Advisor Connect

  Download The Companion Document When we talk about new retirement plans, we usually focus on the savings advantages they grant to business owners or the big-picture advantages of helping employees achieve ongoing financial wellness. Tax credits granted to plan...

  Download The Companion Document COVID-19 is obviously causing financial stress and, when it comes to your clients’ qualified retirement plans, they may be looking for ways to reduce expenses. In this talk, we’ll detail the three options they have to use plan...

  IMPORTANT HIGHLIGHTS  The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act includes provisions that may apply to your retirement plan. Here are some important highlights to know first.  The CARES ACT expands and relaxes rules on withdrawals,...

Download The Companion Document As you know, the goal of our nation’s retirement system is to create more opportunities for American workers to save and to make it easier for employers to start and maintain benefit plans. With this in mind, Congress just passed, and...

Download The Companion Document Auto-enrollment and automatic contribution increases have proven to be popular and successful retirement plan design features that get more people to save for retirement. A little less known is “re-enrollment.” It’s another important...

Download The Companion Document Some business owners may come to you asking for information on a 401K or a cash balance plan. They may know of these from prior experience, or friendly advice, or they may have done their homework about different retirement plans. As...

Download The Companion Document You already know that a 401(k) is a very popular retirement plan that allows employees to take advantage of tax deferrals on contributions and earnings while their money accumulates for retirement. To enjoy this special status, the IRS...

Download The Companion Document When it comes to retirement plans, there are many ways to distribute a company’s profit sharing contribution. It may be as straightforward as a proportional, or “pro rata,” share to each eligible participant or it can be based on a...

Download The Companion Document Every retirement plan design begins with a study of a company’s payroll. It’s the essential information that drives thinking around how to optimize tax and savings potential for both business owners and their employees. Once a plan is...

Download The Companion Document As an investment professional, you may already know a great deal about how behavioral bias affects how investors make decisions and how they perceive their account performance. We know, of course, that behavioral finance tells us that...

Download The Companion Document You know the expression - it’s not a one-size-fits-all-world. We’re different. From the foods we eat, to the cars we drive, to the places we go on vacation. And it’s also true when it comes to 401k plans. Ask two company owners what...

Download The Companion Document In the retirement plan business, we naturally focus on helping clients accumulate wealth. But at some point we turn our attention from accumulation to decumulation. After all, everyone will reach the age at which they no longer...

Download The Companion Document At a glance, compliance tests assure that every retirement plan is producing a meaningful benefit to rank and file employees and that it demonstrates a level of fairness in the benefits those same employees get as compared to the...

Download The Companion Document In some ways you can divide clients into two groups - those who are primarily motivated by lowest cost and those who seek value. That doesn’t necessarily align nicely with retirement plan benchmarking since it’s much easier to compare...

Download The Companion Document Everyday companies large and small make decisions to combine forces. In fact, in 2017, more than 15,000 companies announced a merger or an acquisition. And it probably won’t surprise you, but M&A activity spans all major industry...

Download The Companion Document You already know that a 401(k) is a very popular retirement plan and, like other plan designs, it allows your employees to take advantage of tax deferrals on contributions and earnings while their money accumulates for retirement. To...

Download The Companion Document The Employee Retirement Income Security Act known as "ERISA" regulates 401k and most other types of employee benefit plans. Under ERISA, anyone who handles plan funds must be covered by a fidelity bond. The bond protects the PLAN from...

Download The Companion Document Most of us live in homes that were not custom-designed for us. We adapt to them rather than expect them to be optimized to how we like to live. Most retirement plans are sold the same way. Companies buy something off the shelf that was...