciary governance, plan design and administration, employee engagement, and investments. At the start of our relationship, we will set objectives and track each as time goes by.

Plan design and administration

We will conduct an audit to assess your current plan or create a new one that reflects your company philosophy and needs. We will also conduct an analysis of your plan provider. To compare different plan providers, we look at fees, services and investments. It is important to remember that it is not just about the lowest fees, but the balance of cost and features provided. Our analysis can help us negotiate lower fees, a new investment lineup and enhanced services. We will also advise you on your fiduciary status, roles and responsibilities and offer our guidance.

Employee engagement

To help employees to save for their retirements, employee engagement is key. First, we develop an employee education policy to determine goals, establish metrics and measure success. We then conduct education meetings to disseminate general plan information and financial planning guidance. Finally, we will evaluate any needed revisions after a designated period of time.

Investments

With the objective of optimizing outcomes, we will help draft or review your Investment Policy Statement, implement it in coordination with your provider and make any revisions as needed. We will also review your investment menu and help ensure it is aligned with your plan philosophy, and provide ongoing reporting to monitor its progress.

A crucial issue is the Qualified Default Investment Alternative or QDIA, which refers to investment services established under the Pension Protection Act of 2006 to provide retirement account management to employees. Employers who do not implement a QDIA may be legally responsible if their retirement plan fails to produce adequate results for its participants. Our team can conduct a QDIA analysis to determine philosophy, analyze options, review the platform and provide ongoing monitoring.

The seven fiduciary standards of care

• Understand standards, laws and trust provisions
• Diversify assets to specific risk/return profiles
• Prepare an Investment Policy Statement
• Use prudent experts (i.e., professional money managers) and document due diligence
• Control and account for investment expenses
• Monitor the activities of prudent experts
• Avoid conflicts of interest and prohibited transactions

These guidelines were developed based on the 1974 ERISA, MPERS Act and Uniform Prudent Investors Act to provide fiduciaries with a disciplined and documented approach to successfully manage their investment fiduciary responsibilities.