Fiduciary duty requires you to provide your employees and participants with educational opportunities so they can make informed investment decisions. It’s not always easy to know what your participants need, want or will take advantage of. Using a simple framework for your educational program may increase its effectiveness.
- Provide a consistent, ongoing program using a variety of communication mediums. This can include group meetings, podcasts, online tools, one-on-one meetings or other mediums attractive to your participants.
- Vary the content of your program to provide broad education. Content should include plan basics, such as Basic Investing/Getting Started, but may also include topics related to a participant’s entire financial picture – e.g., Saving for College, Estimating Retirement Income Sources and Needs, Health Care Options – and other topics of consideration to a retiree’s financial well-being.
- Offer online and professional advice tools to help retirees determine how much they need to save and how they will invest their contributions.
- Fully disclose to participants, in easily understandable terms, information about the fees associated with their different investment options.
- Offer participants opportunities to discuss their risk tolerance level, and help them understand how much risk they are willing to take when investing for their retirement.
- Consider allowing employees to take advantage of educational opportunities and/or one-on-one meetings during working hours. This helps send a message to employees that their employer values this important benefit and is interested in helping employees prepare for their future.
- Survey employees to determine if they find the educational program valuable, are taking advantage of it, what would make it more attractive and other feedback they may have to help continuously improve the program.
Every plan and its participant base is different, and there is no one right structure for an educational program. By starting with the above and being willing to modify your program’s offerings according to participant feedback, your educational program will get stronger, you will meet this responsibility and you may even see employee engagement increase!
ACR#307394 02/19
Plexus Financial Services, LLC (“PFS”) does not provide specific investment, tax, and/or legal advice and the information referenced/provided is not specific to any company’s or individual’s circumstances. These materials are general in nature and provided for educational purposes based upon publicly available information from sources believed to be reputable and reliable; we cannot assure the accuracy or completeness of these materials and as a result, personal diligence should be completed before relying or acting upon the information presented. Any general information referenced/provided is not be construed as personalized investment, tax, and/or legal advice. Always consult an advisor, attorney and/or tax professional regarding your specific situation.
This communication is strictly intended for individuals residing in the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin and does not provide any information regarding any offers or services directly provided by PFS. The information referenced/provided is not to be considered an offer to buy or sell, or a solicitation of any offer.
You may request receipt of PFS’s Form ADV, Privacy Policy Statement, Code of Ethical Behavior, and/or Conflict of interest Policy at any time by written request to communications@plexusfs.com. For additional details or questions regarding this or any information provided by or related to PFS please visit our website at www.plexusfs.com located at 21805 Field Parkway, Suite 320, Deer Park, Illinois 60010. To contact us by phone please call (847) 307-6222.
PFS is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Plexus Groupe LLC. Advisory services are offered through Plexus Financial Services LLC, a registered investment advisor with the SEC which transacts business in states where it is properly registered, or is excluded or exempted from registration requirements, member FINRA www.finra.com, and the SIPC www.sipc.com. SEC registration does not constitute an endorsement of the firm by the Commission nor does it indicate that the adviser has attained a particular level of skill or ability.
Retirement Plan Advisory Group (“RPAG”) is not in the business of providing legal advice with respect to ERISA or any other applicable law. The materials and information do not constitute, and should not be relied upon as, legal advice. The materials are general in nature and intended for informational purposes only. All content, including any brochures or other materials designed for potential use with plan sponsors, fiduciaries, and plan participants, must be reviewed and approved by the compliance and legal department(s) of the financial professional and/or firm prior to any use to confirm that they meet the firm’s legal and compliance policies and standards. The financial professional and his/her firm are solely responsible for the use of content and any materials included herein, and for ensuring that all services provided by the financial professional conform to the firm’s legal and compliance policies and standards.