Baker Tilly
Contact us
Women meeting to discuss retirement plans

Retirement Plan Services

Baker Tilly Wealth Management takes a different approach to retirement plan services, with enhanced fiduciary protections and step-by-step guidance.

Retirement Plan Services

We stand behind the advice we provide by openly accepting our role as an investment fiduciary to your plan. We deliver that advice through professionally managed portfolios and personal coaching for your participants. And, we use a service approach that we believe better equips each participant to save and build toward a successful retirement.

    Our retirement plan service model

    Maintaining a retirement plan that meets your needs, while ensuring compliance with governing laws/regulations, can be a daunting task. With numerous fiduciary hurdles that need to be navigated, it’s no wonder why plan sponsors are looking for fiduciary relief. The Baker Tilly Wealth Management retirement plan service model provides enhanced fiduciary protections with step-by-step guidance. Our model works best with companies who have an existing retirement plan or companies that want to set up a plan for roughly 25-500 participants

    Five essential steps to retirement plan success

    Our team uses the following steps to help our clients meet the retirement plan needs of their participants and organization.

    1. Plan design and coordination tools

    Design and implement a plan that balances the needs of the employer and the participants. The goal is to provide a best-in-class 401(k) plan; one that reduces administrative burden and will provide the desired flexibility to produce the best participant outcomes.

    2. Fiduciary consulting

    Implement a fiduciary governance process that is aligned with best practices. Our service model provides §3(16) and §3(38) fiduciary services as well as a directed trustee. This approach delegates as much fiduciary risk to other parties as the law allows.

    3. Investment consulting

    Provide highly rated, low cost institutional asset class funds and broadly diversified risk-based model portfolios. We never use proprietary products and do not receive compensation from investment product providers.

    4. Participant success

    Help participants understand the importance of participating in the plan. Offering things like auto-enrollment, auto-escalation, qualified default options (QDIA) and auto-rebalancing are some of the available opportunities to lead them down the path of financial success.

    5. Engaged participation education

    Teach employees to make better and more confident decisions. Online retirement readiness education and calculators increase engagement and confidence. This approach often leads to better participant outcomes.

    Retirement advisory support

    Connect with our teamarrowCreated with Sketch.

    We provide ongoing advisory support to our clients including:

    Plan establishment services

    • Establish and maintain a relationship with the plan sponsor, including assisting the plan sponsor in completing and executing documentation in order to support the plan’s implementation.
    • Help you design and redesign a plan that is perfect for you and your employees. We are instrumental in tailoring plan design to ensure it works for your business.

    Enrollment support services

    • Conduct enrollment meetings explaining the benefits of plan participation, investment objectives of plan investment option, general financial and investment information, asset allocation portfolios of hypothetical individuals with different time horizons and risk profiles.
    • Assist plan participants in assessing the impact of different allocations on retirement income and other forms necessary for plan participation.

    Plan management services

    • Review and explain plan sponsor fee disclosure (408(b)(2)) to the plan sponsor
    • Assist with account applications, review of plan documents and assist in the collection of census information
    • Explain to participants matters relating to the plan’s investment procedures
    • Provide investment and retirement readiness education to participants
    • Meet with plan sponsor on a periodic basis to discuss plan matters and investment performance
    • Deliver to the plan sponsor an annual investment review and provide recommendations Assist with the Plan
    • Sponsor’s compliance with 404(c) DOL and IRS regulations

    Outsourcing your plan fiduciary responsibilities

    We are compliant with the Employment Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and assume full fiduciary responsibility as an ESIRA 3(38) investment manager.

    What does this mean for you? As an employer, you are personally liable for the decisions you make for our company’s retirement plan. Allowing Baker Tilly Wealth Management to serve as your full scope ERISA 3(38) investment fiduciary will allow you to:

    • Focus on the growth of your business
    • Offload your investment fiduciary responsibility
    • Reduce the amount of time spent on retirement plan committee meetings
    • Eliminate your liability for managing investment options
    • Provide the best tools for your employee’s retirement plans

    Our team takes our fiduciary responsibility a step further by also providing 3(16) fiduciary services through Retirement Plan Fiduciaries, LLC.* This means that our partner takes vital responsibilities off your hands and takes complete responsibility for all aspects of plan administration. Most importantly, this means that liability is shifted, mitigating risk for you. Example tasks that Retirement Plan Fiduciaries would handle as your 3(16) fiduciary:

    • Checking and signing off on various plan-related forms, such as the Form 5500
    • Reviewing all compliance testing
    • Consulting on plan design
    • Working directly with plan auditors
    • Managing vesting, eligibility calculations and loan policies
    • Preparing and mailing participant notices and disclosures
    • Monitoring and notifying you if there are any plan irregularities
    • Reviewing and managing suspension of deferrals for hardship withdrawals
    • Approving separation distributions
    • Monitoring all service providers
    • Maintaining total plan oversight to keep you in compliance

    Handing these tasks over to a fiduciary comes as quite a relief for business owners and not-for-profit executives who are responsible for their 401(k) or 403(b) plans.

    *ERISA 3(16) fiduciary services are provided by Retirement Plan Fiduciaries, LLC and not affiliated with Baker Tilly Wealth Management.

    Disclosures

    Baker Tilly Wealth Management, LLC (BTWM) is a registered investment advisor. BTWM does not provide tax or legal advice. BTWM is not an attorney. Estate planning can involve a complex web of tax rules and regulations. Consider consulting a tax or legal professional about your particular circumstances before implementing any tax or legal strategy. The information provided here is of a general nature and is not intended to address the specific circumstances of any individual or entity. In specific circumstances, the services of a professional should be sought. Securities, when offered, and transaction advisory services are offered through Baker Tilly Capital, LLC, Member FINRA and SIPC; Office of Supervisory Jurisdiction located at 4807 Innovate Ln., Madison, WI 53718; phone: +1 (800) 362 7301. Baker Tilly Wealth Management, LLC and Baker Tilly Capital, LLC are wholly owned subsidiaries of Baker Tilly US, LLP. Baker Tilly US, LLP, is an independently owned and managed member of Baker Tilly International. © 2021 Baker Tilly Wealth Management, LLC