One of my favorite movies of all time is The Deer Hunter. It’s a story about the Vietnam War and the post-traumatic stress disorder a group of friends from Western Pennsylvania who were drafted together and fought alongside each other suffer from after the war. There is a scene where Robert DeNiro’s character threatens the character of John Cazale (who died shortly after filming and who appeared in only five movies, all nominated for Best Picture) by holding up a bullet and saying: “This is this. This ain't something else. This is this. From now on, you're on your own.” The problem for retirement plan sponsors is that they don’t know that this is this, so they don’t what their third party administrator (TPA) does and why they need to make sure their TPA is a good one because this isn’t something else and because a plan sponsor will pay the price in penalties, headaches, and increased liability by hiring a bad TPA. So this article is this, an explanation of what a TPA does and why they need to hire a good one.