Retirement Plan Services
Baker Tilly Wealth Management takes a different approach to retirement plan services; we offer 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 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.
2025 retirement plan contribution limits
Retirement advisory support
Connect with our teamWe 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 your 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.
Our professionals
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.
Baker Tilly Wealth Management, LLC is controlled by Baker Tilly Advisory Group, LP. Baker Tilly Advisory Group, LP and Baker Tilly US, LLP, trading as Baker Tilly, operate under an alternative practice structure and are members of the global network of Baker Tilly International Ltd., the members of which are separate and independent legal entities. Baker Tilly US, LLP is a licensed CPA firm that provides assurance services to its clients. Baker Tilly Advisory Group, LP and its subsidiary entities provide tax and consulting services to their clients and are not licensed CPA firms ©2024 Baker Tilly Wealth Management, LLC