401k Elite multiple employer plan A Multiple Employer Plan Proposal For Your Business Ameritas Life Insurance Corp. of New York RP 2225 NY 3-17 For Financial Professional and Plan Sponsor Use Only.
a retirement plan engineered for simplicity The 401k ELITE Multiple Employer Plan is an alternative to the traditional single employer plan. With the traditional single employer plan, you take on all of the responsibilities of maintaining a qualified plan, along with the fiduciary liability and plan administration. The 401k ELITE Multiple Employer Plan helps simplify your responsibilities. The actual plan is sponsored and maintained by an experienced third-party that acts as the plan sponsor and plan administrator for what is known as a multiple employer plan (MEP). A MEP is a retirement savings plan that allows many individual employers to participate together in a single retirement plan. Businesses that participate in a MEP are identified as Adopting Employers, not plan sponsors. Adopting employers rely on the expertise and servicing staff of the MEP Plan Sponsor. As an adopting employer, you retain some control over the plan, while minimizing your staff s daily involvement in the plan s operation. 401k elite multiple employer plan It s simple. With the 401k ELITE Multiple Employer Plan, you are no longer responsible for many of the time-consuming duties associated with sponsoring a plan. It s cost-effective. Employers do not have to invest in set-up costs for the plan. Services for completing Form 5500 and compliance testing are included as part of the fees for participating in the MEP. It reduces fiduciary responsibility and liability. Day-to-day fiduciary investment risk becomes the responsibility of the investment manager of the 401k ELITE Multiple Employer Plan. key reasons to consider a MEP Adopting employers retain plan design customization. The plan can be tailored to the employer s needs. Getting help with the annual plan audit. The MEP Plan Sponsor assists with the large plan audit. Preparing the single-employer Form 5500. The MEP takes on the responsibility for completing this DOL-required form for the adopting employer. Outsourcing the evaluation, selection and monitoring of the plan s investment options to an independent ERISA 3(38) investment manager. This investment methodology and process are often only available to larger retirement plans. Eliminating many incidental and recurring plan administration costs. The MEP significantly reduces the costs as compared to single-employer plan document restatements, and attorney reviews. Substantially reducing internal 401k staff administration. Relief from time-consuming administrative functions. 2
we put it all together for you Three respected and experienced companies have come together to offer the 401k ELITE Multiple Employer Plan. Their integrated approach involves teams of knowledgeable professionals with the expertise, systems, and investment management skills to provide you with a retirement program that delivers high-quality service at an affordable cost. Meet the Team Pentegra Services, Inc. (Pentegra) serves as the MEP plan sponsor and plan administrator. Ameritas Retirement Plans Ameritas Retirement Plans, a division of Ameritas Life Insurance Corp of New York, is the recordkeeper for the 401k ELITE Multiple Employer Plan. Mesirow Financial Investment Management, Inc. (Mesirow Financial) is the ERISA 3(38) investment fiduciary for the MEP. 3
Pentegra Services, Inc. MEP Sponsor and ERISA 3(16) Plan Administrator Pentegra is a leading retirement plan provider with more than 70 years of experience managing multiple employer plans. Pentegra assumes the role of ERISA section 3(16) named plan administrator, while its Board of Directors serves as the principal ERISA section 3(21) Plan Fiduciary. Basic services include: Plan document maintenance Plan review and acceptance Compliance testing Form 5500 filing for each adopting employer Large plan audit (if applicable) Ameritas Retirement Plans MEP Recordkeeper and Investment Platform Provider Eligibility tracking Distribution approvals Rollovers Hardship withdrawals Qualified Domestic Relations Orders Ameritas has more than 50 years of experience helping businesses and their employees save for retirement. The funding vehicle for the 401k ELITE Multiple Employer Plan is an unregistered group variable annuity contract issued by Ameritas Life Insurance Corp. of New York. Adopting employers and their employee participants have online access to their accounts through a secure website. Basic services include: Plan conversion and implementation Plan recordkeeping Adopting employer reporting Online enrollment Custom enrollment kits Quarterly participant statements Benefit processing Participant call center (M-F 7 a.m. - 5 p.m. Central) Mesirow Financial Investment Management, Inc. ERISA 3(38) Investment Manager for the MEP Website for adopting employer - Account information - Investment performance - Contribution processing - Reports: Transactions, loans, confirmations, annual plan - Quarterly newsletter (English/Spanish) Mesirow Financial is a diversified financial services firm that has been serving the needs of its clients for 75 years. In its role, Mesirow is responsible for fund selection, ongoing monitoring, and replacement of the plan s investment lineup. This level of ERISA section 3(38) investment fiduciary protection relieves plan sponsors and adopting employers of due diligence and ongoing monitoring of plan investments. Basic services include: Designated investment fiduciary Evaluation, selection, and monitoring of investment lineup Quarterly reporting via the Mesirow Financial POLICE Report Investment lineup review to Pentegra 4
the MEP advantage As an adopting employer with the 401k ELITE Multiple Employer Plan, you benefit from many of the key features of a qualified plan, but without taking on all of the responsibilities. Meeting the Challenge The 401k ELITE Multiple Employer Plan takes on many of the challenging requirements and duties associated with offering a traditional, singleemployer retirement plan. For example, it: Reduces the amount of time your staff spends managing the program on a day-to-day basis Shifts responsibility for filing the annual Form 5500 to the MEP Plan Sponsor for each adopting employer Mitigates the fiduciary responsibilities and potential liability associated with sponsoring a qualified plan Provides adopting employers with new fee disclosure information required by the Department of Labor that needs to be communicated to plan participants your role and responsibilities While the 401k ELITE Multiple Employer Plan minimizes your daily involvement, you are responsible for: Selecting your plan design. You determine eligibility requirements (including age and service), vesting schedule, Safe Harbor options, loan availability, and employer contribution options (match and/or profit sharing) Submitting plan contributions in a timely and accurate manner Purchasing and maintaining a fidelity bond Timely distribution of notices and information provided by Pentegra to participants Providing year-end census information to Pentegra for timely and accurate year-end reporting and testing on your behalf Regularly evaluating the 401k ELITE Multiple Employer Plan to determine that it is the most suitable option for you and your employees Although these responsibilities cannot be outsourced, our team is here to assist you in complying with the reporting and operational requirements established by the Department of Labor and the IRS. participant support To help your participants understand the value and importance of saving for retirement, Ameritas has created materials and tools to help motivate your employees to enroll in your 401k ELITE Multiple Employer Plan. Enrollment Ameritas believes enrollment is critical to your plan s success and that is why we offer you several flexible enrollment options. These options include online enrollment through the SmartPlan portal, onsite enrollment meetings, or a combination of both. On-line Our SmartPlan online enrollment portal, available in both English and Spanish, is designed to engage, educate and enroll your employees. Video hosts start out by discussing plan features and the benefits of joining the plan. They then guide the user through an interactive process to discover their individual retirement needs, determine their risk profile, and choose their plan investments and contribution amounts. SmartPlan is fully customizable and most importantly, it s paperless and effortless. 5
On-site Ameritas Life of New York will work with your Financial Professional to schedule onsite meetings based on your employee s availability. As part of these meetings, participants will receive important information about the value of enrolling in the plan along with basic directions about how to enroll. This information is available in both English and Spanish. On-going Our educational materials include topics such as investment basics, asset allocation, diversification and retirement planning. Our quarterly newsletters provide an overview of various investment principals along with overall financial wellness tips. Through your plan s website we deliver many online resources which include financial calculators, financial tutorials and interactive charts to help participants understand and manage their retirement account. investment platform Mesirow Financial selects and monitors the investment option lineup available in the 401k ELITE Multiple Employer Plan. Their experience and expertise as the 3(38) investment manager for the plan mitigates your fiduciary exposure and potential liability. The 401k ELITE Multiple Employer Plan s investment option lineup gives participants a wide variety of investment choices. It includes Core Asset Classes, such as large cap domestic equity, small cap domestic equity, foreign large cap, intermediate term domestic bonds, and cash equivalents. Also included are Supplemental Asset Classes, such as emerging market, high yield bonds, and real estate. This offers participants greater potential for diversification and higher returns, but possibly at the cost of higher return volatility. Given the variety of investment options available, the lineup is best suited for participants with above-average investment education and aboveaverage understanding of the risks associated with specialized asset classes. next steps If you currently offer a retirement plan and want to become an adopting employer in our 401k ELITE Multiple Employer Plan, here are some of the key documents you need to provide: Copies of your plan document, adoption agreement, plan amendments, and summary plan description A copy of your current Form 5500 filing A report detailing your plan s investments and account balances All documentation will be carefully checked. If the plan is in full compliance, the review should take about three business days. Once the prospective candidate is accepted, implementation begins. This includes: Completion of paperwork Plan design review Scheduling of enrollment meeting Preparation of enrollment materials Payroll processing for contribution submission Establishing the launch date To join the 401k ELITE Multiple Employer Plan as an adopting employer, call 800-923-2732. 6
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Ameritas Life Insurance Corp. of New York Retirement Plans Division 1350 Broadway, Suite 2201 New York, NY 10018 800-92302732 ameritas.com This information is provided by Ameritas which is the marketing name for subsidiaries of Ameritas Mutual Holding Company, including but not limited to: Ameritas Life Insurance Corp., 5900 O Street, Lincoln, NE 68510: Ameritas Life Insurance Corp. of New York, (licensed in New York) 1350 Broadway, Suite 2201, New York, NY 10018 and Ameritas Investment Corp., member FINRA/SIPC. Each company is solely responsible for it own financial condition and contractual obligations. Ameritas life insurance companies are not fiduciaries under the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act or Internal Revenue Code Section 4975. For more information about Ameritas, visit ameritas.com. The 401k ELITE Multiple Employer Plan is funded by an unregistered group annuity contract issued by Ameritas Life Insurance Corp. of New York (Form FA 64349). 401k ELITE Multiple Employer Plan is a registered service mark of Ameritas Mutual Holding Company of New York. Pentegra Services, Inc. serves as the MEP sponsor. Pentegra Services, Inc. s Board of Directors serves as the principal ERISA fiduciary. For more information on Pentegra, visit www.pentegra.com. Mesirow Financial Investment Management, Inc., is an SEC registered investment advisor (Mesirow Financial). The Mesirow Financial name and logo are registered service marks of Mesirow Financial Holdings, Inc., 2012, Mesirow Financial Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved. Pentegra Services, Inc. and Mesirow Financial Investment Management, Inc. are not affiliates of Ameritas Life Insurance Corp. of New York. Ameritas and the bison are registered service marks of Ameritas Life Insurance Corp. 2017 Ameritas Mutual Holding Company