PlanWatch^SM

KIM’s PlanWatch^SM consulting service enables sponsors of qualified retirement plans to meet their obligations under ERISA. Geared for large 401(k) or mutual fund-based plans, PlanWatch^SM provides ongoing due diligence, broad procedural oversight and customized participant education.

With PlanWatch^SM, plan sponsors rest assured their compliance with fiduciary responsibilities protects them from legal liability. Plan participants, meanwhile, receive the education they need to make solid investment decisions for a financially healthy retirement.

PlanWatch^SM provides:

Ongoing due diligence:

• Set plan objectives
• Assess existing mutual funds
• Supplement/realign funds to meet objectives
• Review funds regularly
• Report to sponsors

Broad procedural oversight/compliance:

• Set objectives
• Review plan design and opportunities
• Ensure proper documentation/administration/testing
• Develop Investment Policy Statement
• Review Operations/Procedures
• Reporting and Disclosure
• Insurance/Bonding
• Referrals as needed: Platform/Legal, etc.

Customized participant education:

• Ongoing group sessions
• Enrollment and educational materials
• Review of investment basics (risk/return, asset allocation models, importance of savings, accumulation projections)
• Review of plan features

An ERISA Primer

What is ERISA? The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 defined pension eligibility rules, established the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation and set guidelines for fiduciary management of pension funds.

Who is a fiduciary? A fiduciary is anyone who has discretionary control over the management of a plan or its assets, who holds authority over a plan’s administration or who offers investment advice for a fee. A fiduciary who does not comply with ERISA standards subjects himself or herself to personal liability and jeopardizes the plan’s tax-free status.

What are the fiduciary’s responsibilities? Fiduciaries must select and monitor plan assets; ensure proper administration and government filings; make sure the plan operates according to its terms (set forth in the document and procedures); provide participants with the proper disclosure; and monitor overall fees. Fulfilling these obligations usually involves hiring outside experts, such as a plan administrator and investment adviser(s).

What is the legal standard for fiduciaries? Fiduciaries must act in the sole and best interests of plan participants and their beneficiaries. In selecting and monitoring plan assets, fiduciaries are held to the same standards of knowledge and skill as those of a professional investment adviser. The "prudent expert rule" requires the assets to be managed with “care, skill, prudence and diligence, under the circumstances then prevailing, that a prudent man acting in a like capacity and familiar with such matters would use in the conduct of an enterprise of a like character and with like aims.”