Home

Mission-based^SM approach:   A retirement plan without without a clear mission resembles a journey without a specific destination.  A destination-less journey may be a great adventure, but most employers are not looking for a great adventure in their benefits package.  Most employers would probably prefer a retirement plan that:

• is attractive enough to serve as a recruitment tool
• gets employees thinking about the life-long security that can come along with career-long service
• has high enough rank-and-file participation that senior management contributions are not limited by discrimination testing issues
• aligns the interests of the participants and fiduciaries

Our mission-based^SM approach can improve results, reduce liability and increase the accountability of your service providers.  This brings greater value.

By defining the mission up-front, we can derive relevant goals to get there.  These goals point us in the right direction and allow easy measurement of our progress.

A mission statement may be as simple as "To help every eligible employee achieve a more secure retirement at a reasonable age".  From this mission, relevant goals might be to:

• enroll every possible employee
• get them to contribute realistic amounts
• help them to select a diversified, risk-appropriate investment mix
• get them to stick with it through thick and thin

Progress toward these goals is directly measurable and we expect to be held accountable for these "success metrics". 

Our success is largely attributable to creative thinking old fashioned hard work.  We don't try to fit you into an off-the-shelf template.  We learn about your unique employee culture and create campaigns that will truly connect with each subset of your employee population.  By connecting with employees in a relevant way, we improve our success.  We are sincerely committed to their future security.  They pick up on this and take a greater interest in it themselves.

Outside-the-box thinking: As a smaller firm, we are more agile and are able to do things that many larger firms can't or won't do.  For many of them, the idea of customization consists of slapping your logo onto one of their standard sausages.  We are not a sausage factory.  We have a lot of fun creating communications that will connect with specific employee groups.

We use whatever combination of media we (you and Retirement Resources) feel will get the best results.  Depending upon the circumstance we might use:

• Print -- posters, newsletter articles, bulletins, postcards, letters, paycheck stuffers, etc.
• Digital -- Webcasts, video on-demand, e-mail, DVDs, company intranet, etc.
• Live interaction -- group meetings, one-on-ones, benefits fairs, company events, etc.

Prudent investment process:  We follow are deliberate and well-documented prudent investment process.  It begins with a carefully crafted Investment Policy Statement (IPS). 

A good IPS can help the Committee to make better decisions and can help alleviate liability.  A poorly worded IPS can be a lightning rod for liability.  TIP: If you have an IPS with a lot of "shall" or "will" or "must" statements, call us, because it needs attention ASAP.

After reviewing the demographics of your employee population (very important) we make recommendations on the asset classes to include on the menu.  We then populate each slot with the best available option, whether it be actively or passively managed.  For active managers, we look for above-average net risk-adjusted returns over relevant timeframes.

Generally, we look at 3 and 5 year time frames.  But, if a fund with great 3 and 5 year metrics has had a recent manager change, we might disqualify it from consideration because of uncertainty about the ability of the new manager.  Similarly, if a small-cap fund with a great record had recently experienced large cash inflows, we might be concerned about the adverse effects of “asset bloat” even if the management team were intact.

We examine for “style drift”, as it can undermine our efforts to maintain a menu with non-highly correlated investments.  We also consider the corporate governance record of management companies for their shareholder orientation.

We focus as much on risk as return.  A fund returning 10% may be less desirable to the Plan than a 9% investment with much lower risk.  We look at outright risk measurements such as standard deviation, beta, and Bear Market rankings, as well as measurements of risk-adjusted return such as alpha and Sharpe Ratio.

We examine each fund’s expense structure for reasonableness.  We also use outside services such as Morningstar and Fiduciary Analytics for data, rankings and analysis.

Possibly the biggest differentiator of our process is "us" -- our 50 years of seasoning and professional credentials (more under the "About Us" tab).

We care:  Our greatest fear is disappointing the people that trust us.  We manage the growth of our business carefully to avoid reducing service to any existing client in order to take on a new one. We build strong relationships with the Committees, HR staff and employee populations of the organizations we serve. 

Other than plans that no longer exist (mergers or businesses that have closed), we have only lost one 401(k) or 403(b) plan client in the past 10 years.  This high retention says a lot about the level of service our clients enjoy.

We are not a sales-driven organization: We are really good at serving retirement plans, but not so good at selling them. We're not slick, and we don't believe in applying sales pressure.  That said, we will always present ourselves professionally and offer you excellent value.  For a down-to-earth discussion of your plan and its possible needs, we invite you to contact us.

Please call Jim Phillips or Patrick McGinn at (800) 846-3276 or contact us by e-mail:

Jim@ret-res.com or Patrick@ret-res.com