- September 17, 2018
- Mike Minter
Yes, indeed we can! We are pleased to announce an expansion of our service to manage your employer’s retirement plan. This includes 401(k), 403(b), 457 deferred compensation plans and more.
Over the years, many clients have asked us to manage their 401(k) retirement plan, recognizing that these assets are critical to their long-term financial success. But due to regulatory and technology limitations, we have been unable to manage those accounts directly. Our service was limited to designing an allocation for the 401(k) and monitoring the account for ongoing rebalancing opportunities. But when the time comes to place trades in the 401(k), those regulatory and technology limitations prevented us from completing that final critical step, leaving our clients with the burden of implementing our recommendations on their own.
Now, however, we can manage your outside 401(k) plan in the same way we manage your IRA and brokerage accounts custodied at Charles Schwab. Here’s a brief summary of how the service works:
Financial Synergies will provide a complete analysis of the investment options available in your 401(k) plan and design an asset allocation consistent with your goals and risk tolerance. We’ll then implement those recommendations directly with your plan provider via our secure trading platform. Once the allocation has been implemented, we will monitor the account on an ongoing basis for rebalancing opportunities just as we do in your IRA and brokerage accounts at Charles Schwab.
As we see opportunities to rebalance, or as new investment options are added to your plan’s fund lineup, we’ll place trades directly with your plan provider and send you a summary of the changes we’ve made. Your 401(k) account will be included in your online portal on My Investments as well as in your quarterly statement from Financial Synergies, allowing you to track the performance of your entire portfolio in one place.
Some 401(k) plans offer self-directed accounts inside the plan where you can invest in a much broader range of securities than those offered in your plan’s standard fund lineup. If that is the case, we can often nearly replicate the portfolio we have designed for your IRA or brokerage account at Charles Schwab.
Our goal at Financial Synergies is to take a holistic approach to advising our clients. By solving the technology and regulatory challenges that previously prevented us from fully managing 401(k) plans, we can now incorporate these critical assets into your overall portfolio investment plan in a more thoughtful and hassle-free way. Please contact your advisor if you would like to visit with us about this expanded service in more detail.
Click here for our latest Form ADV Part 2A, which outlines the new service offering.
