Retirement Plans
Our retirement plan consulting division uses a proprietary process to help owners and key executives gain clarity to make better informed decisions on how to best allocate resources to existing benefit and compensation programs. In addition to capitalizing on developing trends and new tax law, this process results in greater management appreciation of these programs on an ongoing basis.
We provide two proprietary tools to help management make informed decisions. Our plan design tool is called “The Strategic Retirement Planning Process™” and our ERISA fiduciary services tool is named “The Open Source 401(k) Program™”.
The Strategic Retirement Planning Process™
This multi-step process helps you examine your benefits programs in the context of an ever changing environment of taxes, control issues, creditor risk, and fiduciary responsibility, not to mention whether resources are being allocated to the right group of employees. In many cases we provide a “second opinion” as to whether any financial surgery need take place, if at all.
This process involves the examination and feasibility study of custom solutions to resolve retirement planning goals and needs within your company. Executives who take their firms through this process discover how building wealth with pre-tax dollars can provide significant benefits, including asset protection, with contributions ranging as high as $250,000/year per executive and more. Depending on the tax structure of the business, owners may prefer tax deductible solutions to providing benefits as opposed to after-tax non-qualified plan benefits for executives.
If we are hired only to evaluate plan design, there is no formal charge as long as we are hired as plan consultant. If we are needed for a second opinion only, we charge a minimum fee to be negotiated based on the complexity of the project.
The Open Source 401(k) Program™
This fiduciary tool helps plan sponsors correctly benchmark their plan investments and measure strengths and weaknesses. Employees wearing the fiduciary hat, whether trustees or members of a retirement plan committee, often discover that they do not have the tools or expertise to discharge their responsibilities under ERISA so we have developed a systematic written process to help them accomplish these fiduciary duties:
- Deploy a consistent process to control expenses and make all providers/vendors accountable on a fully disclosed basis.
- Monitor and measure investment fund managers against their peer group and applicable benchmark index, quarterly.
- Provide custom investment advice to participants as part of the new fiduciary advisor regulations, post PPA ’06.
- Implement 3-4 fiduciary safe harbors to both reduce plan fiduciary liability and enhance the participant experience.
Our process is designed so that you can evaluate all of your retirement plan options and find the solution that is best for you and your employees. We present the pros and cons of qualified plans and nonqualified plans. Then we closely monitor the plan to ensure efficient performance and accountability by all parties-in-interest (service providers) because ERISA requires that every decision be made in the best interest of plan participants and their beneficiaries.
Contact Our Retirement Plan Experts
Our philosophy is client centric and custom from the bottom up in designing investment programs to meet every individual's unique circumstances and goals as they evolve over an investing lifetime. While we track index performance, such as the S&P 500, our investment return mandates are driven by specific client goals, not trying to keep pace with a popular index or “the market.” We go against the crowd and look to build portfolios with alternatives investments, fixed income, opportunistic equity, and high dividend-paying blue chip equities focused on downside risk management first.
Whether a client has $500,000 or $5,000,000 in liquid assets, it is equally painful to suffer capital losses that can diminish a lifetime of accumulated wealth. As an independent registered investment advisor, Gordon Asset Management, LLC, is uniquely positioned to provide advice on a fee basis with full disclosure and no conflicts of interest.
Would you like to have your plan go through our comprehensive Quantitative & Qualitative analysis process?
Complete our Plan Analysis Checklist below
We will review and provide analysis:
- Current plan investment menu fund metrics
- Compare your current plan menu versus peer groups and alternatives, examining over 8,000 funds for top risk-adjusted, consistent performers.
- Looking at both active and passive (low-cost index funds) options
- Review your "Do it for me" Qualified Default Investment Alternatives ("QDIA") Safe Harbor investment options
- Asses your readiness for the July 1, 2012 effective date of the new ERISA Section 408(b)(2) regulations
- Conduct a comprehensive, plan level, fee analysis to help you meet your fiduciary duty to control plan expenses
- Provide guidance on your readiness for the new Participant Fee Disclosure regulations under ERISA Section 404(a)(5). Effective quarter ending September 30, 2012.
