Why is Atlas so passionate that their plans are some of the best out there?

We do our best to remove as much Wall Street greed out of the 401(k) Plans.

Why do companies choose Atlas – Service, Unbundled Solution and Flexibility for Asset Choices.

We have been setting up company retirement plans for a while and more and more clients and potential clients wanted a 401(k) plan (or to switch away from their provider), but needed to lower fees and have better asset choices for the participants. After some time to research and get the right partners in place our 401(k) plan offerings have been well-received. We offer an “unbundled” plan for maximum flexibility, transparency of fees and an ETF asset lineup designed to provide participants with greater long-term return with less fees and equal to or greater performance than Mutual Funds. An “unbundled” plan is an offering that is gaining more traction over the last several years because it reduces Wall Street greed and favors Plan Sponsors and Participants, which is why Atlas has been growing their 401(k) retirement services. Most companies are “truly” not aware that they are paying higher than industry average fees for administration of the plan and not being reimbursed for 12b-1 fees. We are very different in our approach and in our offerings. Consider a 401(k) Review and Benchmark for your current plan to get a “baseline” of where you stand for fees, performance, service and fiduciary compliance.

Atlas is an authority with Fiduciary Responsibility whether it pertains to the Advisor, Plan Sponsor or Participant level. Many companies are not familiar with their role as a fiduciary or how to avoid a potential DOL audit. Atlas keeps their clients updated on current and future fiduciary requirements and setups a checklist to make sure key areas of the 401(k) Plan are in compliance. Atlas acts as a: 3(38) – Atlas works with the Plan Sponsor on plan structure consulting, asset lineup creation along with monitoring and conducting the annual Investment Committee. Atlas partners with a TPA (Third-Party Administrator) to file all necessary government forms and perform all compliance testing required (Top Heavy, ACP and ADP). 3(21) – Atlas works with the participants to help them become “Retirement Ready”. We provide but not limited to the following 3(21) fiduciary services; Enrollment, group and one-on-one education, financial planning and retirement coaching.

Atlas will provide at least 5 methods to increase participation. These can be provided as strategies, but will provide the tactical assistance to implement them to the participants. WE KNOW that flexibility, greater options and knowledge will increase participation and help with attraction and retention of employees.

We offer comprehensive education on the 401(k) Plan, the Investment Choices and understanding the best ways to save for Retirement. Education will be provided in both classroom instruction and one-on-one. We can offer annual, semi-annual and/or quarterly on-site meetings and availability to the participants. If needed for remote workers and other regional or national locations we can provide educational webinars. On-line Web Access Account support is 24/7. Atlas personnel is available to answer account and investment questions 8am – 5pm EST. On-site or Phone appointments can be setup outside of normal hours and the weekend based upon availability. We will try to be flexible with all participants (and their family’s) schedule.

Looking for a New 401(k) Service Provider?

Companies reach out to us all the time to inquire about changing their service provider. You may have a bundled solution (asset choices, TPA and Record Keeper is through the same company), poor service and response time or you believe your administrative and asset fees are too high. There are many reasons why people reach out to Atlas to service their 401(k) and 403(b) plans. We believe that our product and service offerings are “best-of-breed” and through a benchmark analysis and detailed service plan, we can prove the value we bring to the table.

Typically, the average conversion timeline is 45-60 days depending on “your” provider and when assets are transferred. We (Atlas), do the majority of the heavy lifting during the conversion timeline, we just need your help in the communications to the participants. We know you have a lot on your plate and other higher priorities that’s why we will communicate and limit the burden’s of conversion as much as possible.

Their reasons typically fall into one or more of three categories;

Fees – they want to lower their fees and/or make sure their fees are reasonable by DOL (Department of Labor) standards. Also, it is important not to burden the participants with too much or any administrative fees.

Asset Lineup – Many companies want a more streamlined and simple-to-understand Asset Lineup. Atlas offers an ETF lineup that reduces fees as much as 50% – 75%+ because any and all the TPA (Third-Party Administrator), Record Keeper and Investment Advisor fees are “NOT” included in the Expense Ratio (or GER – Gross Expense Ratio). This helps “reduce” the possibility of a DOL audit. Also, Atlas does not include any Target-Date Funds(TDFs) and offers customized Model Portfolio’s based upon Risk Profile and Life Stage (request more information).

Service – No matter the size of your company, you deserve great service! Not good or ok service, but great service. If you are not getting great service then that’s another reason why you are visiting our site. Ask yourself the following questions;

1 – Do you have at least one(1) Investment Committee Meeting per year to review the plan for performance, fees, and Adoption Agreement for flexibility to grow and adapt to your company?

2 – Does an Investment Advisor offer and schedule at least one(1) on-site visit per year to offer group and one-on-one investment and financial guidance? Mid-Size and larger companies sometimes have semi-annual and quarterly sessions.

3 – Does your Investment Advisor or Service Provider helps you with Fiduciary Compliance at the 3(38) (Plan Sponsor-level fiduciary) and 3(21) (Participant-level fiduciary)? Without this level of service, you are exposing your company to DOL audit risks and possible fines.

ALSO – We now have a “Give Back” Program where we Give Back a percentage of our fees to our client’s qualified Charities or Non-Profits that they are associated with. Inquire for more Details.

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes Atlas different from their competitors?

We feel that the core components of our Best-of-Breed product and service offerings are what makes us different. Offering ETFs over Mutual Funds, Model Portfolio’s over Target-Date Funds (TDFs) and providing Fiduciary Compliance Services such as 3(38) and 3(21) to help both the Plan Sponsor and the Participant make sure they are in fiduciary compliance and getting the right guidance, makes us different and the right choice. We have this flexibility since we are not affiliated or have any allegiance to ANY big brand investment house or banking institutions. Essentially, Atlas acts as the General Contractor and manages all the relationships and coordinates the communication among all parties. We are not bound to any investment house, institutions, quotas or geography. We only want to work with the best clients. The buck stops with Atlas.

What is Open Architecture and why should we insist on that structure?

Essentially, offering an “Open Architecture” feature provides you the greatest amount of flexibility for Asset Choices in your 401(k) Plan. Since Atlas is not beholden to any big or little brand investment house or banking institution, we have the ability to mix and match asset choices to provide the most diverse choices, with low to reasonable fees and equal to or greater performance to its peers. We offer a set asset lineup, but if you have a specific Mutual Fund or ETF that you really like, as long as we don’t already have something equal to or less in fees or equal to or greater in performance, we have the ability to add it into the lineup. Most service providers cannot offer you that flexibility. The power of an Open Architecture format and the flexibility of not being tied to any fund family or investment house. When we review the asset lineup on an annual basis to decide if we need to replace any asset in the lineup, we can essentially offer almost any ETF or Mutual fund from any investment organization.

Why are offering ETFs better than Mutual Funds?

ETFs have become very popular in the last 20 years as they are essentially Mutual Funds, but trade like a stock. You can identify any Mutual Fund in an asset lineup and we can usually find an equivalent ETF, that is significantly less in fees and has equal to or better in performance. The reason why most service providers won’t even offer this is because they can’t make any money off of them. Usually the Mutual Fund has 3-5+ hands in the fee pie being split across several parties. Because it is very difficult to understand who gets what and how much, Mutual Funds are attractive to big brand investment houses and banking institutions. Since there usually is usually no line item of fees on the participants activity, it helps keep the Plan Sponsor and the Participant in the dark most of the time. Also, many times some Plan Sponsor administrative fees are included in the Mutual Fund fees and now that burden is on the participant. This isn’t illegal, but does reduce the participants performance over time since they are now absorbing those fees. ETFs eliminate all of those most of those issues and mitigates your Fiduciary Risk.

Model Portfolios vs. Target-Date Funds (TDFs)?

We offer 13 different custom Model Portfolios to help a participant choose based upon their age and life stage along with their risk profile. This helps them spread out their risk and not think about additional diversification for their 401(k) portfolio if they choose. Every participant has the ability to change their desired model portfolio as they change age brackets or their risk profile changes.

TDFs have been highly criticized because they usually do not follow through on their fund profile or objectives. We have a lot of data and examples to back up the lack of performance behind TDFs. We always ask prospective clients that like TDFs why do you like them? They typically will say its easy for the participants to choose one based upon their desired retirement date. If you read the prospectus on many TDFs, the actual date/year associated with the TDF has nothing to do with a retirement date. You would assume as you get closer to that date then less risk would be taken out of the fund. Is a matter of fact if you look up a TDF that has already past (meaning look up a 2015 TDF). This would mean that if you wanted to retire in 2015 then since we are past that year there should be very little to no risk in that fund. Look up any 2015 TDF and you will find it to be a much different make-up of assets and risk than you would have thought. Go to www.Morningstar.com as a good free resource to research this information.

Request Benchmarking Reports

This “independent” report uses YOUR information* along with DOL (Department of Labor), Morningstar and Lipper databases to provide you key Benchmarking information.

Comprehensive Plans

We offer a comprehensive list of ETFs and some Mutual Funds and have researched the ones with some of the lowest Expense Ratio’s (Fees) and Mutual Funds with low or no 12b-1 Fees. If there are 12b-1 Fees, they are 100% reimbursed back to the Plan Sponsor (company) every quarter.

Top Notch Partners

We have sought out some of the most reputable and knowledgeable partners to make sure there are some of the lowest administrative fees for your 401k plans, including but not limited to TPA (Third Party Administrator), Record Keeper and Custodian.

Targeted Portfolios

We offer “Model Portfolio’s” that provide simplicity to the average participant based upon their Life Stage and their account balance to choose the best portfolio without trying to review and understand all the asset choices. Atlas will provide the education and fiduciary guidance to the participants.