Retirement Plan Sponsor Services

 

 

 The Fishman Fletcher Wealth Management Group

 Statement of Service                                                  

 
The Fishman Fletcher Wealth Management Group will help you design, implement, and monitor a comprehensive retirement program that is ideal for your company; not only from your company’s perspective but also from your employees' perspective.
 
We help you design, implement, and monitor:
 
  • 401 (k) Plans
  • Cross Tested / New Comparability Plans
  • Defined Contribution Plans
  • Defined Benefit Plans
  • Executive Benefit Plans 
  • Employee Stock Option Plans
 
We have the ability and knowledge to handle any one component of your retirement plan, or to design a sophisticated and strategic framework for all your retirement and wealth accumulation plans helping ensuring they all work together to accomplish the overall goals of your company and employees.
 
 
Our Method                                                                

Our method is quite simple. We recommend solutions that are in our client’s best interests.

While this sounds simple, if you have ever been through a “Request For Proposal” (RFP) process, you already understand how difficult it is to receive completely unbiased advice. We are true consultants who can match your needs to virtually any solution with no proprietary requirements. This is what we believe makes the Fishman Fletcher Wealth Management Group stand out.
 
We deliver our services only on a fee basis. All fees are disclosed up front; there are no hidden fees or charges. We believe that a fee based business model is in the best interest of our clients since it directly aligns our interests with yours.
 
We also distinguish ourselves in the fact that we use completely open architecture, and only appropriate fund share classes, or separate accounts, for you and your employees. We have no interest in utilizing one-fund family solutions, or requiring you to place a certain percentage of the plan assets with any single fund family. We have no proprietary requirements so we can recommend solutions that are simply the best suited for your situation rather than what is required. This is true during the initial plan design and remains true while monitoring, and if necessary, replacing investment options within the plan.
 
To further demonstrate our commitment to doing what is right for you and your employees, we have the ability to work with several Third Party Administrators ("TPA") that will sign as a fiduciary at the plan level for our clients who are set up with this type of retirement program. Other services you can expect to receive from a TPA include plan administration and recordkeeping services such as:
  • Plan Design
    • We work with the TPA to help you design a new plan or amend an existing one. Small adjustments to matching contribution formulas, vesting tables and eligibility requirements can significantly affect a plan's overall success.
  • Document Preparation and Filing
    • A TPA can provide IRS-approved prototype documents or aid in the creation of individually designed custom documents. Document Services include Plan and Trust Agreement, preparation of Summary Plan Description, and establishment of loan procedures and forms required for plan operation.
  • Daily Valuation of Participant Accounts
    • Some TPAs now provide daily record-keeping which involves valuation, reconciliation and the balance of participant accounts each day, eliminating the need to reconcile trust and participation data at the end of each accounting period. We think daily valuation record-keeping is the most accurate method of the administration of 401(k) plans. Traditional record-keeping systems typically deliver information that is sometimes weeks or months out of date, which impacts a participant’s ability to make timely investment decisions, transfer funds, or receive timely distributions and loan payments. Traditional accounting may also report gains and/or losses attributed to a participant’s account inaccurately.
  • Compliance Assistance
    • TPAs may be able to assist you when issues arise such as: qualified domestic relations orders; delinquent/defaulted loans; use of qualified non-elective contributions; maximization of plan testing opportunities; planning for collective bargaining units' plan merger and consolidation assistance and integrating non-qualified plans
  • Annual Reporting and Administration
    • Some of these services include: performing ADP and ACP discrimination tests; performing any required compliance testing, including top-heavy, minimum coverage, minimum participation and maximum contribution limitations; various tax related forms

                          
Investment Policy Statement                                      

As recommended by ERISA, the foundation of an investment program for a retirement plan is an Investment Policy Statement. Not only is an Investment Policy Statement recommended, it makes good business sense for plan sponsors. An Investment Policy Statement allows you to clearly establish your plan’s investment goals, including the criteria to be used for selecting and monitoring funds from a universe of investment options.

 
The Fishman Fletcher Wealth Management Group will help you design and implement an Investment Policy Statement specifically for your plan that will help you establish a foundation for the investment choices you make available within your plan.
 
A Foundation
 
An Investment Policy Statement is designed to provide guidance to plan fiduciaries in selecting and monitoring the investments offered in a qualified retirement plan. An Investment Policy Statement serves a number of functions. It:
 
  • Documents your plan’s long-term investment criteria / policy
  • Guides you on investment selections
  • Defines the basis for measuring investment performance
  • Determines when it may be appropriate to make changes to your investment menu
  • Records your policies and procedures
 
A Blueprint for Your Plan’s Investment Menu
 
Just as a carpenter would not build a house without a blueprint, a plan sponsor should not build an investment menu without an Investment Policy Statement. So think of an Investment Policy Statement as a blueprint for your selection of the investment choices for your plan. As a starting point, the Investment Policy Statement can help you answer key questions such as:
 
  • What asset classes should you include in your plan?
  • What characteristics are important to you when selecting funds?
  • How will you monitor your fund selections?
  • Who is responsible for making changes to your investment menu when appropriate?
  • What is the process of administration and oversight?
 
It is vital that as your provider we will work in your best interests, not in the interest of any insurance company, bank, or mutual fund company.  We help ensure that you meet your fiduciary responsibilities by helping you:
  • Select from a universe of thousands of funds, based not on alliance agreements or proprietary fund requirements but on the performance, suitability and cost of the fund itself.
  • With monthly investment monitoring and fiduciary support including a customized investment policy statement.
  • Select partners who will state in writing that they are co-fiduciaries to your plan.

                             

Investment Services                                                    
 
 
Open Architecture Choice of Investment Options
 
You can generally select from virtually every fund available to develop the “investment menu” for your plan. We seek to provide you with one of the largest selections of investments available and the tools to choose wisely among them. You can have an opportunity to customize your plan to best match the needs of your participants. And unlike most providers, The Fishman Fletcher Wealth Management Group has no requirements that you place a certain percentage of assets with any one-fund family.
 
Investment Selection
 
You will be able to offer your participants well known mutual funds. You want to make the right investment decision for your plan and participants.   That’s why we make available objective guidance assistance in helping you choose investments that best fit your plan.
 
Diversification Without Confusion
 
We will provide the information you need to determine those investments most appropriate for your plan. Ultimately, you may help your employees develop a diversified retirement portfolio, and also ensure that you fulfill your fiduciary obligations as a plan sponsor. For further convenience, you can generally change fund families without changing retirement providers. You will also generally have single-source access to vast investment choices and flexibility. Included are model portfolios and automatic annual re-balancing.
 
Access to a Variety of Investment Choices
 
In today’s environment, you can be faced with increased demand from your employees to offer a broad array of investment options. We will meet this demand by providing them access to thousands of mutual funds and fund families.
 
As a consolidated fund platform, we offer a broad range of funds from an extensive roster of major fund companies, eliminating the need to contact multiple fund families to place and reconcile trades. Fund holdings are included on our consolidated monthly statement for each client account, avoiding the need to receive separate statements from each fund family.
                                  

Communication Services                                                

 
After the foundation is in place, it is time to build the framework of the plan’s communication services. This frame is based on communication and programs, including enrollment meetings and materials, newsletters, voice response systems, and websites. Your employees will be able to participate in enrollment and educational meetings as well as receive enrollment and educational materials, quarterly participant newsletters and special edition newsletters created by your chosen TPA.
 
 
Enrollment and Education Meetings
 
The Fishman Fletcher Wealth Management Group conducts enrollment and educational meetings to educate both newly eligible employees and current participants. The meetings are designed to educate employees on the specific parameters and investment options of the plan. Since employees have varying degrees of experience, the sessions are customized to meet the knowledge level of the audience.
 
                                              

Implementation Services                                             

When it comes to building retirement plans, the process encompasses the development of an implementation/conversion timeline and the transition to The Fishman Fletcher Wealth Management Group.
 
 
Development of Implementation / Conversion Timetable
 
We work closely with each new plan sponsor to develop a written implementation / conversion timetable. This timetable details all required steps and expected completion date, thereby providing an understanding of each stage of the conversion process.
 
Transition to The Fishman Fletcher Wealth Management Group
 
Many people perceive changing 401(k) providers as a major problem for plan sponsors.  The Fishman Fletcher Wealth Management Group’s smooth transition process helps assure that optimizing your retirement plan is reasonably easy. In most cases, there is no disruption of services. In many instances, there is more plan information available to you and your employees during the conversion process then there was prior to the start of the transition program.
 
When it comes to retirement plans, The Fishman Fletcher Wealth Management Group constantly stives to offer unparalleled service, flexibility, and a broad combination of features and benefits that cannot be exceeded by any other provider. We think we accomplish this in part by using a fee-based methodology and totally open architecture with absolutely no fund family requirements.  We work with TPAs that will also assume the role as additional fiduciaries on the plan. 
 
What’s the next step to creating the best possible retirement plan for you and your employees?  Allow us to arrange a time when we can discuss our services in greater detail, and/or we can evaluate your existing retirement and wealth accumulation plans and help you identify possible improvements.