Retirement

Many small business owners wish they could provide employees with a retirement plan, but are concerned about:

• Potential Costs
• Lack of time and expertise
• Fiduciary responsibilities and liabilities

Thanks to new legislation, small-to-mid-sized employers can now pool together in the same retirement plan, providing affordable benefits similar to some of the largest companies in the country.

Under the SECURE Act, the first significant retirement-related legislation in more than a decade, employers can offer retirement plans to their employees through a Pooled Employer Plan (PEP).  A PEP, available January 2021, is a new kind of defined contribution plan similar to the 401(k) plans offered by individual employers, but with many advantages for your business and your employees.

Overview and Advantages of a PEP

In a PEP, employers of all sizes, industries, locations etc. can join together and become a "member employer" through the SOCA Pooled Employer Plan (SOCA PEP). The Newport Group the Pooled Plan Provider (PPP) of the SOCA PEP is responsible for establishment, management, fiduciary oversight and operations of the plan on behalf of the member employers. In the SOCA PEP, member employers can take advantage of:

• Cost Efficiencies - Costs are lower because they spread across a larger participant and asset base, thereby reducing the costs for each member of the plan.
• Fiduciary Risk Mitigation - Fiduciary duties are outsourced to a plan advisor serving as an ERISA 3(38) investment fiduciary.
• Operational Outsourcing - Newport Group is the Pooled Plan Provider (PPP) and assumes many of the administrative burdens on behalf of the member employers including eligibility, beneficiary tracking and plan disbursements.
• Increased Focus - Member employers use fewer resources allowing more focus on growing revenues and profits in their business.

Advantages Include:

For Member Employers

• 402(a) named fiduciary
• integrated 3(16) administrative fiduciary
• 3(38) advisor support services
• Integrated trust and custody services
• Digital access to all plan functions and information
• Payroll contribution tracking and integration
• integrated non-qualified plans

For Individual Employee Participants

• Full-function participant website and call center
• Spanish website
• Full suite participant education seminars
• Financial wellness program
• Integrated managed account services

To learn more about the SOCA PEP contact Dale Essenmacher, Regional Vice President of the Newport Group at (248) 212-3223 or dale.essenmacher@newportgroup.com