Retirement Plan Consulting

Recent regulations set forth by the Department of Labor under ERISA place substantial fiduciary responsibility upon the employer relating to investment due diligence and employee communication / education issues. A comprehensive retirement plan strategy (either for a defined benefit or defined contribution plan) will help the employer meet these fiduciary responsibilities. The ECA Plan Consulting program was developed with these issues in mind.

Here is an example of the ECA Program Structure for 401(k) Plans (currently the most popular retirement plan today):

1. The ECA 401 (k) program is structured differently than standardized model formats which are offered by most institutional providers (e.g., insurance companies, banks, or mutual fund companies).
   
2. ECA offers a "turnkey open architecture” approach that provides unparalleled flexibility to employers and plan participants. This means that although ECA recommends specific legal, administrative and investment services, the employer can choose one or more of its own providers (such as legal or administrative) and still participate in the ECA investment program.
   
3. This approach allows the employer to make one "turnkey" decision affecting key elements of the plan – legal, administration / record keeping, custody and investments together with the open architecture flexibility that offers an unlimited variety of no load mutual funds or privately managed investment funds.
   
4. The advantage of a "turnkey open architecture” program is that employers have the simplicity of a turnkey program without the constraints of having to accept the whole package on an "all or none / take it or leave it" basis.
   
5. In other words, if an employer is satisfied with the record keeping of an insurance company but not their investments, the investments must be retained in order to maintain the record keeping services. These packaged plans simply lack the flexibility to change individual elements that are provided by our service.

Flexible Investment Options

• A single investment pool
  • All participant accounts are invested alike
  • Professionally managed
    
• Unlimited choice of no load mutual funds or privately managed funds are screened for:
  • Asset class
  • Manager quality 
  • Reasonable expense ratios 
  • Performance and risk compared to comparable funds and indices
    
• Self directed investing – unlimited fund selection and switching capability among mutual and privately managed funds 
  
• Employer can select a specific group of funds – mutual, private or a mix
  
• All funds are custodied at Counsel Trust Company
  
• One consolidated statement for all funds with full time internet access
  
• Turnkey – Legal, administrative / recordkeeping, investment and custody services are pre-packaged

Asset Allocation and Diversification by Asset Class

• Stable Value (GIC’s)
• Short Term Bonds
• Intermediate to Long Term Bonds
• High Yield Bonds
• Income Stocks (Equity Income)
• Large Cap Stocks (Value and Growth)
• Mid Cap Stocks (Value and Growth)
• Small Cap Stocks (Value and Growth)
• All Cap Stocks (Including Micro Cap)
• International Stocks
• Emerging Market Stocks
• International Bonds
• Index Funds
• REIT’s
• Unbundled - Flexible, interchangeable legal and administrative services

Employee Communication

• Enrollment and Fund Selection Assistance
• Match investment selections with individual risk/return profiles
• Individualized enrollment forms and plan summary booklet
• Annual or Semi-Annual Group Meetings
• Investment allocation and fund modifications
• Retirement benefit projections
• Quarterly Performance Measurement Reporting
• Ongoing 800 Number Access to Participants (daily valuation plans only)
• Account and loan balances
• Investment changes
• Investment option information

Administrative Efficiency

• Co-operation with Plan third party administrator (record-keeping firm)
• One check from payroll to administrator
• Administrator forwards check and investment breakdown to the Custodian
• Payroll check is invested immediately in participant designated funds
• Co-operation with Payroll and Human Resources Departments
• Participant enrollment assistance
• Plan distributions and transfers
• Termination and IRA rollover counseling
• Investment Option Switching
• Automatic Dividend and Capital Gain Reinvestments
• Participant Statements (As often as Monthly)
• Consolidated Quarterly Plan Statement

Ongoing Performance Monitoring

• Monthly Investment Performance Report for each Fund
• Fund Performance Compared to Appropriate Index
• Quarterly Morningstar Report for each Fund
• Risk Measurement of each Fund
• Independent Plan Legal and Administrative (record-keeping) Services