No matter how many advisors, committees, or board members participate in the decisions of running a 401(k) plan, ultimate responsibility for the plan’s performance rests squarely upon its sponsors – usually the employer, owner, or partners. A retirement committee may exist that meets regularly, has a formalized investment policy statement (IPS) – that is actually adhered to and judiciously followed; with a process for thoughtfully monitoring and evaluating the mutual funds in the plan that is actually documented and followed – is this enough in today’s litigious society?
While most plan sponsors have taken the measures necessary to protect themselves personally as fiduciaries, as well as the organization they represent, today’s changing rules and evolving regulations require that plan sponsors document their decisions and execute the implementation of their decisions with prudence beyond anything they have ever done before.
Wealth Management Partners specializes in three key areas of 401(k) fiduciary protection;
- Benchmarking of plan fees and design
- 408(b)(2) and 404(a)-5 fee disclosure reporting
- 404(c) employee safe-harbor consulting
Benchmarking your plan for fee transparency, cost reasonableness, fund selection, and investment performance is the single best way for a plan sponsor to demonstrate their fiduciary responsibility for meeting the ever changing demands of ERISA liability.
It’s no secret that the vast majority of 401(k) plan participants are not on track to meet their retirement goals. While past investment performance is not indicative of future results, future investment results are clearly indicative of a plan participant’s ability to retire comfortably. Placing blame on poor investment selection and performance is the scapegoat most often used by disillusioned plan participants – rather than owning up to their failure to save enough. Invariably it’s just easier to blame their past and present employers for offering a failed plan. Retirement experts predict a future filled with law suits from disgruntled participants seeking remedy and retribution from plan sponsors for their failed investment performance within the plan.
Choosing to hire an outside fiduciary to assist in the on-going selection, screening, and monitoring, of your investment process is an important decision. It’s imperative that the professionals you hire have the legal capacity to act as a fiduciary with the necessary credentials to demonstrate their expertise and knowledge. The process by which mutual funds and / or ETF’s are screened and selected for inclusion in the plan must be formally documented and regularly monitored in order to mitigate fiduciary liability.
Wealth Management Partners specializes in two key areas of 401(k) fiduciary investment management services;
- ERISA 3(21) “Help-Me” Investment Advisory Services
- ERISA 3(38) “Do-it-for-Me” Investment Management Services
Given the persistent impact investment selection and performance has on each plan participant and their ability to retire, the engagement of a qualified third-party investment fiduciary is the single best way for a sponsor to ensure that their plan’s fund performance is objectively and prudently met.
Keeping-up with ever-changing ERISA rules and regulations promulgated by the Department of Labor (DoL) is a full time job that most plan sponsors are ill-equipped to handle. Charged with a fiduciary responsibility to act in the best interests of their participants, sponsors must also find a way to balance their own set of priorities for the plan.
Given the high impact service providers, IRS and ERISA rules and regulations, economic conditions, participant education, plan performance, and tax laws each has on a plan’s ultimate success, plan sponsors need a place to go for concise, unbiased, reliable and helpful fiduciary information.
Wealth Management Partners maintains a blog portal for the exclusive use of its clients that acts as a gateway to the web for all things “fiduciary.” Our blog is continually updated with timely stories, relevant ideas, and direct links to other web sites of important interest for sponsors, participants, and fiduciaries alike. We scour the web for content that that is not only current, accurate and informative, but actionable.
At Wealth Management Partners we recognize that time is one of the most valuable resources we all have. Our goal is to provide timely answers to critical questions, written in terms a lay person can understand and act upon. Plan sponsors, participants and fiduciaries alike can bookmark our blog for direct access to our regularly published updates and anecdotal news feeds.
There’s a lot to keep up with in the retirement world and our blog is a great place to stay connected.
Our core business is supporting the needs of plan sponsors and participants; ensuring that your retirement plan works the way it was designed to work.
We have identified seven (7) things every plan sponsor should know. It is more important than ever that fiduciaries pay attention to each of these areas, documenting their decisions and executing their implementation with prudence.
Our mission is to protect our clients by minimizing fiduciary liability exposure inherent in the offering of an employee-sponsored retirement program. We also endeavor to enhance the investment performance for participants by keeping plan fees in check, providing sophisticated fiduciary oversight and implementing an investment process that is designed specifically for retirement plans.
~ David Palmer, President, Wealth Management Partners of MI, LLC