Defining a Retirement Plan Standard of Excellence: Key Elements

Three key elements of Defining a Retirement Plan Standard of Excellence are:

1. Meeting the goals and objectives of the plan sponsor
2. Having plan features and investments which inspire participants to save for a dignified retirement
3. Plan governance

The white paper referenced in today’s blog touches on those three elements.

Here is an excerpt from the white paper:

…any retirement plan of any size should be selecting retirement plan custodians and recordkeepers based on their ability to meet the needs of participants…

This is important because, as pointed out in the white paper, a lot of recordkeepers are trying to increase margins by offering proprietary products or services such as managed accounts or target date funds.  This may not necessarily be bad, but it is important the plan fiduciaries document their fiduciary files adequately to justify the use of the proprietary services and the associated compensation to the custodian or recordkeeper created by the use of those proprietary products.

Plan Fiduciaries should document their goals and objectives, maintaining a focus on participant outcomes, and engage service providers who will receive reasonable compensation to meet those goals and objectives.