Upgrading Non-Profit Retirement Plans: Limitations...
  • Retirement Plan Insights
  • Annual Outlook
  • Arian Vojdani’s Millennial Wealth Blog
  • Market Commentary
  • MV Financial Research Insights
  • News & Events
  • Quarterly Newsletter
  • Weekly Market Flash
November 14, 2023 Retirement Plan Limits 2024
August 28, 2019 Nonprofits Have the Unique Ability to Supplement Healthcare Savings in Retirement
August 8, 2019 Webinar for Nonprofit Plan Sponsors: How to Fix Your Plans with Individual Annuity Contracts (IACs) [Recording]
July 11, 2019 Webinar for Nonprofit Plan Sponsors: How to Fix Your Plans with Individual Annuity Contracts (IACs) [Invitation]
June 6, 2019 How Your Organization’s Bottom Line is Impacted When Employees Don’t Save Enough for Retirement (Recording)
May 8, 2019 Webinar: How Delayed Employee Retirement is Hurting Your Bottom Line
April 2, 2019 Webinar for 403(b) Plan Sponsors: How to Ensure that You’re Covering Your Bases (Recording)
March 4, 2019 Webinar for 403(b) Plan Sponsors: How to Ensure that You’re Covering Your Bases (Invitation)
December 5, 2018 Retirement Plan Sponsor Webinar: The Fiduciary Alphabet Soup of Retirement Plans: What Does it Mean? (Recording)
October 4, 2018 Nonprofit Retirement Plan Sponsor Webinar: Moving Away from a Do It Yourself Approach (Recording)
September 12, 2018 Nonprofit Retirement Plan Sponsor Webinar: Moving Away from a Do It Yourself Approach (Invitation)
August 22, 2018 Webinar for Retirement Plan Sponsors: Unraveling the Complexity+Confusion to Get More from Advisors (Recording)
July 12, 2018 Webinar for Retirement Plan Sponsors: Unraveling the Complexity+Confusion to Get More from Advisors (Invitation)
June 7, 2018 Upgrading Non-Profit Retirement Plans: Upgrading IAC Plans to Open Architecture (Part 3 of 3)
May 22, 2018 Upgrading Non-Profit Retirement Plans: Strengthening Your Plan with Advisory Services (Part 2 of 3)
May 10, 2018 Retirement Plan Workshop for Nonprofit Plan Sponsors: May 31st, 2018
May 8, 2018 Upgrading Non-Profit Retirement Plans: Limitations of Individual Annuity Contracts (Part 1 of 3)
May 1, 2018 Not-For-Profit Plan Sponsor Webinar: How to Upgrade Your Existing Plan (Recording)
April 3, 2018 Not-For-Profit Plan Sponsor Webinar: How to Upgrade Your Existing Plan (Invitation)
mv-financial
May 8, 2018 | Retirement Plan Insights Retirement Plan Insights, Market Commentary |

Upgrading Non-Profit Retirement Plans: Limitations of Individual Annuity Contracts (Part 1 of 3)

Many academic and not-for-profit employers are operating retirement plans using a platform that is rooted in the past – the individual annuity contract (IAC).

Retirement plan regulations have changed dramatically in the past 10 years, and so have the needs of employees. These changes make the old IACs out of date – and possibly out of compliance.

Let’s look at the 6 major disadvantages of IACs as compared to more effective and attractive investment options for plan sponsors and participants.

• Fiduciary Risk – Most IAC plans were created over 10 years ago, before current fiduciary regulations were in force. Under today’s ERISA standards, plan fiduciaries can be held personally liable for high cost or inappropriate investments in their organization’s retirement plans. But, this fiduciary liability can be addressed by delegating full fiduciary responsibility to a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) who is an ERISA 3(38) fiduciary, or by jointly sharing fiduciary responsibility with an investment professional who is a 3(21) fiduciary.

• Excessive Costs – Depending on the investment share class used in the plan, a large majority of IAC plans have separate account fees ranging from as low as 0.75% to as high as 1.40% of participant account balances. New fiduciary regulations require employers to ensure that participants’ costs are reasonable. One way to get there: shift to an open architecture platform that can reduce fees to 0.30%-0.40%, and enable employers to engage more robust support services.

• Administrative Burdens – IACs involve substantial administrative burdens. Each participant has an individual account requiring a signed application, which increases HR’s workload. Also, many of the IAC platforms typically require duplicate plans – one for participant contributions and another for employer contributions. This leads to dual Form 5500 filings and audits, often increasing employer workload and costs.

• Limited Support and Service – IACs generally do not have a high level of service support, particularly for plans with under $10 million in assets. Employers are often “on their own,” with limited assistance for plan design, enrollments, distribution of required notices, and other administrative functions.

• Few Investment Options – IACs limit the employee’s investment options to those preselected by the insurance company offering the plan. These limited options typically include illiquid fixed accounts with locked-in distribution periods, heavy use of proprietary funds, and target date/allocation funds that are static. This prevents employees from allocating their assets in a diversified manner that aligns with their risk tolerance.

• Limited Education and Investment Advisory Support – Many IAC retirement plans don’t offer sufficient plan education or individual investment advisory support. Along with more investment choices, today’s employees deserve better plan education and individual investment advice.

There are solutions to these common drawbacks of IAC plans. In our next post, we will discuss ways to upgrade outdated IAC plans to meet current regulatory, employer and participant needs.

To discuss how MV Financial can help your organization with its non-profit retirement plan, please Andrea Kessler, Senior Executive, at (301) 656-6545 or akessler@mvfinancial.com.