Retirement Plan Services

As a business owner, it’s now more important than ever to provide a retirement plan for your employees. Not only do great benefit plans help you attract and retain top talent, but establishing a custom plan can offer substantial tax benefits. At Strata Capital, our goal is to help companies find the right retirement plan that fits their company’s unique needs, culture, and values.

 

Benefits of Establishing Your Own Retirement Plan For Your Business or Company

If you work with a financial professional to establish a custom retirement plan, you can avoid the hassle of plan management and ensure you’re capitalizing on the best benefits for your employees and your business. By delegating the management of your retirement plan to experienced professionals who have your best interest in mind, you’ll have freedom to focus on what you do best—run your business.

Here are some other benefits of establishing your own company retirement plan:

  • Higher contribution limits
  • Professional guidance for investment management
  • Receive up to $5,000 per year in tax credits for the first three years
  • Delegate fiduciary responsibility to a financial professional, reducing your liability
  • Avoid extra responsibilities for you and your team, such as:
    • Plan administration
    • Plan education
    • Eligibility tracking
    • Investment management
    • Compliance benchmarking

At Strata Capital, we’re here to help you find the right retirement plan for your business so you’re not subject to the constraints of a state-mandated plan.

What the Secure Act Means for Your Business

Recently, the Department of Labor established rigorous standards regarding company retirement plans. Per the Secure Act, employers with 25 or more employees are required to provide a company-sponsored retirement plan by the end of 20221.

What does that mean for you as a business owner? Unless you establish your own plan before the deadline, your employees will automatically be enrolled in a state plan. If your employees are automatically enrolled in a state plan, here are a few of the tasks you’ll be responsible for:

  • Tracking your employees’ eligibility
  • Hosting open enrollment
  • Initiating payroll deduction and depositing funds on behalf of your employees
  • Educating your employees about the new retirement program
  • Auto-enrolling employees who have not participated for at least one year
  • Submitting employee census to your state annually

Sound like something you want to add to your to-do list? Of course not–you have enough on your plate without the stress of managing a new retirement plan for your business. Luckily, you have the opportunity to avoid this hassle, and that’s what we’re here to help you do.

Why Partner with Strata Capital?

When you work with us, you receive comprehensive support for your company’s retirement plan. We act as consultants who help you find the right plan that best suits your company’s needs, and we remove the leg work by helping you manage administrative tasks, answering employee questions, and streamlining the payroll process to make contributions simple. In short, we operate as an extension of your HR team, so you and your employees can spend less time navigating your retirement plan and more time doing productive, enjoyable work.

We also provide investment selection and fiduciary consulting services. We know that if you’re not an investment professional, deciding which funds to choose for your company’s plan can be a daunting task (not to mention the added layer of unwanted liability). So we use a proprietary investment due diligence process to create an all-star fund lineup for your company-sponsored retirement plan. Our managing partner, David D’Albero, is an Accredited Investment Fiduciary®, and we’re committed to serving our clients’ best interests above all else. Learn more about the AIF® designation here.

Here are some other benefits of working with Strata Capital, LLC:

  • Onsite, in-person enrollment
  • Topical financial seminars to educate employees
  • Employee access to our personal financial planning, wealth management services, and personal insurance placement services
  • Annual benchmarking2 and auditing to ensure your plan is compliant with Secure Act standards.
  • Delegation of fiduciary responsibility, helping you mitigate liability
  • Because we act as consultants, we are company agnostic when it comes to choosing plan providers.

Ready to take advantage of a plan that benefits you and your employees? Schedule a consultation with us today.

Want to know more? Learn about our services for business owners below.

Our Services: Retirement Plan Consulting

Every business consultation begins with us learning about your company’s culture, values, demographics, and growth trajectory. From there, we help you determine the type of plan that best suits your business’s needs and goals.

Looking to start a 401(k) plan?

We’ll discuss your options and help you design a custom plan. We’ll provide hands-on guidance for implementing your plan; then we’ll manage all the details like open enrollment, employee education, and ongoing plan management and review. We’ll also visit your business a few times a year to assist with new-employee onboarding and other tasks you need help with.

Schedule Consultation

Already have a plan in place?

We’ll conduct a comprehensive, unbiased benchmark of your existing plan. Our goal is to ensure you’re not overpaying, have the best investment options, and are capitalizing on all the benefits your plan offers—all while remaining compliant with Department of Labor standards.

Schedule Consultation

How does Benchmarking benefit my business and why is it recommended by the Department of Labor?

By benchmarking your benefits plan, we make sure you and your employees are getting the best retirement benefits at the lowest cost.

When we benchmark your plan, we address four core questions:

  • Are you working with a provider that offers your benefits at the lowest possible cost to you and your employees?
  • Are you leveraging best-in-class investments?
  • Do you have the required investment options?
  • Are you or your employees getting money back at the end of the year because of failing to pass compliance testing?

Our process for benchmarking your plan

Step 1. We’ll review the cost of your current plan (both to you and your employees) and run a comparison analysis to see if there are less expensive options available.

Step 2. We’ll analyze your investments to determine whether the investment options are performing against their peers and that they are the best-in-class options.

Step 3. We’ll help you develop a strategy to either fully implement the benefits in your plan or remove unnecessary features to help you save money. In doing so, you can help employees take advantage of better opportunities and reduce costs for participants and your business.

In addition to addressing these points, we will:

  • Host educational seminars
  • Help you create a process for and assist in the management of new-employee onboarding
  • Help you to build a department of labor compliance audit file
  • Visit your business several times a year to answer your questions

We want you to focus on running your business and be confident that your benefits are making a positive impact for you and your employees.

Take the Next Step

To discuss your options and take advantage of a customized plan, schedule a consultation with us today.

1 The deadline was amended from March 2022 and has the potential to change again. Legislators have also discussed reducing the threshold to 10-15 employees. New York City has adopted a similar plan with a threshold of just five or more employees.

2The Department of Labor recommends benchmarking your plan at least once every three years. We do so annually to help you maximize your benefits and make sure you stay compliant.

This article is intended to be for general information about the topic(s) described only, and should not be used as financial advice specific to your situation. For financial advice pertinent to your lifestyle, goals, risk tolerance and opportunities, please contact a financial professional.

Carmine Coppola and David D’Albero are financial advisers offering investment advisory services through Eagle Strategies LLC, a Registered Investment Adviser. They are Registered Representatives offering securities through NYLIFE Securities LLC (Member FINRA/SIPC), a Licensed Insurance Agency. They are also agents of New York Life Insurance Company. Strata Capital, LLC is not owned or operated by NYLIFE Securities LLC or its affiliates.

Neither Strata Capital nor, NYLIFE Securities LLC and its affiliates, nor its representatives, provides tax, legal, or accounting advice. Please consult your own tax, legal, or accounting professional before making any decisions.