Advisor Services
3(21) Investment Advisor Services
If you are a plan sponsor who wants assistance with fiduciary responsibilities while maintaining discretion and control over your plan’s investment menus, this is your best option.
As a 3(21) Investment Advisor, we act as a co-fiduciary in providing investment guidance and recommendations to plan sponsors. In this agreement, the employer retains all rights to accept or reject advice. This is a more cost-effective option, but does not allow the plan sponsor to completely shift fiduciary responsibilities to a third party.
3(38) Investment Manager Services
A 3(38) Investment manager assumes sole fiduciary liability for investment selection monitoring and replacement. A plan sponsor receives the greatest protection from claims related to poor investment selection and monitoring decisions by hiring an investment manager. When a plan sponsor pursues this route, their liability is limited to selecting and monitoring the investment manager. If a plan sponsor wants to shift the fiduciary responsibilities to a third party due to lack of expertise and fear of exposure to liability, a 3(38) investment manager would be beneficial.
As an ERISA 3(38) investment manager, we are responsible for selecting, monitoring and replacing investments in the plan. Therefore, we will carry complete legal responsibility and liability, examine fees for reasonableness, provides errors and omissions insurance and fiduciary liability insurance, and will be a discretionary investment manager. Taking on fiduciary responsibility is a key advantage to this option, especially since it is likely that this is not an area of expertise for the plan sponsor.