The No Surprises Act: A Cost Saving Opportunity for Employer Plan Sponsors
As a plan fiduciary, I still can’t believe it. A Third Party Administrator (TPA) we terminated was trying to hold us up for valuations and a Form 5500 we paid for, as part of, annual administration. It was $80,000....more
Part of my job is fixing errors made by plan sponsors and their plan providers. Despite what the top payroll providers who also serve as third-party administrators (TPA) may say, a good part of that job is fixing the errors...more
There is a growing problem that I’ve seen dealing with plan providers (usually third party administrators (TPAs) who get paid for an entire plan year’s work, get terminated and refuse to complete the end of the year work...more
Most administration conducted by third-party administrators (TPAs) is quite good, but the juicy and scary stories are about the terrible TPAs and the havoc they create....more
Retirement plans with more than 100 participants require a CPA audit for their Form 5500. However, small plans with less than 100 participants may sometimes require an audit. This often happens when more than 5% of the Plan’s...more
Challenges In 2019 For 401(k) Plan Providers. It's always a challenge. Being a retirement plan provider is very challenging and every year presents a new challenge. The retirement plan industry is always in flux and...more
There are so many articles for plan sponsors (I’ve written quite a few) where they go on and on about what plan sponsors need for a successful 401(k) plan. Rather than go into a whole diatribe, here is a Reader’s Digest of...more
As an ERISA attorney, 3(16) plan administrator, and sponsor of several 401(k) plans that needed an audit completed by October 15th to file the Form 5500 on-time, I will have to say I’ve noticed a discrepancy among audit...more
With plan administration, there are so many mistakes that can be made and most of the time, it’s the fault of the plan sponsor and the third party administrator (TPA). However, there are many times were the error so explicit,...more
I always believe that the two worst things that you can give people are false praise and false hope. As a plan sponsor, you need a plan provider that is not afraid to tell you the truth that something is wrong and that you...more
I hate to do things last minute. I passed three different state bar exams and I never studied the day before. So when it comes to being an ERISA attorney and/or ERISA §3(16) plan administrator for a few handfuls of 401(k)...more
I have comes across quite a few third party administration (TPA) firms over the years and 95% of them are pretty good. Even if they make mistakes, they’ll own up to them and they happen to make a few mistakes....more
That Fiduciary Warranty Is Not Worth The Paper it's Printed On. They are pretty much worthless. A 401(k) plan sponsor is also a plan fiduciary and they have the responsibility to prudently run their plan. One major...more
Unless they are involved in the retirement plan industry a plan sponsor must delegate much of their duties to retirement plan providers that may include third party administrators (TPAs), financial advisors, and ERISA...more