Save Your Business Time and Money with 401(k) Management

In this day and age, most companies have 401(k) services that they offer to their employees. As we discussed in a previous article, Small Business Guide to 401(k) Retirement Plans, companies of all sizes can offer 401(k) plans for their employees, which is an incredible benefit for employee retention. However, most business owners do not have the time it takes to manage their companies 401(k) plan properly, nor do they have an employee who can step away from their tasks to handle 401(k) management for the company on a regular basis.

Employer 401(k) Management: Save Time and Money

There is so much that goes into managing employees 401(k) plans. Hiring an adviser such as Trust Company of Oklahoma that specializes in employer 401(k) management can save you both time and money. Our team of 401(k) professionals will spend their days supporting your organization with all of the retirement management responsibilities your company has, so that you don’t have to.

On the other hand, as an employer with a defined contribution plan, your fiduciary duty means that you are legally responsible for providing employees with the highest standard of care. If you faulter on any 401(k) matter, your employee has the right to take legal action against you. When you hire a company to manage your organizations 401(k), you are giving them the legal fiduciary responsibility meaning that they are legally and financially responsible for ensuring your 401(k) plan is handled properly. We will dive more into this topic later.

Trust Company of Oklahoma’s 401(k) Professional Team Will:

• Review your 401(k)-plan health, features, and compliance.
• Coordinate all details with all other service providers.
• Manage your investment fund line up, ensuring benchmark rates are provided for your employees.
• Respond to all employee questions and provide independent advice services to help them calculate a target retirement goal, identify a savings rate, and provide investment allocation based on investments available for each participant.
• Handle all 401(k) loans, distributions, and rollovers.

Our team is committed to helping your employees plan for retirement. We will work hard to navigate relationships with recordkeepers, TPAs to assisting with audits, managing your funds, and so much more!

Though you have a team of professionals looking out for your and your employee’s retirement plans, it is important for you to know that you will have a dedicated relationship manager. What that means to you is that you will have one individual to contact for any information that you may need, not having to worry about what individual you might need to contact for what situation. Our goal is to make your life easier, and your dedicated relationship manager will do just that.

We make employer 401(k) management simple for your busy schedule.

Over the past 42 years since the birth of 401(k) plans, we have seen them grow from something only larger corporations can afford to offer their employees, to something that even small corporations can afford. Small businesses may now be able to offer 401(k) plans to their employees, but they may need to consider hiring someone to manage 401(k)s for the entire company due to the day-to-day tasks that are required to successfully manage these accounts. Here are a list of tasks that your 401(k) manager should be able to do.

1. They should understand the fiduciary responsibility the company has for the 401k, and with that what the legal responsibilities and processes are for each and every individual on the plan.
2. They must understand the basics of the impact of plan design. Through this knowledge they should be able increase employees’ participation and help them focus on their financial priorities.
3. This individual should be able to stay on top of plan expenses. What we mean by that is ensuring that plan fees and expenses are reasonable and benchmark them regularly, knowing when to trim fees or add them when appropriate.
4. Your 401(k) manger should pay attention to all the rules so that if the U.S. Department of labor decides to audit your organization the pain of the audit is minimized.
5. They should be prepared and capable of communicating and educating individuals throughout your organization so that they can ensure the effectiveness of your companies 401(k).
6. This individual should spend time monitoring investments and participants behavior to ensure that they are not jeopardizing their retirement security and be prepared to offer guidance to those individuals.

Many companies have told us that managing 401(k)s is an annual event, but the job is not that simple. Once a year is simply not enough, 401(k)s must be monitored regularly to ensure you are getting the best rates as the market fluctuates throughout the year. It takes a lot of work to oversee a 401(k), and if you if you have an individual in charge who is knowledgeable about the process, then it is a manageable task.

We have a team of dedicated professionals to help with the operations for your 401(k) plan. You will have an advocate to support your organization by ensuring that your 401(k) plan is on track and compliant. Not to mention, we pride ourselves on our ability to educate and train your employees about their 401(k), while providing them with investment guidance.

Employer 401(k) management means fiduciary protection just for you.

You are probably wondering what the difference between a Trust Company of Oklahoma investment management and a Trust Company of Oklahoma corporate 401(k) manager. Rest assures, we are a fiduciary that is prepared to act in the best interest of your employees and guarantee that we will provide superior service each and every day. And, because we are a fiduciary, we will take on the responsibility for choosing, monitoring, and updating your 401(k) company funds. We will also encourage your employees to save into your companies 401(k), not only to help them save for retirement, but also ensuring that employees and owners alike can save up to the maximum amount that the Internal Revenue Service allows per year.