401k| is a multiple employer plan 401(k) where we are the plan Sponsor, Administrator, Fiduciary, coupled with nearly twenty years of operating Experience (SAFE).
Maybe you've sponsored your company's 401(k) plan for years and never had a compliance issue, or a concern that you could be litigated. The landscape is changing, and your financial risks today as a plan sponsor have never been greater. Consider the following:
As an employer who sponsors a 401(k) plan, you have financial risk today you could have never imagined just a few years ago. If you're the CEO, CFO or manager in charge of directing the administration of your 401(k), you are a fiduciary of the plan and have personal liability associated with this. The good news is that the Department of Labor and ERISA have regulations and guidelines that if followed, will minimize the liability. The bad news is that most employers are not aware of these rules and don't have the internal resources to adequately comply. While more and more vendors have increased their fiduciary services, they are limited in scope. Ultimately the liability is with the plan sponsor, administrator, trustee and lead fiduciary which makes 401k|® multiple employer plan a unique offering in today's environment.
Why adopt a multiple employer plan (MEP)?
- No more filing an annual 5500
- No more audit cost
- Significantly mitigate fiduciary liability
Employer requirements |
Employer requirements |
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Plan sponsor duties
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- 2008 - U.S. Supreme Court changes legal basis for litigating 401(k) plans, allowing individuals to seek damages against plan sponsors.
- 2009 - The Department of Labor added 1,000 audit enforcement agents, a nearly 10-fold increase in the number of agents auditing 401(k) retirement plans.
- 2010 - DOL's enforcement division created the Contributory Plans Criminal Project (CPCP), which is the agency's first national criminal enforcement project.
- 2012 - The fee disclosure rules, also known as the 408(b)2 regulations will take effect requiring plan sponsors to take a more active oversight role of plan fees and expenses.
- (S)ponsor
- (A)dministrator
- (F)iduciary
- (E)xperienced
Interested in Becoming a Partner?
(S)ponsor
We are the Sponsor of the 401k|® multiple employer plan. As the sponsor we maintain ultimate oversight and discretion over both operational and investment fiduciary functions of the plan. While our clients continue to provide their employees a best-of-breed 401(k) plan, they no longer have fiduciary or administrative responsibility associated with sponsoring a 401(k) plan, and no longer maintain an Investment Policy Statement, conduct or pay for an audit, or file an annual Form 5500.
We are the Sponsor of the 401k|® multiple employer plan. As the sponsor we maintain ultimate oversight and discretion over both operational and investment fiduciary functions of the plan. While our clients continue to provide their employees a best-of-breed 401(k) plan, they no longer have fiduciary or administrative responsibility associated with sponsoring a 401(k) plan, and no longer maintain an Investment Policy Statement, conduct or pay for an audit, or file an annual Form 5500.
(A)dministrator
We are the administrator of the 401k|® multiple employer plan, and are solely responsible for the completion, signature and filing of Form 5500. We manage and oversee all administrative functions including the annual plan audit, tracking eligibility, servicing plan provisions such as loans and hardships, and adhering to all related regulatory requirements associated with the plan, including all required notices to participants.
(F)iduciary
We are the ERISA Section 3(21), Named Fiduciary of the plan. By adopting our plan, our clients transfer their fiduciary responsibility and liability as plan sponsor to us. We have safeguards and processes in place to manage the fiduciary responsibilities required under ERISA, including adherence to ERISA Section 404(c).
We are the ERISA Section 3(21), Named Fiduciary of the plan. By adopting our plan, our clients transfer their fiduciary responsibility and liability as plan sponsor to us. We have safeguards and processes in place to manage the fiduciary responsibilities required under ERISA, including adherence to ERISA Section 404(c).
(E)xperienced
Our history as a plan sponsor goes back to 1990 when we established the original 401(k) plan to serve clients that were utilizing our HRO services. In 1999 we converted our clients from a single employer plan to a Multiple Employer Plan (MEP) and realigned our team of vendors, all of which had a long history of working with MEP's. We recognized in the years following that many employers were not meeting their fiduciary responsibilities as plan sponsors, and in 2009 we formed 401k|® so we could scale the benefit of the MEP nationally to non-HRO clients. In 2010 the management team sold the HRO Company and now focuses exclusively on401k|®.