David Carl Gratke

OPTIMIZED AND EFFICIENT RETIREMENT PLANNING There are limitless active and passive strategies we can take to help you optimize your retirement planning and 401(k) structure. We usually end up striking a balance between aggressive and simplistic, optimized and balanced, not just well, but well for you. We spend the time necessary to get to know you, your team and their lifestyle choices that define their retirement needs, under all market conditions and over the long run.

Plan fiduciaries must act as prudent experts under ERISA, and are therefore held to a high standard of care with respect to plan-related decisions regarding investments, service providers, plan administration, and general ERISA compliance issues. Most prudent plan sponsors hire a plan consultant (advisor) to assist them in adhering to ERISA’s rigorous standards, and to meet their objective of offering a best practices 401(k) plan to their employees.

Is your 401(k) plan compliant with the new regulations? Do you know all the fees your plan pays, are you ready to answer employee (participant) questions regarding the fees once they are disclosed in 2012? Our competitive fee benchmarking service provides a detailed fee analysis of your plan and those of your peers. Contact us to begin the competitive fee benchmarking for your 401(k) plan now.

A retirement plan adviser can serve in either a 3(21) or 3(38) fiduciary capacity, and in some cases, both capacities. The needs and desires of the plan sponsor typically dictate the specific arrangement, which is predicated upon the subject of risk mitigation versus risk avoidance. Some plan sponsors want assistance with their fiduciary responsibilities but want to maintain discretion and control of their plan’s investment menus. Others want to shift the fiduciary responsibilities to a third party due to their lack of expertise, and ultimately, fear of exposure to liability.

The new regulations under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), Section 408(b)(2), and ERISA, Section 404(a)(5) make significant changes to the required disclosures to be made to both plan sponsors and plan participants and require all plan service providers to furnish more information about their services, expenses and fees. The comparative chart below outlines the basics of these two regulations.