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Commitment to Service
How Service Defines Rose Financial
Service is what separates qualified plan providers from qualified plan partners.
Today, most plan sponsors realize that investment funds are not materially different from one product to another. Furthermore, the last several years have seen technological advancements that result in very little difference among the features retirement plan product providers offer as well. While there are still pockets of pricing disparity (both higher than average and lower), that too is becoming increasingly rare. The last truly meaningful difference left in the market today is service.
We understand that administering qualified plans is not your business. They require constant diligence to monitor a variety of complicated limitations and procedures imposed by State and Federal agencies. For many small and mid-sized employers, these requirements can often serve as a deterrent to offering such important employee benefits. We welcome the opportunity to take as many responsibilities associated with these plans as possible off of your shoulders.
We do not expect you to handle operational duties which we are able to handle for you. Our clients come to see us as their “back office” personnel dedicated to managing day to day plan activity in their best interests. We do not design processes around operational efficiencies beneficial to us. Nor do we allow the fund families or financial consultants involved with our plans to do so either.
How Rose Financial Defines Service
We know it can be confusing when everyone says they provide quality service. This puzzles us too when we see how they quantify it.
- A happy smile
- A friendly voice
- Returning phone calls
These certainly do no harm. In fact, they are all laudable elements of a good working relationship. But they are evidence of common courtesy, which itself is only one aspect to outstanding service. We go beyond that to promote a commitment to responsibility, accountability, and empathy. Can you see these qualities in the service you receive today? Not sure? Ask yourself a few questions.
- Does your current administrator respect you, your interests, or your time?
- Are you merely provided with materials when requested, or instead an understanding of why you need them and a legitimate attempt to meet those needs?
- Do you simply receive reports, or do you receive timely communication on your plan’s health and how effectively it is meeting objectives you set for it?
- Does your current administrator inform you after failing compliance testing, or are you told when you might fail if you don’t take appropriately recommended actions?
We are happy to share how our clients answer these questions. If you are interested in learning more, please call us at (317) 558-8000.
Services We Offer
Plan Design
Everything worth while begins with a strong foundation. Your company’s retirement plan is certainly no exception. A retirement plan’s foundation is its plan design. And it is strong when that design is based on the specifics of the plan sponsor including:
Desire for the Highly Compensated to benefit under the plan
Ease of operation
Demographics of employees
Funding criteria
Company ownership structure
Affiliated companies
Influence of employees
Wages
Etc.
All too often, plans are designed with the benefits of the designer in mind. This is especially true when the designer expects to be the ongoing administrator. Efficiencies, product/operational limitations, and procedural preferences are all someone else’s problem, not yours. This is not to say that Rose Financial does not have some of these as well, but we do not hide our motivations when recommending a procedure or plan provision. It is then your decision to weigh our advice based on practice with your own motives.
When you work with Rose Financial to design a plan for your company, you are getting a custom tailored solution to your needs and no one else’s. Please contact us today and share with us what you want your new plan to accomplish.
Day-to-Day Administration
If we convince you of anything, let it be that Rose Financial is NOT a third party administrator. We contract directly with you. You will not be contacted by the fund provider pertaining to your plan’s administration. We are your day-to-day contact for all administrative questions and transactions.
When we say we provide day-to-day administration, we mean it. A lot of ”third party administrators” talk about Annual Admistration as part of their services. The key word is Annual. This means they get involved with your plan annually. Throughout the course of the year, they leave the plan to you and the fund provider to work things out. Then they come in at year end, collect some data, tell you if you’ve failed your ADP testing, and send you a report with a bill.
While this certainly fits the description of “annual,” it is definitely not “administration.” We are your plan contact throughout the year, day in and day out. We coordinate the plan’s cash flow, monitor transactions, answer your questions, and reconcile the plan’s account balances with the fund provider’s system.
We stay in touch and in control of your plans operations every business day. Therefore at year end, unlike “third party administrators”, we don’t need to re-acquaint ourselves with who you are. We know you, your plan, and all the activity which we have helped you with since the last year end. We know your circumstances and how they have affected the year’s plan transactions. This makes year end processing a much smoother process. And while it’s still “Year End,” we strive to have all processing done within a few weeks of receiving your census data and contribution elections. In general, we wrap up this processing for all plans by the end of the first quarter. When did you receive your year end reporting last year?
Compliance Testing
Compliance Testing is one of the most misunderstood parts of employer sponsored retirement plans. The majority of employers know ADP/ACP testing, although many refer to it as “Top Heavy Testing” which is another test entirely. Of course, we monitor that one too.
Here are just some of the major testing requirements we monitor on your behalf:
401(a)
401(k)
401(m)
402(g)
404(c)
410(b)
415(c)
416(g)
In fact there are numerous tests the IRS requires of your plan each year. Some of these tests are simply handled by proper plan design, others require constant monitoring.
We watch these tests and limits for you. Unlike other providers, we don’t just tell you when you’ve failed, we warn you ahead of time. We give you options and time to change procedures, adjust funding, or , if you choose to proceed, at least prepare for the circumstances of the test. This takes the uncertainty out of sponsoring qualified plans and puts you back in the driver’s seat.
These tests can be daunting, but don’t let them dissuade you from sponsoring a qualified plan for your employees or making the most of the one you have today. Call us today, and let Rose Financial handle them for you.
Contact Us
6602 E 75th St #200, Indianapolis, IN 46250, USA
(317)-558-8000 Phone
(317)-558-0010 Fax
