Plan Services

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 The main difference is when the money is being taxed. With Traditional 401(k), your contributions are before tax money. You pay no tax during accumulation, but you are taxed at withdrawal. As for Roth 401(k), contributions are after tax money. All the taxes are front loaded. There is no tax during accumulation or at withdrawal. 

 It depends. It is mainly a tax trade between paying taxes now versus later. Since no one knows what the future tax rate is going to be, many financial advisors are suggesting clients to hedge their bets by having two pots of money. For younger contributors who expect their tax rates to go up as their earnings go up, Roth is probably more ideal. Since Traditional 401(k) and Roth 401(k) contributions can also affect your marginal tax rate, it is best to consult a tax advisor. 

 Fund choices, fees, service features for participants and sponsors. Also check for hidden fees, other billable fees to participants and conflicts of interests. 

Not too much to induce information paralysis and enough to build a well diversified portfolio for most investors. In general, you would need a fixed income fund, a domestic equity and a foreign equity fund. In order to satisfy the QDIA or "Qualified Default Investment Alternative" Safe Harbor requirement, you should also include one of the following:

• Life-cycle or targeted-retirement-date funds;
• Balanced funds; or
• Professionally managed accounts. If you are unsure whether your platform is well diversified, we offer a risk gap analysis. 

(ERISA) defines a plan fiduciary as a person or entity that:

• Exercises control or authority over the management of the plan or the plan's assets
• Provides investment advice for a fee
• Has discretionary authority over plan administration

Although the plan sponsor has the authority to designate a named fiduciary to manage the operations of the plan, however with ERISA's broad definition of fiduciary, plan sponsors are almost always fiduciaries to their plans.

ERISA's "Prudent Man" rule says that plan fiduciaries have to act with the care, skill, prudence, and diligence of a person who is knowledgeable about participant-directed retirement plans. Under ERISA, fiduciaries can be held personally liable for losses to a benefit plan incurred as a result of alleged errors, omissions, or breach of their fiduciary duties.