Pillar 02 · 401(k) & Retirement · led by Michael Hipson
A 401(k) an auditor can follow.
Your plan is a fiduciary obligation — a legal duty to act in participants' best interest — before it is a benefit. We build the process the Department of Labor (DOL) expects to see — investment policy statement, quarterly minutes, fees compared to the market — and then make the plan worth joining for the people in it.
What our 401(k) work covers
Design, governance, operations and education — the four places plans quietly fail.
Plan design
Match formulas, vesting, eligibility, auto-enrollment and Roth options designed around your workforce and budget — not the recordkeeper's default template.
Fiduciary process
Investment policy statement drafted, an investment committee installed, quarterly minutes kept, and fees compared to the market on a schedule — a "3(21)" co-fiduciary role (we share legal responsibility for the plan, you keep final say) is available.
Sending in contributions
Deferrals calculated, sent in and double-checked every pay period — the step the DOL checks first. Pairs with CFO & Payroll Services when you want our team running payroll too.
Participant education
Enrollment meetings on site, in plain language, in English and Spanish where your workforce needs it — because a plan nobody joins protects nobody.
The operating rhythm
Governance is a calendar, not a binder.
A plan document nobody opens is not a process. Every retirement client runs the same annual rhythm, documented in the shared plan record — so when the auditor or the DOL asks, the answer is a file, not a scramble.
"The 401(k) transition was documented start to finish. Our committee finally has minutes worth keeping."
Case record 2025-09 · Energy services · 412 lives
41 bps of participant cost, removed.
No investment policy statement, no minutes, fees never compared to the market in six years. We ran a recordkeeper search, drafted the investment policy statement, installed a quarterly committee — and took 41 basis points of cost out of participants' accounts while we were in there.
Read the case recordsWhen did someone last compare your plan's fees to the market?
If the answer is "not sure," that is the answer. A plan review takes ninety seconds to request and you hear back the same business day.