It seemed like a good idea at the time, replacing Matt Hutcheson as the fiduciary of an open multiple employer plan (MEP). Within a few weeks including conversations with adopting employers with missing money, I realized that this was a bad idea.

A large national plan provider recently went into a strategic relationship with a third-party administrator (TPA) with a terrible reputation for excessive termination costs. The problem is that this national plan provider already knew.

When developing strategic relationships with plan providers, keep your ear to the ground and investigate them and their reputation. I can tell you from experience that working with a retirement plan embezzler wasn’t a good thing.