Are You Meeting Your Fiduciary Requirements? Find Out Your 401(k) Score Today!

By Greg Farrall, PPC®, CWS®, CPFA®

You may be in business, but you’re not in the 401(k) business. And that’s completely understandable! When you offer retirement and healthcare plans to your employees, you’re giving them much more than just a supplement to their paycheck. You’re helping them pursue foundational security to protect themselves and their families. Great benefits packages often encourage loyalty from your team so they work for you for years to come—which is good for both you and them. 

As a 401(k) plan sponsor, you have a lot to manage and are actually taking on risk by offering these benefits. Fulfilling your obligations as a fiduciary is complex because there are rules and regulations you must follow, even though you’re not an expert in this area.

It’s my job to help you. As a Professional Plan Consultant (PPC®) and Certified Plan Fiduciary Advisor (CPFA®), I seek to make it pain-free. Together, we can review your existing plan, find its weaknesses, and develop a course of action towards improving it for you and your employees.

How’s the Health of Your Plan?

First, we have to determine what parts of your plan are working and, more importantly, what parts aren’t. To do this, we have a conversation in an interview-like style where we ask you deeper questions about your existing plan. We then take the information you give us and run it through our Plan Governance Index, or PGI. 

You can think of the PGI as a financial fitness test. The score it provides ranges between 1 and 100, with the latter indicating perfect health. If any harmful risks around your plan’s health are found, the index will reflect it by lowering your overall score.  

If your score is low, it could be for a variety of reasons. The PGI will expose issues inside your plan’s administration, investments, and performance. So you’ll not only see if you have problems, but also what kind. If your score isn’t operating at a full 100, it may be time to exercise some new options to get your plan back in tip-top shape.

Your Personalized Action Plan

As your financial caretaker, we seek to both diagnose and help you treat your plan’s problems. Regardless of where your plan is hurting, we’ll find a remedy that’s appropriate for you. Our process involves getting you organized, finding the right opportunities for improvement, formalizing a plan of action, and helping you implement that plan. 

If your plan is struggling with its administration, we can strategize a way to help you hold investment managers to a higher standard. If participants are confused, we can help educate them on the investment process; overall, however, the solution(s) will be tailored to you and your plan’s unique PGI score. You’ll also be provided with quarterly reports to inform you on how the new strategy is tracking, and if any of the plan’s pieces need to be placed on a watchlist. 

Get Started Today

Getting your PGI results is completely free, and it’s a service that can benefit you even if we don’t continue working together. Should you be audited by a regulatory body like the Department of Labor, a record of a third party’s audit of your retirement plan will be useful to have on hand.

You can take advantage of this process here. And should you want to learn more or continue on together, all you’ll have to do is let us know. Call our office at 219-246-2516, email greg@farrallwealth.com, or schedule a complimentary consultation online. Be sure to visit our website to learn more and connect with us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

About Greg

Greg Farrall is CEO and owner of Farrall Wealth, an independent, boutique wealth management firm that is dedicated to helping women and business owners create customized financial plans that allow them to grow, protect, preserve, and distribute their wealth. Greg is known for being a trustworthy problem-solver who walks his clients through whatever life throws at them. He prioritizes building long-term relationships and is passionate about going the extra mile for his clients so they can pursue their goals and live the lives they want. Greg has a bachelor’s degree in international business from the University of Wollongong in Australia and a bachelor’s degree in finance and marketing from Indiana University Bloomington. He is a Professional Plan Consultant (PPC®) and a Certified Wealth Strategist (CWS®) professional. And he recently received his Certified Plan Fiduciary Advisor (CPFA®) designation. You can listen to him on his financial literacy and business topic podcast, Money Matters with Greg, on iTunes, Google and Spotify. He’s also on YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook at @FarrallWealth.

Greg is a pillar of his community and served as the 2013-14 co-chair for the United Way campaign, through which he helped raise $1.8 million for 38 nonprofit organizations across Porter County, Indiana. He also served as president of the Valparaiso Rotary Club. Currently, he is on the advisory board for the Kelley School of Business and Dean of Students’ board at Indiana University. He also holds a position on the Culver Academies parents’ board. 

When he is not working, you can find Greg spending time with his family or investing in one of his many passions, which include cooking, Spartan races, fly fishing, and meditation. To learn more about Greg, connect with him on LinkedIn.

Securities and advisory services offered through LPL Financial, a registered investment advisor. Member FINRA/SIPC.

This information is not intended as authoritative guidance or tax or legal advice. Each plan has unique requirements, and you should consult your attorney or tax advisor for guidance on your specific situation. In no way does advisor assure that, by using the information provided, plan sponsor will be in compliance with ERISA regulations.