What is Your Retirement Plan Costing You and Your Company?

By: Legal - Law News

Retirement Plan Solutions LLC an independent retirement plan consulting firm has unveiled a proprietary participant fee disclosure statement designed to provide easy to understand information to employees while also helping the retirement plan sponsor fulfill their increased fiduciary burden.

Company’s who offer their employees a 401(k) plan face increased pressure and fiduciary responsibilities to disclose more information to their participants in the retirement plan. The increased burden is a result of the passage of the Pension Protection Act of 2006, a dramatic increase in class action lawsuits, ongoing guidance from the Department of Labor, and even Congress has jumped into the fray with their own legislative agenda.

“Comprehensive does not need to be complicated,” according to Greg Gaynier, principal at Retirement Plan Solutions. “We created our participant fee disclosure statement to achieve three objectives. To provide fee transparency to plan participants, to accurately disclose all plan expenses, and to provide this information to plan participants in an easy to understand manner,” Gaynier explained.

While the Department of Labor has not yet issued final guidance on fee disclosure, Retirement Plan Solutions LLC created the participant fee disclosure statement to keep their clients ahead of the game. The concern, from an employer perspective is that communicating such information will overwhelm or confuse the employee. “Many companies are afraid that complete fee disclosure will negatively impact employee participation and contribution rates,” Gaynier explained.

The key, according to Gaynier, is to provide the right amount of information. “In my opinion, some advisers and retirement plan service providers are taking the wrong approach by relying too much on mutual fund prospectuses, participant web sites, and participant statements to disclose participant fees. Too much information, from too many different sources not only overwhelms the participant but risks apathy which can lead to lower participation and contributions,” Gaynier said.

“Our statement is written in a simple narrative format. It covers the four basic categories of retirement plan expenses: investment cost, recordkeeping, plan administration and consulting or advisory fees. It explains plan costs paid by the employer as well as fees paid by the participant. It simplifies the disclosure of revenue sharing. From our experience, employees do understand the information and gain a stronger appreciation for how much their company is paying to provide the retirement plan,” Gaynier elaborated.

Gaynier further emphasized; “Our commitment is to provide our retirement plan sponsors and their employees with the best possible retirement plan experience. Creating and providing the participant fee disclosure statement for our clients demonstrates our unique value proposition. It is just one of many ways we are uniquely qualified to evaluate, design, negotiate and service, the highest quality retirement plan programs for employers, fiduciaries and employees here in Texas.”

Retirement Plan Solutions LLC provides guidance and leadership to progressive employers throughout Central Texas including Austin, San Antonio, Houston and Corpus Christi. They are an affiliated member firm of National Retirement Partners, the nation’s premier network of independent retirement plan advisors. For more information on Retirement Plan Solutions LLC, “Your Retirement Plan Expert” please visit: www.rps-texas.com.

About Retirement Plan Solutions LLC

Retirement Plan Solutions LLC is an independent consulting firm, driven to provide exceptional retirement plan expertise and service. Retirement Plan Solutions is a member firm of National Retirement Partners, the premier, national retirement plan consulting firm. Whether you have a 401(k) plan, profit sharing or defined benefit plan, Retirement Plan Solutions LLC is uniquely qualified to evaluate, design, negotiate and service, the highest quality retirement plan programs for employers, fiduciaries and employees. For more information about Retirement Plan Solutions contact Greg Gaynier at 512-589-8873

About National Retirement Partners

National Retirement Partners, Inc. is one of the country’s largest networks of independent advisors providing consulting and investment services to retirement plan sponsors and participants nationwide. NRP is dedicated to supporting advisors who service the retirement plan marketplace, which currently amounts to over 90 locations advising over 3,000 retirement plans. Sharing diverse talents, expertise and a common focus, NRP Member Firms are able to deliver to clients what had traditionally only been available to larger firms - heightened best practices and investment due diligence, open architecture plan analysis and design, independent vendor search and benchmarking analysis and high quality service and communications.