Serving as a plan fiduciary is a tremendous responsibility.
And yet, it is commonly delegated to employees having little or no formal fiduciary training. In addition, technology innovations, new employee expectations, shifting demographics and the recent pandemic resulting in regulations like the SECURE Act, are reshaping the workplace of the future, making it an overwhelming task to stay current.
We provide the 3 most critical assets “insider” plan fiduciaries seldom have enough of:
TIME to manage the many diverse duties imposed by law
KNOWLEDGE of the ever-changing industry and regulatory environment
PRUDENT DOCUMENTATION PROCESSES that are vital to shielding you and your company from costly liability exposure
Registered Fiduciary™
Our Registered Fiduciary™ and CPFA designations are a testament to our commitment to plan sponsors and their employees.
The RF™ Certification is based on the 2010 Fiduciary Standards of the Fiduciary Standards Board. The Fiduciary Standards Board is a not-for-profit (501(c)(3)) organization established in September of 2000 to develop and advance standards of care for fiduciaries. The Fiduciary Standards Board is independent of any ties to the investment community and therefore positioned to be an unwavering advocate for advancing fiduciary standards throughout the industry and to the public.
Advantage to Plan Sponsors
Dalbar obtains and verifies all Advisor related information on behalf of plan fiduciaries, required under the Pension Protection Act 2006 (PPA06). This relieves the plan sponsor of the task of obtaining and verifying the Advisor disclosures on their own. Dalbar’s SEC NO ACTION LETTER permits an advisor to be pre-qualified if certain requirements are met. In the absence of a qualified third-party providing the required information a plan sponsor is required to conduct a background check, conduct an assessment of the advisors experience, investigate their past record of service, financial results and knowledge.
wANT TO know how your services and fees compare to best-in-class service providers for a plan like yours?
CRPA (Comparative Retirement Plan Assessment) is the industry’s first and only online – self administered retirement plan assessment tool. This is not a generic bench-marking tool, but a one-of-a-kind comparison to the industry’s best of breed. The tutorial driven process will engage and teach you everything you need to know about your plan. Contact us today to request your secure link to CRPA.
What We Do To Support Plan Operations
Analyze Asset based service fee arrangements
Why should those with the largest balances, that worked hard and sacrificed to save, pay more for the same services?
Reduce investment expenses and with best in class institutional share class funds
Not all institutional share class funds are available on every custodial platform. Open architecture doesn’t always make the “Best In Class” open to all.
Remove Conflicts in Interest
The Institute can either support or relieve you from the day to day running of your plan. This is not to be confused with a Plan Advisor who just provides recommendations.
Reduce potential fiduciary Liability
When is your Advisor not a Fiduciary? A broker-dealer, insurance agency and their representatives when receiving commissions for providing recommendations is merely advice that is incidental to the purchase or sale of securities. Given this circumstance, an Advisor will not be considered an investment advice fiduciary merely because it receives compensation for making suggestions relating to the plan’s investments or to move assets based upon an instruction. Anyone receiving commission compensation is not a fiduciary and provides no liability protection.
Working with the Institute, taking over the plan sponsors operational roles could reduce a plan sponsors ongoing responsibilities and liability to as little as:
monitoring the Institute, consisting of two 30-minute compliance meetings, usually conducted virtually
controlling plan design
providing census and compensation
data
remitting plan contributions
3(16) Administrative Fiduciary Role
Why limit yourself to a Limited Scope 3(16) who only…
coordinates and authorizes distribution requests
coordinates and distributes participant notices and
signs the form 5500?
A full scope 3(16) Administrative Fiduciary relieves company employee(s) from the day-to-day responsibility of operating of the plan.
WE ARE TRULY A FIDUCIARY PARTNER HELPING YOU TO PRUDENTLY RUN YOUR PLAN:
ensuring the plan is running consistent with the plan document
documenting daily plan operations—freeing you and your team to focus on running the business
overseeing and monitoring all other service providers
coordinate and authorize distribution requests
coordinate the distribution of participant notices
sign Form 5500
documenting and monitoring all plan-related activities
apply eligibility rules
be the point of contact for all participant needs
3(38) Investment Fiduciary Role
for Investment Selection & Monitoring
Would you like to save time and be off the hook for choosing or approving investment recommendations? Engaging a 3(38) Investment Manager does just that.
This is what a “Best In Class” large cap growth fund looks like.
You too can get access to the best performing institutional share class funds, regardless of plan size.
Plan Adviser Role
work one-on-one with plan participants
orient, enroll and provide plan information to participants
provide investment advice (if provided consistent with the investment advice regs, finalized 12/2011, a plan sponsor is relieved from liability)
provide mutual fund recommendations in the absence of providing 3(38) services
Achieving Financial independence
Personal, one-on-one Advice
Now let us talk to about what is really important… helping employees and their families achieve a financially secure retirement. One-on-one financial blueprinting sessions helps employees reduce their financial anxiety. Employees that understand how much they need to save and shown the baby steps to get there, is more apt to be less stressed, creating a more motivated and engaged employee.
Financial wellness is a proven concept to help your workforce.
66% of employers agree that employees are less productive at work when worried about personal finance problems.
60% of employees worry about money.
59% of employees agree that health and holistic benefits increase loyalty.
46% of employees consider finances their main source of stress.
48% of employees with financial stress are distracted at work.
30% of employees say financial stress keeps them awake at night.
Easy Investing with Model Portfolios
Model portfolios can ease the anxiety of choosing investments for one’s account. Employees are provided with a risk profile questionnaire to help them choose the level of equity exposure they are most comfortable with. We are your employees’ investment advocate.