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Service intended to help small businesses take current DOL fee disclosure regulations a step further.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Mobile, AL, June 4, 2014 - Employee Fiduciary, LLC today announced a new fee comparison service for 401(k) plan sponsors. The company will review and interpret a service provider’s Section 408(b)(2) fee disclosure document and plainly summarize its fees in dollars - both direct fees and indirect fees paid by mutual fund companies. There is no cost for this service.
The company will also summarize its fees for providing the same services in the same format, allowing for a side-by-side, “apples-to-apples” comparison. Employee Fiduciary proposed a similar fee summary in their response to the Department of Labor’s request for comments related to 401k fee disclosure reform.
“Current fee disclosure regulations only address a small part of the needs of 401(k) plan fiduciaries,” said Eric Droblyen, Employee Fiduciary’s President. “Because the disclosure document’s format is open to broad interpretation, many providers have used this discretion to effectively bury fees in pages of dense language. Plan fiduciaries are unable to sort out the fees they are paying. Our service is a direct response to overcoming the inadequacies of the current regulations.”
The DOL plan level disclosure regulations became effective in 2012. Earlier this year, Phyllis Borzi, Assistant Secretary of Labor and Chief of the Employee Benefits Security Administration, called for comments on how to improve the regulations, particularly for small businesses. The DOL is concerned that small business retirement plans are using financial service products which include complex and potentially high-cost fee sharing. The DOL acknowledges that the current disclosure documents can be too complex for many plan sponsors to fully understand exactly what fees are being paid and to whom.
“We want to level the playing field so 401(k) providers can compete on price, value, and service,” Droblyen said. “Our fees are transparent and easily understood. Unfortunately, many competitors, particularly insurance and payroll companies, claim to offer free services. Our fee comparisons unravel all of the indirect fee payments to show the dollar cost of competitor services. We are willing to do the extra work necessary to support current regulation, plug the loopholes of the current system, and demonstrate our firm’s value.”
Plan sponsors may request the new service online at http://www.employeefiduciary.com/401k-fee-comparison/.
For general inquiries regarding 401(k) plans or our third party administration services, please contact us at info@employeefiduciary.com or call toll-free (877) 401-5100.
Employee Fiduciary, LLC, founded in 2004, is a 401(k) plan provider for small businesses headquartered in Mobile, AL. Employee Fiduciary provides retirement plan recordkeeping and administration. Serving over 2,000 small and growing businesses, the company provides low-cost 401k services to value-oriented business people nationwide. For more information, please visit www.employeefiduciary.com.