Employer Sponsored Retirement Plans

Tailored Solutions for Your Team

A well-structured 401(k) plan can strengthen your employee benefit program and give your team confidence in their financial future. We deliver tailored retirement plan solutions that include hands-on support for employees, ongoing education, and active plan management. Through regular check-ins and benchmarking, we help ensure your plan stays competitive, compliant, and aligned with the long-term goals of both your business and your employees.

The Stonebridge Advantage

  • Why We’re Different
  • Investment Expertise
  • Plan Design
  • Vendor Search & Plan Benchmarking
  • Participant Services
  • Fiduciary Management & Oversight

3(21) VS. 3(38) Fiduciary

A retirement plan adviser can serve in either a 3(21) or 3(38) fiduciary capacity, and in some cases, both capacities. The needs and desires of the plan sponsor typically dictate the specific arrangements, which is predicated upon the subject of risk mitigation versus risk avoidance. Some plan sponsors want assistance with their fiduciary responsibilities but want to maintain discretion and control of their plan’s investment menus. Others want to shift the fiduciary responsibilities to a third party due to their lack of expertise, and ultimately, fear of exposure to liability.

Benchmark Your 401(k)

Is your company’s 401(k) plan still working as hard as it should? Benchmarking your plan helps you compare performance against industry standards to ensure you’re offering a benefit that’s competitive and cost-effective. Regular reviews not only protect your business from compliance risks but also demonstrate your commitment to supporting employees’ financial well-being. Take a closer look at your plan and identify opportunities to enhance its value for both your business and your team.

Participant Services

Our status as independent retirement plan consultants enables us to provide your plan participants with what they value most—investment guidance to help them feel confident about the decisions they are making to pursue their retirement goals.

Participant education

We will work with your participants to:

  • Explain the importance of retirement planning and the options available under the plan
  • Determine their unique investment objectives, tolerance for risk, and time horizon
  • Recommend an asset allocation model suited to their personal needs or goals, based on the investment options available under your plan

Vendor Search & Plan Benchmarking

With us as your partner, you can choose from a virtually unlimited universe of providers—free from proprietary vendor or product pressures and conflicts of interest. We will help you select the provider that most appropriately fits the specific needs of your firm and your participants.

Managing vendor due diligence

Our customized Request for Proposal (RFP) process includes:

  • Gathering data and pricing
  • Analyzing costs, services, and investment choices
  • Facilitating finalist meetings

Ongoing monitoring

Once your plan is in place, you can expect:

  • Monitoring of participation levels and performance
  • Fee benchmarking and analysis against other vendors and plans
  • Guidance on areas of improvement

Plan Design

We take the time to understand your objectives and design a retirement plan program that provides your employees with the greatest value and, to the extent possible, reduces your administrative responsibilities.

Specific areas we focus on include:

  • Employer contribution strategies
  • Evaluation of qualification and eligibility issues
  • Compliance with legislative changes
  • Support services to help simplify plan administration
  • Optimal use of safe harbors, such as 404(c) and QDIA

Investment Expertise

As your experienced partner, we will help you establish an investment strategy that fits the distinct needs of your firm and your employees. Our investment process includes:

  • Investment Policy Statement

    We assist you in developing an Investment Policy Statement (IPS) that sets guidelines for making investment decisions.

  • Investment Selection

    It's important to construct a well-balanced investment lineup that offers broad diversification across asset classes. We make investment recommendations based on a rigorous quantitative and qualitative evaluation process.

  • Continual Monitoring

    We conduct periodic investment reviews to check that performance and expenses remain consistent with plan objectives.

Why We're Different

Stonebridge Financial Group is:

  • Independent of all service providers.
  • Able to deal with virtually any service provider available to your company.
  • Capable of servicing your current retirement plan programs if you want to retain your product provider but replace your current broker with our services.

Stonebridge Financial Group works exclusively for our clients. Many of our clients find they can upgrade the performance of their plan, without the trouble of changing providers. They simply add our services to improve investments, assist employees and manage fiduciary risks.

Others find they have outgrown their current provider. When that happens, we will conduct a comprehensive market search using specific technology, and then apply our decades of experience to assure the right fit for you. After narrowing the field, we coordinate presentations from the best available. Having us on your side makes the search process much easier, as we make sure you get the straight story about the limitations of potential providers as well as their strengths.

You can engage STONEBRIDGE FINANCIAL GROUP in three ways:

  • Pay us a fee

    As investment advisory representatives, we can work on a fee for service basis.

  • Replace your current broker

    Often the compensation already embedded in your 401(k) investments is sufficient to pay for our services with no increase in costs to you. Some plan sponsors are not aware that commissions are being paid to a broker or agent because they are receiving little to no service in return.

  • Change 401(k) providers

    And appoint us as your representative in the process.

Download Our Guide