The top 5 reasons to start or change your business retirement plan

There is no one reason why business owners decide to start a retirement plan or alter an established one. Maybe your tax bill is high and you’d like a way to reduce it. Maybe you want to be more competitive in attracting and retaining the best employees. Perhaps you and your employees aren’t saving enough for retirement and you need to put more substantial money away. It could be the cost of your current plan is too high or you’re unhappy with how it’s being managed.

Let’s first look at why you might want a plan or to change your current one. Then we’ll approach the how.

Popular reasons to create a new plan:

• Reduce your taxable income. When your business is profitable, a retirement plan can be an excellent way to reduce your taxes. Your contributions can grow tax-free until you’re ready to retire, and, depending on the type of plan, employer contributions can potentially be considered a business expense. Different types of plans have varied contribution levels and limits, and our investment professionals can help you navigate the many choices so you can decide which one might be best for your business.
• Your retirement savings (and your employees’) can get a much-needed boost. As an owner, you benefit from contributing more than what you could just by having an IRA (Individual Retirement Account). Your employees will have a reliable and convenient way to save for retirement, so you’re helping them invest in their futures, too.
• You want to attract and keep great employees. Other businesses in your area might not offer a retirement plan. This is your chance to attract the best talent by offering a benefit others don’t or can’t. And if your competition has a retirement plan, adding one enhances your ability to be competitive.
• You want an asset outside of your business. Do you believe your company will become your retirement money once you’re ready to sell it? A retirement plan gives you another way to create your nest egg without relying solely on the business’ value.
• A variety of investment options are available. A retirement plan is an excellent way to diversify your investments to potentially spread out risk and heighten your returns.

If you already have a company retirement plan, your concerns and issues are much different. Here’s why you might want to change plan managers:

• Your plan investments aren’t doing the job. Maybe your current suite of investment options aren’t broad enough or aren’t getting the types of returns you were expecting. You want a plan manager who can offer investments that meet your goals.
• It seems like your plan administrators aren’t talking to each other. That’s especially difficult if the brokers are in one location and the third-party administration is in another. Sometimes you’re treated as the intermediary between the two, and that’s not your job.
• The cost of your current plan is too high. You never want something that is great for the company to be so costly that you question its worth. You need a plan manager that will act in your best interests, whose fees are transparent and fair and who understands the value of controlling expenses.
• You can’t get answers to your questions or connect with the people who can help. You don’t want to chase down multiple phone numbers to address any questions or concerns or wade through layers of people to find the right person. If you can’t get the right person on the first call, it might be time to reconsider your plan manager.
• You are the plan trustee and you aren’t comfortable with all of the liability. If something goes wrong, the government finds you in noncompliance or your employees sue the plan, it’s all on you. You might want someone on your side to help you navigate the rules and share in the liability.

Curious about adding a plan or making a change? Here is the how: Talk with us and we will ensure you have the knowledge you need to make an informed decision.

You will get personal attention from local people who have decades of experience serving sole proprietors as well as companies with thousands of employees. You will be working with investment professionals who can manage every aspect of your plan under one roof. That means we’ll help you to design the best plan to meet your company’s needs, educate you and your employees on the plan, set up the enrollment, take care of the investments, and manage all the record keeping in one place.

When you do have questions, we are a simple phone call or email away. Our experts are the ones who answer, and they are ready to help you with any issue. You can contact us here.

Our first step is always to ask questions – to get to know you and your business better.

We also offer consulting expertise – something not common in the industry – so that when we see a plan, we can help our clients understand its structure and recommend improvements.

We often hear that employees get confused about a retirement plan and how it works. That confusion means they don’t participate, so we take the time to talk with them. We don’t talk over their heads, because we know when employees understand the benefits and how to use them, they take advantage of them. We explain the plans in ways anyone can understand. By the time we finish a session, employees grasp the concepts so they’re more apt to join and are more confident in their ability to make smart decisions.

What’s more, they’re hearing it from someone who is part of their community.

Perhaps most importantly, we are a corporate trustee who acts as a fiduciary – which means we operate any plan in the sole interest of the plan participants and their beneficiaries. We have always believed in acting in our clients’ best interest and explaining everything in understandable terms. Because of that transparency, our clients know up front any and all fees that are charged, and it is part of our culture to monitor our expenses for the benefit of our clients. We also use independent auditing firms to ensure compliance, and as a fiduciary, we share in any business owner’s liability.

An open and honest relationship, we have found, always works best. So whether you’re interested in a new retirement plan or changing your current one, we have straightforward answers for you and a commitment to do what’s best for you and your company.

Investments are not FDIC insured, not bank guaranteed, and may lose value.