The latest Pooled Employer Plan to launch has a rather patriotic moniker.
Today, Pentegra, a provider of retirement plan and fiduciary outsourcing solutions, announced the debut of a new PEP—the “American 401(k) Plan”—in conjunction with LeafHouse Financial.
White Plains, N.Y.-based Pentegra will serve as the recordkeeper and Pooled Plan Provider (PPP) for the PEP and LeafHouse Financial will serve as investment fiduciary. The companies said the collaboration was the natural outgrowth of Pentegra’s fiduciary legacy, encompassing nearly eight decades of multiple employer retirement plan expertise and fiduciary advocacy, along with LeafHouse Financial’s investment fiduciary and investment advisory expertise.
PEPs allow unrelated companies or organizations to band together to create a pooled retirement program. The American 401(k) Plan aims to make it easy and accessible for small businesses to meet the requirements of New York’s Retirement Security for All Act (the Act), which mandates that private employers with five or more employees offer a retirement plan. The plan also offers the opportunity to take advantage of tax credits if employers are starting a new plan.
“As one of America’s oldest independent fiduciaries, we believe PEPs offer an ideal way to help make offering a retirement plan easier for businesses. PEPs allow each adopting employer to reduce its administrative and fiduciary burdens, as the PPP and 3(38) investment fiduciary shoulder responsibilities on behalf of the adopting employers,” said Pentegra President and CEO John E. Pinto. “Pooled retirement benefit plans also allow cost efficiencies for adopting employers based on pooling the plan’s assets.”
LeafHouse integrates technology and industry knowledge to provide a layer of protection, and acts in both a 3(21) and 3(38) fiduciary capacity for a multitude of private and public retirement plans that range from start-up to large institutions across the U.S. The Austin, Texas-based RIA firm developed proprietary technology that is designed to prudently select, evaluate, and monitor investments that are solely in the best interests of plan participants and their beneficiaries.
With the cost-saving advantages of a PEP, small businesses can now help their employees take advantage of the benefits of a tax-advantaged retirement plan, greatly expanding retirement coverage and helping their employees save for a secure financial future, added LeafHouse Financial President and Co-founder, Todd Kading.
“The American 401(k) Plan PEP strives to deliver a strategic solution for these businesses by not only meeting the retirement coverage requirements of the Act, but also aiming to help these businesses save time, minimize investment fiduciary risk and reduce the investment workload by outsourcing responsibilities to an experienced team,” Kading said.
SEE ALSO:
- Difference Between MEPs, PEPs, GoPs and SMS: GRPAA Conference
- Fast-Growing Paychex PEP Hits Another Milestone
- How Deep is the 401k PEP Pool?
Veteran financial services industry journalist Brian Anderson joined 401(k) Specialist as Managing Editor in January 2019. He has led editorial content for a variety of well-known properties including Insurance Forums, Life Insurance Selling, National Underwriter Life & Health, and Senior Market Advisor. He has always maintained a focus on providing readers with timely, useful information intended to help them build their business.
