The second new Pooled Employer Plan we’ve heard of this week comes from PlanMember Financial Corporation, an independent provider of defined contribution services and solutions, through a partnership with Newport Group, Inc.
This modern retirement plan solution, the PlanMember PEP, will enable unrelated plan sponsors to pool together to achieve economies of scale, lower overall plan cost, reduced fiduciary liability and outsourced plan administrative responsibilities.
Plan participants will benefit from individualized retirement planning, innovative technology and personalized service, Carpinteria, Calif.-based PlanMember said in an April 13 statement announcing the new PEP. Walnut Creek, Calif.-based Newport Group will serve as the Pooled Plan Provider and PlanMember will provide 3(38) fiduciary investment services.
“The addition of the PlanMember Pooled Employer Plan complements the comprehensive retirement solutions PlanMember has been providing to employers and plan members for more than 30 years,” said PlanMember President and CEO Jon Ziehl. “The PlanMember PEP will allow us to provide a fully integrated, independent retirement service solution to include administrative services, professional investment advisory management, high touch one-on-one participant retirement planning, and award-winning web and mobile technology.”
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 55% of American workers employed by small businesses (1-99 workers) have access to employer-provided retirement benefits, primarily due to the administrative burdens and risks that confront individual employers. To encourage better retirement outcomes, the SECURE Act allows for unrelated employers to participate in a pooled employer plan.
The PlanMember-Newport partnership capitalizes on the strengths of both organizations, the companies say, while offering a seamless experience to plan sponsors and their plan participants. The combined platform currently provides recordkeeping for over $150 billion in plan assets and provides defined contribution plan services to over 1,700,000 plan participants.
PlanMember and Newport Group entered into a partnership in March to offer the PlanMember Retirement and Investment Program: a complete suite of solutions for plan sponsors and participants. Through the partnership, the PlanMember Retirement and Investment Program provides an integrated recordkeeping, compliance, consulting and trust solution that includes an open architecture investment offering, and communication, education, and financial planning services for plan participants.
For more information visit planmember.com/retirement-services.
MORE RECENTLY LAUNCHED PEPs: