Download The Action DocIt’s a common story – business owners put everything into their businesses for years before being in a financial position to put real money away for retirement. Once they’re ready to really get going, we can suggest a number of retirement plan designs and individual plan features that can help them reach their goals. Depending on their situation, here’s a quick snapshot of some of the most popular:First, a 401(k) plan with a Safe Harbor featur...

 Download The Action DocWhen we talk about 401k type retirement plans we sometimes focus on the contributions made by employees that are ALWAYS immediately vested. In other words, it's THEIR money and they can always withdraw it without forfeiting ANY- subject to IRS rules about early withdrawals.We know, of course, that employers often make profit sharing or matching contributions, too. These contributions may be subject to a VESTING schedule. Vesting over a period of years provides an...

 Download The Action DocAs a financial advisor, you know that the people who exercise control and authority over the management of a retirement plan’s assets are fiduciaries. So are professionals who provide investment advice with respect to those assets. In most cases, plan sponsors understand that they, too, play an investment fiduciary role unless they partially or fully outsource that function to an investment professional.What many of them don’t appear to recognize is that ...

 Download The Action DocThere are many industry stats about 401k “sales.” Perhaps you have your own. It’s natural to talk in terms of lead generation and sales funnels and qualifying questions and, of course, closing. But, when you get down to it, it’s not really so much about generating leads as it is about generating relationships. Lead gen is all about an internal process. Relationship gen is about focusing on how we solve other people’s problems. To be sure...

 Download The Action DocAuto-enrollment has been proven to be effective in raising participation rates in 401(k) plans. As a result, it's been pretty widely adopted across the country, especially in mid- to larger plans. Automatic enrollment creates a situation where many employees fail to make an investment election on their own. This creates a need for a default investment in the lineup. A cash fund has no risk, but also has no growth potential. Other investments may have income or gr...

 Download The Action DocIRS rules provide for participant loans and hardship withdrawals from 401k and other plans. They're not required, but rather left to the discretion of the plan sponsor. Today, there's a good bit of debate about how participant loans affect long term retirement outcomes. On one hand, it's not hard to appreciate that employees may be more motivated to enroll in a plan that includes a loan feature since it provides comfort that they'll be able to access ...

 Download The Action DocWhen it comes to the topic of fiduciary responsibilities for qualified retirement plans, there are three things we know really well: Plan Sponsors are, by definition, a fiduciary of their own plan as they exercise control and act on behalf of the plan. Some number of plan sponsors don’t know this even though we try to do our best to make this clear. There are real and serious consequences for them and for your relationship with them if they don’t execute ...

 Download The Action DocYou already know that a 401(k) is a very popular retirement plan and, like other plan designs, it allows employees to take advantage of tax deferrals on contributions and earnings while their money accumulates for retirement.To enjoy this special status, the IRS put in place rules to assure that plans benefit rank and file employees and not just a company’s owners and highly compensated employees. These are called nondiscrimination rules and there are three tes...

 Download The Action DocFor the most part, the news about Defined Benefit plans lately has not been particularly good. Whether a big company could no longer fund its plan or how it was bankrupting their business, headlines have discouraged many businesses from seriously considering a DB plan.But it’s time to take another look because, for smaller, more mature companies, DB plans can be a great vehicle to help employees prepare for retirement.You may be surprised to learn that they are...

 Download The Action DocFinancial wellness – it’s essential to saving for retirementIntroducing a workplace retirement plan can be a compelling way for individuals to take control of their retirement savings, but for so many people that don’t have control of their personal situation, the retirement plan at work doesn’t have a chance to be successful without a helping hand and tools to achieve financial wellness.We tend to talk about retirement plans in a vacuum &ndas...