As your revenues and profits increase, so do the taxes you pay on your earnings. If you are considering opening a retirement plan for your business to minimize taxes, you are on the right track. There are three major reasons for opening a retirement plan:

  • Provide a valuable perk to your employees. A good plan will make it easier for your company to attract and retain top talent.
  • Save on taxes. Not only will you get a tax deduction for contributions, plan administrative expenses are also tax deductible.
  • Invest for retirement. Nobody will do this for you. Putting money away now while you are able is the best way to make sure you have money when you need it.

Which plan will be best for your business?

Most retirement plans are sold either by brokers or by ‘bundled’ (or all-in-one) service providers. Such plans typically come with high administrative costs and low quality investments. Most of these plans charge high asset-based fees which will grow significantly as the assets in the plan grow. Brokers and ‘bundled’ service providers are paid to sell plans, not to make sure that what they sell is truly the best option for your company.

We are an independent flat fee retirement plan specialty firm that offers comprehensive retirement plan advisory services to small business owners. We will work with you to design the plan that’s right for you. To have a successful retirement plan, the recipe is quite simple:

  • Minimize administrative and mutual fund fees. We work hard to minimize asset based fees you pay, since they take away your return without any added benefit.  You can use this retirement plan cost comparison calculator to evaluate the long term cost proposals from several providers to see which one offers the best services for the lowest cost.
  • Model portfolios and investment selection. Studies have shown that a small number of high quality investments work best, and professionally managed model portfolios will help plan participants achieve better investment results.
  • Individualized investor education. We will make sure that your employees have access to the best advice available to help them with their investment management.
  • Total transparency. We do not get a penny from anybody to sell products – all of our recommendations are made with your best interest in mind.
  • Competitive price. We will easily beat the prices offered by most plan brokers and ‘bundled’ service providers.
  • Ongoing fiduciary support. As an ERISA 3(38) fiduciary, we provide many important fiduciary services to your plan to help you limit your fiduciary liability and improve participant outcomes.

How we provide value to you:

  • We always act as a fiduciary in our clients’ best interests.
  • We are not compensated by third parties, and all of our recommendations are made in our clients’ best interests.
  • We specialize in working with small business clients to help them save significant money with retirement plans.
  • We use Third Party Administrators and Record-keepers specifically selected because of very low administrative fees and an open platform which allows us to use lowest cost Vanguard mutual funds.
  • Instead of selling you a plan, we will work with you to design a plan that will work best for your specific business.
  • We do not charge asset-based fees. Everybody in the industry charges fees based on percentage of assets. Our fees are flat and are not asset-based. This alone can save you significant amount of money over the long term.
  • Most plan participants do not know how to manage their own investments. Numerous studies done by DALBAR have shown that on average, investors significantly under-perform their own investments, and without professional help, many end up with big losses in their 401k accounts, which can significantly impact their retirement readiness. By building low cost risk-managed model portfolios and by providing individualized advice to plan participants we can significantly improve plan participants’ long term investment performance compared to what they would have gotten on their own.
  • Many plan sponsors with existing retirement plans don’t realize that plan participants have the right to sue them for monetary damages for breach of fiduciary duty by the plan sponsor. Breach of fiduciary duty can be caused by having high plan fees, investment losses incurred by plan participants and using a broker or a non-fiduciary adviser instead of an independent ERISA 3(38) adviser to provide fiduciary services to the plan. We make sure that your plan is run in accordance with the latest rules and regulations and we provide fiduciary services to your plan to help you limit your fiduciary liability.

Whether you have an existing plan and you want us to analyze it to see if we can help you save money and improve plan services, or if you are considering opening a new plan for your business, please contact us to schedule your complementary appointment.