KANSAS CITY, Mo. - (Business Wire) Fiduciary Benchmarks, an industry leading 401(k) plan benchmarking firm, today announced that it has compiled the data and reporting necessary to benchmark over 98% of 401(k) plans in America. “The Fiduciary Benchmarks report contains a level of actionable intelligence that truly helps a fiduciary understand the fees for their plan — in total, by service provider and by investment option,” said Tom Kmak, CEO of Fiduciary Benchmarks. “In addition, our first report measures 27 different plan design provisions that drive plan complexity as well as 10 critical participant success measures that have a proven ability to impact participant retirement outcomes,” Kmak added.
Fiduciary Benchmarks began issuing reports to clients during mid-October 2009. The company released its first report titled Fees, Plan Complexity and Participant Success Measures, and it has been well-received by advisors and consultants who are impressed by the actionable nature of the resulting comparisons.
John Ostrosky, Senior Investment Advisor, Hylant Financial Services, an NRP member firm, said, “The Fiduciary Benchmarks Report is the best resource that I have found as an advisor to gauge a plan's total costs and overall complexity. I have successfully used the report as a fiduciary best practices tool to provide valuable data to my existing clients as well as a prospecting tool to highlight my advisory services to attract new business.”
Fiduciary Benchmarks currently has more than 150 retirement plan advisors representing 7,700 plans committed to using its service. The company is experiencing accelerated growth in this channel since the release of its first report, and it notes that 700 other advisors have recently expressed interest in using its service.
William B. Campbell, an independent financial advisor with Raymond James Financial Services Inc. Member FINRA/SIPC in Hailey, Idaho, is representative of the positive feedback received so far. “Fiduciary Benchmarks’ fee benchmarking is something every plan sponsor and advisor should know about. We help our mid-market 401(k) clients satisfy a fiduciary duty by benchmarking all plan fees, including our advisory services, and the process is far easier than conducting a full-blown request for proposal (RFP).”
Fiduciary Benchmarks is producing reports for all market segments under $100 million, representing about 98% of all 401(k) plans in America. In addition, Fiduciary Benchmarks expects to produce reports for market segments above $100 million within the next 60 days.
The company can produce a report for plans within 2 weeks of receiving plan data. This is possible due to the working protocols Fiduciary Benchmarks has developed with 35 different record keepers. The company believes getting data directly from record keepers improves the quality and current nature of the data used in the reports while also streamlining the process for advisors, consultants and plan sponsors.
Lisa Jungers, an advisor with Alford-Jungers Financial, an NRP member firm said: “We are excited to provide our clients with the Fiduciary Benchmarks reports and we view them as an important part of our service model going forward. Each of our retirement plan clients continually ask how their plan compares to their peers and the industry. Fiduciary Benchmarks finally gives us the tool to answer that question.”
Advisors, consultants, service providers, or plan sponsors interested in more information on Fiduciary Benchmarks can visit www.fiduciarybenchmarks.com.
About Fiduciary Benchmarks
Fiduciary Benchmarks is recognized as one of the industry’s leading services for benchmarking retirement plans. Started in 2007 by several industry experts, the company now has over 150 respected service providers committed to using their service. These professionals represent more than 7,700 plans. The company provides independent, comprehensive and informative benchmarking services through advisors/consultants, record keepers, and other plan service providers. For more information about Fiduciary Benchmarks, visit www.fiduciarybenchmarks.com.
Fiduciary Benchmarks
Tom Kmak, CEO, 816-728-2356
tomkmak@fiduciarybenchmarks.com
or
Monarch Communications
Jeff Siegel, 516-569-4271
jeffs@monarchcomminc.com
