As the sponsor of a qualified retirement plan, you may be liable for the following:
- Acting solely in the interest of plan participants and their beneficiaries and with the exclusive purpose of benefits to them;
- Carrying out their duties prudently;
- Following the plan documents (unless inconsistent with ERISA);
- Diversifying plan investments; and
- Paying only reasonable plan expenses
(Source: Department of Labor publications “Meeting Your Fiduciary Responsibilities”)
You will be solely responsible for these aspects unless you choose to share or shift that liability. We can help with that.
- As a 3(21) Investment Co-fiduciary, we will share this liability with you.
- As a 3(38) Investment Fiduciary, you entirely shift this liability to us.
3(21) Investment Co-fiduciary
In this capacity we recommend and monitor your investment lineup, on an ongoing basis, helping you ensure it adheres to certain criteria established by you. If we determine that an investment should be replaced, we make that recommendation to you, and it’s up to you whether to implement the change(s). It’s because you have the final say that we only share liability with you.
3(38) Investment Fiduciary
In this capacity, we select and monitor your investment lineup. If we determine that an investment should be replaced, we replace it. That is, we don’t make a recommendation, we just do it. Because you are not approving recommendations, you entirely shift the investment selection responsibility to us, although you have a fiduciary responsibility to prudently select and monitor us, the investment fiduciary. We think that as a client of ours, there are certain things you should expect from us. You can see our Client Bill of Rights by clicking here.