We Have a Few Ideas on Small Business Retirement Plans
Welcome to Strategic Retirement Partners, LLC
Strategic Retirement Partners, LLC is an independent, boutique investment firm specializing in qualified retirement plan advisory services for small to mid-size businesses. It is our experience that plans with fewer than 100 employees and assets of less than $10 million need the most help with their fiduciary duties, investment responsibilities and ongoing communication with their employees. We consult with these businesses both to establish new plans and existing plans to improve all aspects of retirement benefit plans. Our services include professional plan design, vendor search, plan investment options and ongoing monitoring and analysis. In addition, we provide fiduciary guidance to plan sponsors and education and investment tools to plan participants to assure positive outcomes.
Brian Rall, President
Strategic Retirement Partners, LLC
About Me
I began my investment career as a registered representative in 1978 with a small, research- driven broker dealer located in Portland, Oregon. In 1984, I joined Oppenheimer & Company and became Vice President of Investments and a Registered Investment Advisor, focusing on both qualified retirement plans and high net worth clients. In 2012, I joined the Benefits division of Paychex as a 401(k) consultant, establishing over 400 new 401(k) plans and converting over 60 existing plans to the Paychex record-keeping platform. Strategic Retirement Partners, LLC was founded in April of 2018 as a boutique investment advisory firm to assist business owners with all aspects of their retirement benefits.
Running a small firm provides me significant advantages in client responsiveness, accessibility and customized personal service. Clients have direct access to high level professional services within a dramatically reduced cost structure when compared with firms focusing on larger plan size.
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Retirement Plan Services
“In our view, no two retirement plans should be identical.”
– Brian Rall, President
We invest in every project by listening carefully in order to design a retirement benefit that minimizes internal administration, reduces the fiduciary exposure for plan sponsors and maximizes the investment quality and performance outcomes for participants. In this process, we develop a customized and detailed client profile that identifies your plan goals and is unique to your organization. Unlike firms that treat 401(k) as a product, we slow the process down on the front end to get every aspect right.
Plan Design
Employer goals for a 401(k) plan can vary greatly. Once we understand the long-term goals and objectives of the business, we work systematically with a checklist to identify the key components and features of the plan, including eligibility, allowable compensation, matching contributions, vesting, distributions and loan features. By carefully customizing the appropriate plan design as opposed to simply creating a “cookie-cutter” plan, we design the plan to conform to your own unique goals and objectives and thereby avoid hidden costs for both plan sponsors and participants.
Investment Selection & Monitoring
The initial investment lineup chosen by your plan and the ongoing due diligence and monitoring of those investments are critical in determining not only the ultimate retirement outcomes for participants, but are among the most challenging fiduciary duties for plan sponsors. Hiring a registered investment adviser as co-fiduciary is not only a prudent strategy for plan sponsors, but helps establish a documented process. It begins with the creation of a written Investment Policy Statement (IPS) which defines appropriate investment classes, policies and processes that should be strictly followed in regard to plan investments.
Cost Analysis & Fees
A significant number of existing 401(k) and other defined contribution retirement plans contain fees to both plan sponsors and participants that are prohibitively expensive based on today’s alternatives. We provide a free, comprehensive fee analysis and benchmark these often hidden fees to assist you in the analysis of your plan’s total costs. However, plan sponsors also have an ongoing fiduciary duty to determine that these fees are reasonable. Our analysis calculates an “all-in-one” fee ratio that can be compared to plans of a similar size and participation rate so that plan sponsors can document and benchmark objective fee comparisons on an apples-to-apples basis.
Fiduciary Guidance
Sponsoring a company retirement plan should not be intimidating! We work actively with you, the plan sponsor, to help you understand and implement your fiduciary role. This includes preparation of a detailed fiduciary checklist, ongoing analysis of plan fees and expenses, and help identify potential conflicts-of-interest that may exist with plan trustees, business owners or plan providers. In addition, we assist you with plan governance, fiduciary guidance and compliance. SRP can provide different tiers of co-fiduciary advisory services, including 3(21) and 3(38), depending on your needs. Simply stated, we are available to guide you through the complex issues and on-going questions that may arise regarding your role as a plan sponsor.
Provider Search
When it comes to choosing plan providers such as record-keepers and third party administrators, plan sponsors have hundreds of options to consider. This can be both extremely time consuming and expensive. We provide detailed due diligence and can assist with search and selection of providers that are right for your plan. In addition, we are objective in our approach to investment advisers. Depending on the services required, we may recommend outside advisers from time to time. Not all investment advisers, even us, are a perfect fit for your plan.
Participant Communication & Education
It is our goal with every plan to provide access to professional investment education and ongoing coaching. Depending on the level of services that are chosen, participants are provided quantitative risk management tools, monthly communications, one-on-one confidential access to the adviser, and tools to measure investment performance and portfolio risk. We also work with plan administrators and TPA’s to achieve compliance with all mandatory participant notices and fee disclosures.
Can We Suspend Our Safe Harbor Contributions Mid-Plan Year?
Small to mid size firms are scrambling to readjust their budgets due to the economic disruption of coronavirus.
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Large vs Small 401(k) Plans: Which Has Bigger Problems?
If you are a plan sponsor with less than $2 million in assets and fewer than 50 employees, the odds are high that your plan may have problems.
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Why Professional Service Firms Should Sponsor a 401(k) Plan
…a well-designed 401(k) is the gold standard for professional service firms. This article will tell you why.
read morebrian@strategicretirementllc.com
(425) 221-1422
Seattle, Washington
Disclosure Statement
Strategic Retirement Partners, LLC is a registered investment adviser in the State of Washington. The adviser may not transact business in states where it is not appropriately registered, excluded or exempted from registration. Individualized responses to persons that involve either the effecting of transactions in securities, or the rendering of personalized investment advice for compensation, will not be made without registration or exemption. Currently, Strategic Retirement Partners, LLC handles most of its out of state clients via an exemption process. For more information, please read the ADV - Brochure and check the background of this firm on FINRA's BrokerCheck
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