Risk & Business Magazine Marcotte The Magazine - Winter 2018 | Page 29

RETIREMENT PLANS
2) INSTITUTE AN RFP PROCESS FOR
SELECTING ALL VENDORS AND
ADVISORS.
As a plan fiduciary, you are responsible
for monitoring and benchmarking fees
and performance for your recordkeeper,
administrator, and advisors. Your
choice of advisor should be reviewed
at least every three to five years and
should be a strictly business—versus
personal—decision.
3) DOCUMENT YOUR ACTIONS.
When it comes to a retirement plan,
the importance of process cannot be
overstated. The advisor or committee
member should record minutes for
every meeting. Those minutes spell out
the rationale for every decision made
regarding the plan or its investments,
as well as the procedures taken to
implement any change.
the committee to leverage the value of
their full portfolio to get institutional-
level annuities products for their retired
employees, so they are not forced to
accept higher retail fees.
If you have any questions about your
responsibilities as a plan fiduciary or the
Marcotte Retirement Plan process, give us
a call.
Securities offered through Cambridge
Investment Research, Inc., a Broker/Dealer,
Member FINRA/SIPC.
Investment Advisory Services offered
through Cambridge Investment Research
Advisors, Inc., a Registered Investment
Advisor.
Marcotte Wealth Management, LLC and
Cambridge are not affiliated companies.
4) ASSEMBLE MASTER FILES.
Establish an ERISA file to maintain
all important plan documents. These
should include the committee charter,
letters of acceptance from committee
members, and written processes for
reviewing fees, investments, and
investment performance measures.
1) OUTLINE A FORMAL PROCESS.
It’s important to take some time
up front to design a set of policies
and procedures—such as meeting
schedules, agenda formats, and plan
documentation. By establishing these
rules in writing, you can be assured
that your retirement plan decision
making is handled in a consistent way
with clear mandates over the lifetime of
the plan.
5) REVIEW PLAN DEMOGRAPHICS
DATA.
Most committee members—generally
the company’s CEO, CFO, and HR
administrator—only look at the
employee participation rate and salary
deferral rate to determine the plan’s
acceptance among employees. Another
important consideration, however,
is helping your employees achieve
“retirement readiness” so they can stay
on track toward retirement without
having to add on more working years.
6) OFFER ATTRACTIVE
DISTRIBUTION OPTIONS.
Many employees spend decades
working to build their retirement
plan without a clear understanding of
what to do with their portfolio upon
retirement and the best way to start
taking distributions. It’s incumbent on
BY: DEREK BAILEY CRPS, AIF -
INVESTMENT ADVISOR
REPRESENTATIVE
Derek Bailey graduated from the University
of Nebraska – Kearney. As a full-time plan
consultant, Derek’s focus is dedicated solely to
401(k) and 403(b) retirement plans. Derek’s
responsibilities include implementation of the
investment analysis platform and completing the
vendor benchmark and B3 analysis (fees, service,
and investments) review for most of Marcotte
Retirement Plans’ clients. Derek currently has
his Series 6, 63, 65, Life, Health and Annuities
licenses and has earned the Chartered Retirement
Plan Specialist (CRPS) designation as well as the
Accredited Investment Fiduciary (AIF). Derek
was named a Top 50 Under 40 Retirement Plan
Advisor by the National Association of Plan
Advisors in 2015 and a Top 75 Plan Advisors
Under 40 in 2017.
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