Fiduciary Services

Fiduciary Services

Your company's retirement plan is a valuable benefit for your employees. However, there are certain rules that must be followed as outlined in the "Employee Retirement Income Security Act" (ERISA). Retirement Solutions Advisors, LLC offers a full range of services to assist you in your role as fiduciary of your company plan.

Ongoing Services

Facilitate plan fiduciary meetings including reviews of investments with your investment professional, plan documents and operations.
Due diligence file maintained with notes, minutes, agenda, background information and supporting documentation for plan meetings.
Develop and update IPS (Investment Policy Statement) and periodically review investments against the IPS.
Review plan documents, including 404(c) provisions, compared to SPD.
Evaluate participant communication and education programs.
Review of non-qualifying plan assets (real estate, limited partnerships, etc.) for compliance.

Because RSA acts as an independent advisor, the advice your trustees and investment committee receives is only in its best interest. Also, by establishing best practices, the trustees and investment committee members can feel comfortable that the management of their retirement plan is meeting the requirements of ERISA.

Other fiduciary services offered by RSA include:

Comprehensive Vendor Search

It may be prudent for the trustees and the investment committee to periodically review all vendors who are providing services to the plan. We will assist with a comprehensive vendor search process including the preparation of a customized Request For Proposal, attend all vendor presentations, prepare a document ranking the vendors based on their responses to the RFP and vendor presentations and assist the trustees and investment committee in the selection of the vendor.

Investment Fiduciary Reviews and Audits

Are the retirement plan assets you are responsible for being managed according to a prudent investment process? One that, if compared to what is called for in ERISA or UPIA, would pass the minimum requirements? Are you concerned about the cost of returns of the overall investments in the portfolio?

If these are concerns for you, an Investment Fiduciary Audit or Review may be appropriate. Much like an audit by a CPA firm, RSA can be engaged to audit your Investment Management Process. The field work is supervised by CPA's all of whom are experts in understanding the investment process.

Litigation Support

The Uniform Prudent Investment Act (UPIA) requires that investments be managed through a prudent, expert process, in accordance with the appropriate trust document, and that costs be kept to a minimum.

Many plans have suffered losses because of bear market conditions. Do you feel as if your plan’s losses were more extreme than you expected? Hypothetically, if the S&P 500 (the market) was down 25% over this period, did your plan’s losses come close to or exceed this percent loss? If so, you may be entitled to legal recourse. Did the plan’s investment advisor not follow a prudent investment process?

It is difficult to know the answers to these questions, but RSA can help you find them. Let us compare the current investment process with the 27 Practices that define a Prudent Investment Process and ensure that the Uniform Fiduciary Standards of Care were followed.

Retirement Solution Advisors, LLC - 410 W Grand Ave. - Chicago, IL 60610

Phone: (312) 923 8700 ext. 232 - Fax: (312) 923 8701

E-mail: steve.johnson@rsadvisorsllc.com