Sponsoring a retirement plan is one of the more challenging endeavors an employer can undertake. However, the advantages of offering a plan are undeniable – not only does it offer a savings vehicle for you and your employees, the tax advantages may help both your business and participants.
Administering a plan and managing the assets require specific actions and come with considerable responsibilities. The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) has set standards of conduct for fiduciaries, those who manage the retirement plan and its assets, and as the sponsor of your company’s retirement plan, those standards are yours to uphold.
Fortunately, you don’t have to do it alone.
Although the retirement plan sponsor bears ultimate responsibility for making decisions about the plan and managing its investments, they also have the ability to shift some or all of the investment fiduciary responsibility by hiring fiduciary professionals.
Ask yourself these questions:
- How do you know if your plan is effectively preparing your employees for retirement?
- Is your process to select and monitor service providers or investments prudent?
- Does your company have the resources and knowledge to handle these responsibilities alone?
- Do you understand your fiduciary liability to effectively sponsor a retirement plan?
Even if your company has professionals with retirement plan expertise who are dedicated to managing your employee retirement plan, you should consider hiring a retirement plan advisor who can assist with various aspects of maintaining your company’s retirement plan. A dedicated retirement plan advisor can provide services designed to meet the unique needs of plan sponsors, their companies and plan fiduciaries, including fiduciary investment advice. In addition, a retirement plan advisor can provide an extra layer of protection and expertise that can be crucial to implementing an effective and efficient retirement plan.
If it sounds like maintaining an appropriate retirement plan for your company is a daunting task, that’s because it is – especially when you consider everything else that goes into running a successful business. The team at the Corporate Advisors Group can help optimize your retirement plan to better prepare your employees for retirement. This will help you to attract and retain top talent, which ultimately helps to save time and money.
All investments are subject to risk, including loss. Asset allocation and diversification does not ensure a profit or protect against a loss. There is not assurance that any investment strategy will be successful.
Advisory fees are in addition to the internal expenses charged by mutual funds and other investment company securities. To the extent that clients intend to hold these securities, the internal expenses should be included when evaluating the costs of a fee-based account. Clients should periodically re-evaluate whether the use of an asset-based fee continues to be appropriate in servicing their needs. A list of additional considerations, as well as the fee schedule, is available in the firm’s Form ADV (Part 2A) as well as the client agreement.
