Are You Taking Care of Business?

It’s time to take a second look at your plan

At JMOD Financial Services, we have many years of experience helping universities, healthcare providers, and non-profits set up and manage corporate retirement plans, as well as offering financial advice to the dedicated staff that support these organizations.

If it’s been a while since you’ve reviewed your company’s retirement plan—or, as a trustee, your endowment or foundation—it might be time to have an independent financial advisor take a look. Your answers to the questions below may help you decide.

Retirement Plans

• How is your organization addressing compliance and fiduciary requirements with your retirement plans?
• What actions are you taking to reduce overall plan and administrative costs?
• How important is to simplify your record-keeping and plan reports under your multi-vendor platform?  What steps are you taking to accomplish this task?
• Does your company currently have an investment-policy statement?
• How is your current retirement plan provider keeping you informed and ahead of future regulatory requirements?
• When was the last time your plan was benchmarked or reviewed?  Has it ever been benchmarked?
• How confident are you that most of your employees are adequately funded for their retirement?  How do you measure employee funding?
• Does your company’s existing investment advisor meet regularly with plan participants?  If so, how often?
• How helpful do your employees find their company’s investment advisor?  Do they find him or her very knowledgeable? 
• What type of education workshops do you offer your employees?  How often? What’s the expertise and objectivity of the individual who presents these workshops?
• What type of executive planning do you offer your company’s top executives?  What’s the planning expertise of the team doing this planning? 

Endowments & Foundations

• How familiar are you with the regulations contained in the Uniform Prudent Management of Institutional Funds Act (UPMIFA)?
• Are you confident that a clear spending policy is in place and being followed appropriately?
• Do you have a written Investment Policy Statement?
• Are you confident that the highest quality investment managers and the actual investments themselves have been appropriately selected and best suited to meet your endowment’s or foundation’s short- and long-term financial goals? 
• How often are the investments being monitored and rebalanced?
• Are the administrative procedures being properly documented with detailed records?
• Do you have Directors & Officers liability insurance?

If you answer no, or are unsure of how to answer any of these questions, then you and your fellow trustees may be unknowingly in breach of your fiduciary duties and could possibly be risking significant legal cost.