PLAN CONSULTING

Cambridge offers complete plan consulting services. We advise on plan designs that maximize employee participation, appreciation and retirement readiness.

Our experienced consultants offer practical advice that solves problems, ranging from day to day operational issues to IRS and DOL compliance matters. There are relatively few plan issues that our team hasn’t successfully handled.

We help clients with:

  • Service Provider Selection & Monitoring
    • Fiduciaries are required to make informed decisions when selecting and monitoring service providers, as it is a fiduciary breach to enter into an arrangement that is unreasonable.  The new 408(b)(2) regulations require all “covered” service providers (CSP) to disclose information about the services and compensation to plan fiduciaries.  If the fiduciaries do not have sufficient knowledge to evaluate the disclosures, they need to hire the expertise required to make a well-informed decision to retain or replace service providers
  • Investment Selection & Monitoring

    • “The duty to act prudently is one of a fiduciary’s central responsibilities under ERISA. It requires expertise in a variety of areas, such as investments. Lacking that expertise, a fiduciary will want to hire someone with that professional knowledge to carry out the investment and other functions.”*

      *DOL “Meeting Your Fiduciary Responsibilities

  • Administration & Reporting
    • Fiduciaries are responsible to ensure that certain notices are provided and that forms are properly filed.  The 408(b) (2) disclosures should contain the data required to be provided by fiduciaries to plan participants (e.g., under the new 404a-5 regulation) and to the DOL (in the Form 5500 and Schedule C, if applicable).  While the plan’s TPA or Recordkeeper may facilitate the delivery of this information, fiduciaries remain responsible to ensure the notices and disclosures are accurate and timely delivered.
  • Participant Education & Guidance
    • ERISA provides that when a plan allocates investment responsibilities to participants or beneficiaries, the plan administrator must take steps to ensure that such participants and beneficiaries, on a regular and periodic basis, are made aware of their rights and responsibilities with respect to the investment of assets held in, or contributed to, their accounts and are provided sufficient information regarding the plan and the plan's investment options, including fee and expense information, to make informed decisions with regard to the management of their individual accounts