INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT FOR BUSINESS & BUSINESS OWNERS
PARTICIPANT DIRECTED 401(k) PLANS
SECTION 3(38) FIDUCIARY
Section 3(38) is an ERISA provision which allows 401(k) sponsors to delegate the responsibility for managing the plan's investment options to a fiduciary advisor. As a 3(38) advisor, The Fiduciary Group assumes full discretion for selecting, monitoring and replacing the plan's investment options. Because we make and stand behind the plan's investment decisions, we indemnify the sponsor from fiduciary liability for the plan's investment options. This significantly reduces or eliminates the sponsor's fiduciary liability related to the plan's investments.
FIDUCIARY INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT
We conduct extensive due diligence in selecting mutual funds for the plan, and provide ongoing monitoring, review, and re-placement of funds. We offer participants a line-up of "best-in-class," reasonably-priced mutual funds across all major as-set categories, including both actively and passively managed funds and low-cost target date funds. As fiduciary advisors, we select all investments based on the best interests of the participants. We are transparent about all costs to both sponsors and participants, and ensure that mutual fund expenses are competitive and deliver good value for the money.
BALANCED PORTFOLIOS
An appropriately allocated, properly diversified portfolio is key to a participant's success in building their retirement account. That is why we offer a wide range of profession-ally-managed, diversified balanced portfolios from which participants can choose. We offer three different types of balanced portfolios to give participants a full range of investment strategies: Six Asset Allocation Models constructed from the underlying fund line-up; a full suite of Vanguard Target Date funds; and three Risk-Based Balanced funds.
PARTICIPANT EDUCATION & GUIDANCE
We provide ongoing, hands-on education and guidance to participants to help them plan for retirement, save sufficiently, and make informed investment decisions for their retirement assets. We also make ourselves available after the group sessions to answer questions one-on-one with any employees who so desire. We are accessible every work day by email and phone to answer participants' investment questions. We believe that better informed, more engaged participants save more and make better investment decisions for themselves, resulting in better retirement outcomes.
OPEN ARCHITECTURE PLATFORM
Three types of service providers are generally required to service a 401(k) plan: an investment advisor; a record keeper/ administrator, and a custodian. Our 401(k) platform is unbundled yet integrated to provide sponsors and participants access to best-in-class service providers, cost transparency and competitiveness, and a seamless, user-friendly experience. We serve as the plan's investment advisor. Our preferred custodian is Charles Schwab Trust Company (CSTC). Our two recommended Record keepers/ Third-Party Administrators are The Retirement Plan Company (TRPC) and Sentinel Benefits. Each provider does what it is best at doing, and each is compensated and measured separately. No fees are shared and none of the providers receive commissions or revenue sharing fees from the mutual funds. Because we work on an open architecture platform with no proprietary fund restrictions, our investment team has access to over 10,000 mutual funds.