Small businesses invest plan assets in a variety of ways. Participants may be permitted to direct the investment of their accounts – this is referred to as “Participant-Directed.” The trustee of the plan will provide the investments from which participants can choose and is responsible for educating the employees on the investment options available. The trustee is responsible for the investment of plan assets “prudently” and for the “exclusive benefit” of plan participants. Alternatively, the trustee may choose to direct the investment of plan assets on behalf of plan participants – referred to as “Trustee-Directed.” However, this also means the trustee can be held responsible for the performance of the plan’s investments.

Generally the investment powers and limitations for the trustee are outlined in the plan document. Investments may include mutual funds, certificates of deposit, real estate, stocks, bonds, annuities or life insurance contracts. Employee Incentive Plans, Inc (EIP) can provide you with various investment options for your plan and our advisory relationships will help you determine the right choice of investments and create an investment policy for the plan.

EIP Exchange is our open-architecture trading and custodial platform. As an employer, you are able to offer participants investment choices from a vastly larger universe compared to other trading programs with our independent EIP Exchange platform. It also provides participant education along with trading and investment direction. By making the investment management process more understandable and user-friendly, participants are able to seamlessly facilitate the changes with ease.

A retirement plan investment line-up is one of the most important responsibilities of the plan sponsor. If not properly managed and monitored, a breach of Fiduciary responsibility can lead to costly lawsuits. ERISA requires a Plan Sponsor to maintain a prudent level of investment knowledge as it pertains to the retirement plan. When a Plan Sponsor lacks the technical expertise and experience to properly select and manage the plan investment line-up, ERISA may require a Plan Sponsor to hire a knowledgeable adviser to take on the plan’s investment responsibility.

This is why we bring in our 401k advisory services and ERISA 3(38) Investment Management through AtlasMark Financial to help you manage your fiduciary liability. We effectively create a co-fiduciary relationship between you, your plan and our 401(k) advisory team. When serving as your 3(38) Investment Manager and 401(k) adviser, you shift the fiduciary liability for selecting and monitoring the plan investment line-up onto AtlasMark. With the ever-increasing litigation threats in retirement plans, you can add a layer of fiduciary protection by having our team serve as your 3(38) Investment Manager and 401(k) advisor.

Our goal is to make available to the plan solid, high-quality investment options and to provide plan sponsors with sound, prudent investment insight, as well as to monitor and assess your plan’s designated investment alternatives. Through our own proprietary review and monitoring system, we give powerful advice in an easy to understand format. We provide our clients with an Investment Policy Statement designed to outline the framework for selecting, monitoring and maintaining your plan’s core investment lineup to protect plan sponsors and employees. If you are looking for a 401k adviser in Austin, TX or surrounding Texas areas, we are happy to help!