Kidder Advisers is a full-service, independent provider of retirement plan services. We can act as a broker, advisor or consultant for both qualified and nonqualified plans.

We add value by helping plan sponsors reduce costs, educate employees, assist with fiduciary responsibilities and make appropriate investment choices. Every step of the way, we see it as our job to smooth and solidify plan processes, while protecting the needs of both plan sponsors and employees.

We have tools and processes for selecting appropriate plan vendors, benchmarking plan performance and resolving preexisting issues with the IRS or Department of Labor. And we are also experienced in satisfying the unique needs of nonprofit organizations and their plans.

Once we understand your needs, objectives and budget, we can create a single plan – or combination of plans – to match your specific requirements and expectations. The response we usually hear is, “I didn’t know you could do that!”

Investment Due Diligence:

Helping you select appropriate investments

Using proprietary tools and processes, Kidder Advisers helps plan sponsors and fiduciaries maintain investment due diligence and all supporting documentation.

We work directly with the retirement plan committee (or the owner/sponsor, in the case of smaller plans) to develop and maintain the Investment Policy Statement, which codifies the prudence of the plan’s investment selection and monitoring processes. We evaluate all investment offerings to help ensure that they are diversified, well managed and meet the criteria documented in the statement. We perform this analysis on a regular basis to monitor alignment with Department of Labor guidelines and minimize the plan sponsor’s exposure to fiduciary liability.

Because of our independence, we are able to work with many of the industry’s leading providers to offer a full spectrum of investment platforms and strategies.

Fiduciary Guidance:

Helping protect you and your employees

Many retirement plan sponsors are concerned about their personal liabilities as fiduciaries, and rightly so. As business owners and executives, they rarely have the time, experience or knowledge to adequately fulfill their fiduciary duties.

At Kidder Advisers, we take the fiduciary load off your shoulders – even acting through a written agreement with co-fiduciary acknowledgement for our investment advisory services, if you desire. We implement and document processes in all areas of the plan. We work with the investment committee to clarify roles and responsibilities. Then we help the committee make better informed decisions. We produce and electronically archive documented proof of adherence to ever-changing ERISA requirements, as well as the plan’s Investment Policy Statement.

To ensure that employees are well informed, we help you satisfy the participant evolving education and communication requirements of ERISA Section 404(c).

To ensure that costs are appropriate, we benchmark the fees and services of plan vendors – including administrators, record keepers, custodians and investment managers.

On the bottom line, we help plan sponsors save time and reduce risk, while helping to protect the interests of everyone associated with the plan.

Employee Education & Communication:

Helping participants make the most of their plan

A retirement plan works only when employees are participating and investing appropriately. We add value by helping participants appreciate the generous benefit you’re providing and by helping them understand not only how much they should be saving, but also how they should consider allocating their money among the various investments offered by the plan.

Our services help manage fiduciary liability by addressing the participant education and communication requirements of ERISA Section 404(c).

Kidder Advisers offers a wide range of educational tools and services, including:

• face-to-face and virtual presentations describing the plan and providing investment education from a participant’s point of view;
• fact sheets highlighting specific features of your plan;
• easy-to-understand enrollment forms;
• automatic enrollment tools and processes;
• online enrollment, if desired; and
• easy-to-understand beneficiary forms and explanations.

We also provide seamless processes for handling participant rollover distributions – to help them continue building their retirement savings or translate their nest egg into lifetime income.

Since each organization’s situation is unique, we work with the plan sponsor to determine the most appropriate levels of education and enrollment support.

Plan Level Benchmarking:

Measuring the performance of your plan and plan vendors

It is a critical fiduciary responsibility to periodically evaluate the capabilities and costs of current providers. But unless you’re a retirement plan specialist, it can be nearly impossible to unravel all the details of a plan to make sure it’s working as intended and that costs are appropriate.

We help you assess the success of your plan from a variety of perspectives – including participation levels, deferral percentages, investment results and more.

To reduce fiduciary liability, we help plan sponsors understand, evaluate and compare all fees related to the plan. Many plan costs are virtually impossible to determine from the face of a vendor’s proposal. But using our fee and benchmarking tools, we dig deep, dissecting all explicit and implicit fees to help clients understand not only what they are paying, but how it compares to industry standards.

We also help you make informed decisions about plan vendors. Using our Plan Provider Review Process, we help eliminate the confusion and frustration of selecting plan providers. We also help reduce the amount of time business owners and executives must devote to the provider review process. For more on business handling, you must want to read this paycheck template free review.

Plan Design Services:

Building a better plan for you and your people

Ongoing changes in retirement plan rules and regulations make it critical to evaluate the legal, compliance and design aspects of all retirement plans on a regular basis.

We provide tailor-made qualified and nonqualified services that address the needs of employers, employees, third-party advisors and regulators. Our goal is to make sure you have the right plan.

As a full-service, independent provider of retirement plan products and services, we’re not limited by a menu of bundled or off-the-shelf solutions. Instead, we leverage our relationships with many of the industry’s leading vendors and investment platforms to deliver compliant, transparent retirement plans that work.

We are focused on:

• maximizing benefits to owners;
• recognizing the value of key employees;
• reducing costs for all plan participants;
• better managing tax opportunities; and
• optimizing the retirement readiness and financial outcomes of your employee participants just like when buying altcoin as an investment.