Retirement Plan Implementation
Investment Information
Are you meeting your fiduciary responsibilities? Do your plan’s investment options accommodate today’s increasingly market-savvy investors and their long-term financial goals, while adhering to the newest regulations by the government? Selecting the right investment options for your plan requires more than meets the eye. While regulations do not allow us to select the funds that are in your plan, we can provide recommendations on plan investment design, asset allocation models and other options within the plan.
- Work with you to analyze current participant behavior
- Analyze the options available through your plan provider to help ensure that there is adequate representation of investment categories for your participants
- Within each category, examine investment styles of funds to help ensure diversification of styles
- Support your efforts in making a final selection of the funds to be included in the plan
- Provide information in evaluating investment offerings as needed
Implementation Advocacy
Does a plan conversion create anxiety for you and your participants? In conjunction with plan administrators and service providers, we can proactively communicate activities, policies and procedures that compose the building blocks of a successful conversion and implementation. We can work with service providers to help ensure that you are informed throughout the process. You can expect advocacy and assistance during plan document review meetings, implementation planning, and conversion.
Development of an Employee Communication Plan
Do you have an effective and executable plan to educate your employees on the benefits and features of your plan? Having a communication plan helps plan sponsors document ongoing participant communication efforts. In addition, implementing a well-constructed communication plan may often help to meet some 404(c) requirements. We can work with the appropriate representatives of your company to help develop a customized communication plan. The result will be a participant education plan that addresses your employees’ need for understanding investing and their retirement plan. Your communication plan will outline an approach for your organization to address various goals, whether they include:
- Helping employees understand the benefits of their retirement plan
- Implementing a monthly newsletter for participants
- Suggesting options to maximize participation
- Providing information to help increase deferrals
- Helping to explore appropriate asset allocation
- Offering ongoing education about retirement planning
Coordinating/Conducting Enrollment Meetings
Because employee education is key to a successful retirement plan, your organization needs an effective education program that is powerful enough to help participants achieve their retirement plan goals. We are dedicated to raising employee awareness about your company’s retirement plan benefits and will work with you to encourage your participant education needs and to help develop the best approach to meet those needs. We will coordinate and conduct enrollment meetings as well as obtain your service providers’ assistance to help deliver enrollment meetings, if appropriate.
Documentation of an Investment Policy Statement
Does your plan have a formal investment policy statement (IPS)? This is generally a written statement that provides the fiduciaries, who are responsible for plan investments, with guidelines or general instructions concerning various types or categories of investment management decisions. Specifically, the IPS should address the objectives, investment structure and evaluation guidelines of the investment offerings within the plan. In addition, a well-rounded IPS should clearly delineate the responsibilities of all parties involved in the plan. ERISA does not mandate that a plan sponsor have an IPS; however, that doesn't mean it is not needed. In addition to providing guidance on plan management, should the plan ever be audited by the Department of labor (DOL), one of the first documents the DOL will request is the IPS. Vista Partners will work with your plan trustees or committee members to develop and monitor your IPS and update it as necessary.