Company Retirement Planning


The following pages give more detail on our approach and service but all come rooted in our experience with employees, owners and outcomes.  Frankly, many 401k-style retirement plans have their problems.   The old defined-benefit pension plans were discarded because of their cost and liability.  While the 401k plan and others like it are undoubtedly a benefit to companies and their employees, in practice many suffer from deficiencies.  These may sound familiar:

  1. Employees save too little and have insufficient knowledge or interest in investing.

  2. Group education meetings are neither effective nor efficient.  Websites offer more specific information but are not sufficiently used.  Truly serious education requires too much company time directed toward an audience whose interests often lie elsewhere.   It’s not a good model.  Good education can be equated with good individual guidance, not another website.  It’s time efficient and demonstrates value received to the employee.

  3. Fiduciary duties are real and can have real personal consequences if ignored.  However, many are unfamiliar those duties.  Enforcement efforts by the Dept. of Labor and IRS have been light, leading many companies to dismiss their importance.  Bad idea, because the liability is real.  Fulfilling your fiduciary duties is a matter of documented processes, not intentions.    And by the way, good processes increase the likelihood of improved outcomes, happy employees and an owner sleeping well.

  4. Costs are difficult to identify and compare.  Many providers prefer costs remain hidden.  Not caring about costs leads back to #3 – a bad idea.  Cost disclosure to each participant comes in 2012.

  5. Investments tend to be too few and sometimes of questionable quality. 

  6. Like the rest of your business, your retirement plan needs to be managed.  It’s not difficult, but it’s not intuitive.   Doing so helps contains potential liability and is more likely to lead to happier outcomes.  And just maybe…. to individuals who can retire with dignity and control their destiny, including owners and other key employees.


Sign up for you plan review today.  There is no cost or obligation for this service.