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Reduce Expenses On Your Bundled 401k Plan
REDUCING “BUNDLED SERVICE” FEES: In this day and age of "bundled services" (investment and administrative services through one “platform” company), especially on 401k plans, one company collects all fees, and then distributes these fees. People who refer your business may get a fee, and there is not a lot of competition on fee structures – there are fee overrides, referral fees, etc – this adds to your overall expense, and may lower criticism of excessive fees by your providers. The total fees involved with “bundled services” can exceed 1% of the assets, and are often paid by the participants. You may have a responsibility to find ways to minimize these large fees according to the Department of Labor. Call us. Moving a big chunk of the money into a Frozen Money Purchase Plan can significantly reduce fees to the participants, while retaining separate investments accounts, provided you follow the rules.
POTENTIAL OVERALL FEE SAVINGS: If you now have a “bundled services” 401k/Profit Sharing plan, you may find that our innovative techniques can save you and your participants a considerable amount of overall fees. Two examples show this result.
- A 401k Plan with $2.5 million in it, paying total fees for bundled services of more than 1.15% of the assets, or $28,000 of total fees per year. We took over the administration of the 401k Plan, and suggested that the client set up a Frozen Money Purchase Plan for eligible participants to roll over a significant part of their 401k plan into; the total rolled over was $1.8 million, and the overall fees decreased by $18,000.
- A Profit Sharing Plan with over $2 million in it, paying total fees for bundled services of $21,300. We set up a second Profit Sharing Plan open to all participants with the funds invested as a pool. Overall fees reduced by $12,000. The participants are actually happier, and enjoying reduced fees.
Our objective is to provide you with lower cost options for the total fees you pay for investments and administration.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT:
At least one study of large “bundled service” plans has concluded that the investment return for a large plan where there is no employee choice is 1.5% higher than many plans that have employee choice. Fees on “bundled service” employee choice plans (401k) are in many cases over 1.2% (much higher than on large non-employee choice plans), and are assessed to participants in many cases. So, is it time for some plans to have employees choose between switching back to separate Profit Sharing Plans with all current investments directed as a pot by the trustees and their outside advisors, and keep the much-reduced 401k plan for investing only future employee deferrals and matching? Or perhaps at least allow participants over a certain qualifying age to roll their amounts over into a Frozen Money Purchase Plan, with enormous fee savings? This is especially important because of the Department of Labor disclosures that are expected to be required starting in 2012.
Call us at 805-370-1093, or email us at Austin_peterd@yahoo.com. We deliver more value than we cost. |
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