Company Retirement Plan Services
Employer-Sponsored Qualified Plans
Most employer-sponsored plans today are established as “defined contribution” plans whereby an employee contributes a percentage of his earnings into an account that will accumulate until retirement. As a qualified plan, the contributions are deductible from the employee’s current income. The amount of income received at retirement is based on the total amount of contributions, the returns earned, and the employee’s retirement time horizon. As in all qualified plans, withdrawals made prior to age 59 ½ may be subject to a penalty of 10% on top of ordinary taxes that are due.
Depending on the size and type of the organization, companies may offer a 401(k)/Profit Sharing Plan, a Simplified Employee Pension Plan (SEP) or in the case of a non-profit organization, a 403(b) plan.
Establishing a new Employer-Sponsored Qualified Plan
The process to evaluate a company's need for and/or type of plan involves identifying the company's benefit goals, census data and prospective expense allotment for the benefit. Depending on the complexity of the proposed plan and the company's administrative capacity, Third Party Administrative and Record Keeping services may be secured. Once plan design and document have been established we can begin to evaluate suitable plan platforms. Support services are listed below.
Support Services to Plan Sponsors and Trustees of Plans
Services offered can be defined into two categories:
- Educational service level
- 3(21) Advisory services 'Investment Only' Fiduciary service level
Educational Plan Service
In the 'educational' plan service capacity, I can assist plan sponsors by:
- helping them understand the need for a current Investment Policy Statement (IPS) and its investment meeting review/evaluation/documentation requirements
- providing plan platform generated investment review material, serving in an educational capacity not in an advisory capacity regarding the plan's investments
- making them aware of the Department of Labor's (DOL) disclosure requirements
- executing sponsor directed changes to the plan
- conducting educational enrollment meeting services for newly eligible employees (no advice provided to enrollees)
- providing plan platform approved educational materials to the sponsor for plan participants
- interacting with plan's Third Party Administration (TPA) and plan Record Keeper
S. 3(21) Advisory Service 'Investment Only' Fiduciary Plan Service
In the 'Investment Only' plan service capacity, I can assist plan sponsors by:
- helping them understand the need for a current Investment Policy Statement (IPS) and its investment meeting review/evaluation/documentation requirements
- providing plan platform generated investment review material
- serving in an fiduciary capacity to the plan regarding the selection/replacement of plan investments (advice to plan ONLY)
- making them aware of the Department of Labor's (DOL) disclosure requirements
- executing sponsor directed changes to the plan
- conducting educational enrollment meeting services for newly eligible employees (no advice provided to enrollees)
- providing plan platform approved educational materials to the sponsor for plan participants
- interacting with plan's Third Party Administration (TPA) and plan Record Keeper