Business Retirement Plans
A Commitment to Retirement Readiness
Working with our clients to prepare for and enjoy a secure retirement has always been a focus for our advisors at Aspire Financial Group. Business retirement plans are a natural extension of this focus. We have been working with businesses for over 20 years in offering retirement plans for their employees. Our goal is to support you and your participants from enrollment through retirement by connecting in ways that will motivate saving and give you and them the tools and resources to develop life-long patterns for financial organization.
401(k) Plans
As independent advisors, we work with the top 401(k) providers in the industry and continually survey the market to ensure that plan pricing for our clients remains competitive. We find that depending on several factors such as plan assets, number of participants, average account balance, and level of contributions, that different providers will be more competitive than others based on these plan parameters.
While we will work with “bundled” plans where both the investment platform and plan administration are provided through the same company, our preference is to have you utilize the services of an independent dedicated third party administrator (TPA) to manage the design and ERISA compliance aspects of your plan. We believe that this approach provides the greatest degree of flexibility.
While the best fit 401(k) platform may vary from plan to plan, all the 401(k) providers that we work with have some common characteristics:
- Robust technology and dedicated support to help you administer your plan.
- Comprehensive fiduciary solutions to make your job less burdensome and simplify compliance.
- Personalized services for participants to help them understand what they need to know and what they need to get started and stay on track. This includes interactive websites, automation of investment and savings elections, mobile apps, and phone support.
- Participant education and communications tools, both print and digital.
In addition to group enrollment presentations, Aspire Financial Group advisors also stand ready to meet with your participants individually to review their account. We also have seminars on other financial planning topics that we can present to your participants, either on site or by webinar
Other Plan Alternatives
The creation of the Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) and the Savings Incentive Match Plan for Employees (SIMPLE) affords smaller businesses with another way to offer their employees a retirement plan. The SEP and SIMPLE were designed for businesses with less than 100 employees and y are less costly to administer than a 401(k). For the employees, they are both easy to understand and provide a convenient way to save for retirement.
As qualified retirement plans, SEPs and SIMPLEs enjoy the same tax treatment as other plans. Contributions by employees and employers are tax deductible or made on a pre-tax basis. The accumulation inside the accounts grows tax deferred. The many of the same restrictions apply as well. Withdrawals made prior to age 59 ½ may be subject to a penalty.
As with all defined contribution plans, the future retirement benefit is uncertain as it depends on the amount of contributions, how long they accumulate, and the rate of return on the account over that period of time. At the time of distribution, withdrawals are taxed as ordinary income with no allowance for 10-year averaging as is available through a 401(k).
