Retirement Plan Services
Retirement planning for your employees is as easy as one, two, three — you, your plan, your participants.
Retirement Plan Services
Baker Tilly Wealth Management provides hands-on investment management and retirement plan services built to support plan sponsors like you. We don’t just guide you through fiduciary responsibilities — we actively take them on.
Baker Tilly Wealth Management can serve as a 3(38) or a 3(21) fiduciary or as a non-fiduciary consultant when offering retirement plan services.
As defined by ERISA, a 3(38)-investment fiduciary is a financial professional who has the authority to make investment decisions for a retirement plan, such as a 401(k) on a discretionary basis. This means that the fiduciary can select, manage and replace plan investments without needing approval from the plan sponsor.
A 3(21) fiduciary, while similar, does not make investment decisions on your behalf. Instead, a 3(21) fiduciary provides your company with advice on what to do, and ultimately, you decide whether to implement the advice.
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
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.
An employer that decides to work with us as a 3(21) fiduciary will gain all the same benefits, except offloading the full fiduciary responsibility and liability of managing investment options.
We work with each employer to understand their needs. Then, we suggest a relationship and solution that makes the most sense for you, your plan and your participants.
Retirement plan service model
Our service model is built around three essential pillars:
Fiduciary support that puts you first
Managing a retirement plan involves complex fiduciary responsibilities that can leave employers feeling exposed. We help you navigate these challenges with confidence by implementing structured governance practices and assuming full fiduciary responsibility for investment decisions.
Here’s how we support you:
- Serve as a named ERISA 3(38) investment fiduciary with full discretion over plan investments
- Develop and maintain fiduciary governance policies (e.g., investment policy statement, education policy statement, plan charter)
- Deliver ongoing monitoring, benchmarking and documentation to support your fiduciary file
- Provide fiduciary training and committee support to reduce liability and streamline decision-making
- Meet regularly to review investment performance, regulatory updates and plan enhancements
Our retirement plan services clients get an experienced partner to help mitigate risk and reduce fiduciary burden.
Compliance, design and efficiency
A great retirement plan should fit your workforce, align with your business goals and remain compliant in an evolving regulatory landscape. We work closely with you, your third-party administrator (TPA) and your recordkeeper to optimize plan design and operations.
Here’s how we support your plan:
- Assist with plan design and redesign, including auto-enrollment, match structures, Roth options and eligibility settings
- Coordinate with your recordkeeper and TPA to implement best practices and reduce administrative complexity
- Review fee disclosures (408(b)(2)) and share class structures to ensure cost efficiency
- Monitor regulatory changes (e.g., SECURE Act 2.0) and keep your plan aligned
- Provide guidance on plan documents, QDIA selection and stable value options
We help ensure your plan is compliant, cost-effective and customized to your organization.
Education, engagement and outcomes
At the heart of every retirement plan is your workforce. We help your participants make informed decisions through targeted education, smart defaults and hands-on support. Our process is designed to build confidence and improve outcomes.
Here’s how we support your participants:
- Develop a customized education strategy aligned to demographics, income levels and plan features
- Host group education meetings, one-on-one consultations and online learning sessions
- Promote features that encourage saving and improve behavior, such as automatic enrollment, escalation and rebalancing as well as model portfolios
- Provide financial wellness tools and retirement readiness resources
- Communicate clearly and consistently to boost engagement and satisfaction
We help your employees retire with dignity and understand how to get there. Check out this insight where we provide guidance on budgeting. This is just one example of the type of education we can provide to your participants.
Consulting services
Beyond our traditional work as a retirement plan fiduciary, we also provide several consulting services to help employers make informed decisions. We assist with:
- Retirement plan reviews
- Benchmarking studies
- Required Minimum Distribution calculations
- Requests for Proposals
Insights for retirement plan sponsors
FAQs for effective retirement plan governance
Find essential FAQs for retirement plan governance, managing 403(b) or 401(k) plans, reducing vendors, ensuring compliance and educating on investments.
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Review this insight to understand the limits and IRS cost of living adjustments for 2026.
How SECURE 2.0 employer tax credits benefit small businesses
Read our article for insight into how employer tax credits support small businesses while establishing retirement plans.
