Your plan, and how you manage it, increasingly is falling under intense scrutiny—not only from participants, but also from the regulatory bodies that are responsible for protecting participants’ interests.

As your partner, we can share much of this fiduciary responsibility with you, and implement a disciplined process to better manage your fiduciary obligations.

With us as your partner, you can choose from a virtually unlimited universe of providers—free from proprietary vendor or product pressures. We will help you select the provider that most appropriately fits the specific needs of your firm and your participants.

Managing vendor due diligence
Our customized Request for Proposal (RFP) process includes:

• Gathering data and pricing
• Analyzing costs, services, and investment choices
• Facilitating finalist meetings

Ongoing monitoring
Once your plan is in place, you can expect:

• Monitoring of participation levels and performance
• Fee benchmarking and analysis against other vendors and plans
• Guidance on areas of improvement

Related Links:

401(k) Benchmarking Survey (Deloitte)

The 2012 Retirement Confidence Survey

As your experienced partner, we will help you establish an investment strategy that fits the distinct needs of your firm and your employees. Our investment process includes:

Investment Policy Statement:
We assist you in the developing an Investment Policy Statement (IPS) that sets guidelines for making investment decisions.

Investment Selection:
It’s important to construct a well-balanced invest lineup that offers broad diversification across asset classes. We make investment recommendations based on a rigorous quantitative and qualitative evaluation process.

Continual Monitoring:
We conduct periodic investment reviews to check that performance and expenses remain consistent with plan and objectives.

Our status as independent retirement plan consultants enables us to provide your plan participants with what they value most—investment guidance to help them feel confident about the decisions they are making to pursue their retirement goals.

Participant education
We will work with your participants to:

• Explain the importance of retirement planning and the options available under the plan
• Determine their unique investment objectives, tolerance for risk, and time horizon
• Recommend an asset allocation model suited to their personal needs or goals, based on the investment options available under your plan

Custom communication programs
We offer a specialized approach to communication and can:

• Tailor a communication program that addresses your specific needs
• Deliver presentations on broader financial planning topics
• Conduct educational meetings in either group or individual settings

We take the time to understand your objectives and design a retirement plan program that helps to provide your employees with the greatest value and, to the extent possible, reduces your administrative responsibilities.

Specific areas we focus on include:

• Employer contribution strategies
• Evaluation of qualification and eligibility issues
• Compliance with legislative changes
• Support services to help simplify plan administration
• Optimal use of safe harbors, such as 404(c) and QDIA

Related Links:

2015 IRS COLA Updates

401(k) Plan Checklist

The Impact of Automatic Enrollment on Future Retirement Accumulations

Independent and Objective
Our independent status means that we are not tied to any particular vendor or product, giving you access to a virtually limitless array of plan choices. With our fully transparent fee structure, you can rest easy in the knowledge that the advice we offer is objective, impartial, and aligned with the best interests of your firm and your plan participants.

All of this means that you can feel confident knowing that you have a partner whose primary focus is on helping ensure that your plan delivers the investment options, services, and overall value participants expect—leaving you free to concentrate on managing your business.

Professionally Accredited
Paul Spoelstra has earned two credential that serve the corporate and municipality markets well.
First, the Accredited Investment Fiduciary™ (AIF®) designation. This means you can feel confident that his approach is based on:

• A thorough understanding of legislative issues
• Best practices and the fiduciary role
• A commitment to standards of investment fiduciary quality

The AIF® designation signifies a comprehensive knowledge of and ability to apply and adhere to fiduciary practices. It is widely acknowledged as a leading designation for investment fiduciaries for both individuals and retirement plans.

Second, Paul has maintained the Certified Financial Planner™ certification since 2000. This certification allows Paul to deliver quality advice and service to the employees of the firms that have selected Milestone Wealth Management to manage their qualified plans. The CFP® certification focuses on 6 key areas of a successful financial plan: current situation, protection, tax, investment, retirement, and estate planning.

The CFP® certification is highly recognized in regards to its process in the personal financial planning market.

Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. owns the certification marks CFP®, Certified Financial Planner™ and federally registered CFP (with flame design) in the U.S., which it awards to individuals who successfully complete CFP Board’s initial and ongoing certification requirements.