401(k) and Employer-Sponsored Retirement Plans for Businesses
Employer Retirement Plans
SYM Financial Advisors designs and manages 401(k) and other employer-sponsored retirement plans for businesses, serving as a fiduciary alongside the plan sponsor. SYM coordinates with your recordkeeper, TPA, and other professional resources, educates your employees, and shares fiduciary responsibility for the plan as an ERISA Section 3(21) or 3(38) investment fiduciary. SYM advises over 130 corporate clients and nearly 20,000 plan participants.
Investment selection and implementation
Plan monitoring and management
Key collaborator with TPA, attorneys, CPAs, and compliance
Employee education
Fiduciary Responsibility
Frequently Asked Questions
SYM helps organizations design, optimize, and support retirement plans with the goal of reducing unnecessary fees, administrative burden, compliance-related costs, turnover, lost productivity, and healthcare expenses associated with employees being unprepared to retire.
SYM provides employee-focused education that explains long-term strategy, saving priorities, and the value of the company’s retirement benefit. Better-informed employees can make more confident decisions and may be more likely to retire on time.
SYM educates employees individually, helps them understand their personal long-term retirement strategy and proper perspective, and shows them how to use and value their employer-sponsored benefit rather than simply guiding them through enrollment screens.
SYM reviews plan fees for transparency and value, coordinates with the recordkeeper and custodian, and avoids working with TPAs that charge asset-based fees SYM believes do not provide proportional value.
SYM provides fiduciary guidance, coordinates with plan service providers, helps oversee fees and compliance, clarifies TPA communications, supports employee education, and reduces the amount of plan administration that falls on HR and leadership.
Yes. SYM offers strategic plan design tailored to business goals. This can include evaluating eligibility, saving behavior, employer contribution allocations, retirement readiness, compliance testing, retention priorities, and overall company costs.
Yes. SYM can help evaluate plan designs that allocate profit-sharing contributions strategically, provided the plan meets applicable compliance tests. Depending on the organization’s goals, this flexibility may support retention, reward high-impact teams or key talent, and encourage longevity.
Schedule a 30-minute discussion
with a plan specialist
An exploratory discussion.
SYM Financial Advisors provides 401(k) and retirement plan consulting services to employers across the U.S.
“How far will you go to protect and grow our employer retirement plan?”
“The right question is usually more important than the right answer.” – Plato
SYM focuses on asking the right questions to arrive at the answer that will make the difference for our clients.
To illustrate, a SYM client (a company) didn’t pass their year-end deferral testing. This testing is conducted by the Third Party Administrator (TPA) in order to assure compliance with all applicable discrimination guidelines. Not passing meant that a portion of the money employees thought they had saved in their 401(k) plan would have to be returned to them, resulting in lower than expected contributions that year.
The average advisory firm might have said “Okay, let the client know the results, then process the appropriate returns to the participants.” SYM’s Employer-Sponsored Retirement Plan team did not immediately accept the failing grade; instead, they took time to review the test and see if anything could be done.
In doing so, they recognized an opportunity for an alternate testing option not attempted by the company’s TPA. SYM gathered some additional data from the client, ran a preliminary test, and saw that the alternative method would pass.
The result?
Fifteen employees were spared an unwelcome return of a portion of their retirement savings. Instead, they were allowed to keep all their contributions in the plan for the future, and the employer was saved paperwork and administration time. While not every testing scenario will end this way, in this case, putting together a team of people with a client focus, technical expertise, and inquisitive minds allowed SYM to serve a client uncommonly well.
We take care of the plan. We take care of the sponsor. We take care of the participant. While this may not roll off the tongue as easily as some marketing phrases, it explains everything SYM does to service retirement plans.
Disclosure: This material is not financial advice, an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to purchase any security managed by SYM Financial Corporation (“SYM”). The opinions and assumptions expressed herein are those of SYM Financial Corporation (“SYM”) and are subject to change without notice. SYM is an independent investment adviser registered under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. More information about SYM including our investment strategies, fees, and objectives can be found in our ADV Part 2, or Form CRS, which is available upon request.
We’re Fiduciaries to You
As a business owner offering a 401(k) plan to your employees, you are held accountable for an in-depth level of knowledge that, for most, lies outside your area of expertise and familiarity. That’s where SYM comes in.
Smarty Pants
SYM has a long history of serving plan sponsors and participants. As an advisor to over 130 corporate clients and near 20,000 participants, we understand the rewards and challenges of offering a qualified plan.
Protecting Companies
It is our goal to provide a plan that will benefit your employees and maintain your profitability. As your advocate, we’re on the lookout for design, compliance, and administrative pitfalls.
Shepherding Participants
You want your employees to experience a rewarding retirement, and we want that too. We’ll offer one-on-one conversations to each of your plan participants to help them understand and work toward achieving their goals.
