Company Retirement Plans
We bring decades of experience in serving the retirement plan needs of small to medium-sized organizations.
Fiduciary Support & Investment Guidance for Company Retirement Plans
A retirement plan is an important component of most companies’ growth strategies. It can help attract and retain key employees.
Retirement plans can provide additional, tax-advantaged benefits for business owners and executives. It can help everyone in the company become better prepared for retirement. But if you’re a plan sponsor, it can also create significant compliance responsibilities and liabilities – which is why many companies turn to Foster Group.
The team at Foster Group provides comprehensive financial expertise to help maximize employee savings, as well as proactive fiduciary governance processes to help satisfy compliance requirements for plan sponsors. We bring decades of experience in serving the retirement plan needs of small to medium-sized organizations.
And because we’re fiduciaries, our services come with a transparent approach to pricing, so you always know what your costs are. We don’t have fee-sharing arrangements with outside vendors. We don’t accept incentives from third parties. Our first objective is to serve the best interests of you and your people.
How We Can Serve You
Focused on Accomplishing the Goals of Both Plan Sponsors and Participants.
We simplify complexities, communicate clearly, and help you adapt to changes along the way.
Retirement Plan Assessment
No two plans are exactly alike. We know that individual employers and participants each have their own unique set of needs, goals, values, and hopes. That’s why we also know that the best starting point for developing a retirement plan strategy is a clear, deep understanding of what’s most important to you.
The Foster Group planning process begins with a thorough assessment of your current plan(s). Is it meeting your needs? Are the costs reasonable? Do your employees value the benefit? How are current service providers performing compared to benchmarks? We identify what’s working – and what isn’t. We analyze alternatives and help identify any gaps that might exist.
Plan Design
With a clear understanding of the company’s goals and objectives, as well as those of your employees, we can apply best practices to the plan design – aligning it to the overall direction of the organization, while identifying opportunities to maximize benefits. We can also help you ensure that your plan meets industry and ERISA standards.
Working together, we’ll review eligibility, contribution, and distribution options. Depending on your goals, additional options for owners, managers, and key employees can be included in your overall retirement plan design strategy.
Fiduciary Investment Advice & Compliance
Foster Group fiduciary financial advisors can help guide the development of your plan’s Investment Policy Statement – advising on investment options to include in the plan, then evaluating the performance of plan investments over time. ERISA requires a diverse menu of investment options that enable participants to seek growth or preservation of their retirement savings. We can help satisfy that responsibility.
We can provide 3(21) co-fiduciary investment assistance – meeting regularly with you to make joint decisions about plan investments, due diligence, and other plan matters. Or we can act as a 3(38) Investment Manager Fiduciary, taking on the responsibility of making decisions about plan investment selection, monitoring, and replacement – reducing your exposure to potential fiduciary compliance risks.
We can also assist your individual employees, helping them determine appropriate asset allocation approaches for pursuing their retirement savings goals.
Plan Governance – Support to Help Keep You on Track
Offering and operating a retirement plan can include a complex set of responsibilities. But the experienced Foster Group retirement plan team can help you establish policies and procedures that can greatly reduce your compliance exposure, while facilitating governance best practices – including:
- Determining decision-making procedures and ensuring ERISA compliance
- Conducting periodic plan review, investment monitoring, and cost benchmarks
- Reviewing plan performance metrics and participant data
- Ensuring that investment processes align with the Investment Policy Statement
- Documenting all decision making
- Confirming that providers are meeting their fiduciary obligations
- Periodically facilitating comprehensive service provider RFPs
Employee Engagement – Support to Help Keep Them on Track
At Foster Group, our long experience in serving the needs of retirement plan participants has given us insights into creating effective employee engagement tools and processes. While each plan – and each participant – is unique, a working engagement plan must include:
- Assessing employee awareness and appreciation of the plan
- Implementing an employee education program to support what is working and address what isn’t working
- Enrollment support for newly eligible employees (including both group and one-on-one offerings)
- Annual group education meetings for all employees (using face-to-face and virtual options)
- Personalized one-on-one meetings
- Assistance in determining deferrals, asset allocation, rollover options, and other personal plan decisions
Managing Vendors to Improve Service & Expectations
Foster Group can act as your advocate with plan service providers – negotiating appropriate fees, conducting due diligence, monitoring the availability of new offerings (or changes to existing ones), and leveraging the tools they provide for both plan sponsors and participants.
Get Retirement Plan Support.
Foster Group fiduciary financial advisors can help you create a compliant and rewarding retirement plan strategy that benefits you, your organization, your employees, and their families. Our guidance comes with a transparent approach to costs, so you always know what you’re paying. And it reflects our mission to deliver wise financial counsel with character, competence, and care.