Arlington Wealth Planning is proud to announce that we have partnered with top-notch, award-winning companies to provide better corporate retirement plans.

Founder, Greg Caramanica, discusses his perspective on how retirement plans can be better:

If your employees don’t understand why they are saving for retirement, will you have good participation in the plan?  Do you have employees asking for advances because they are experiencing financial problems at home?  How focused are they on their career when these issues are occurring?

These issues highlight the value of advisory services – an opportunity to provide a benefit to your employees, who might not have access to financial planning outside the corporate retirement plan.   It’s not only a chance to help them understand the investment lineup and how they can assemble their own portfolio, but also help them evaluate their financial goals and how to achieve them.  It’s an opportunity to help them improve financial habits and improve their wellbeing.

Your retirement plan should bolster your employee wellness program.

Looking back as an employee over my career, every single one of my employers’ 401k programs lacked adequate advisory services.  The plan sponsor would show up maybe once when I joined the plan, but I never saw them again.

The issue seems to be that retirement plans are not the primary focus of advisory firms.  Many shops seem to focus primarily on individuals, not companies, and might take on a few 401ks, but don’t really think about them as a significant opportunity to provide financial planning in a group environment.  With downward pressure on fees, companies are typically looking for the cheapest retirement plan they can find.  This results in bare bones plans that provide little value to its participants other than investment options, absent advisory services due to the low compensation and lack of interest.

I vow to do better.  Our retirement plans will include touch points with our advisors through financial planning seminars, one-on-one discussions, online educational resources and training, and, of course, more attention on ensuring participants know the individual investments in the plan and how to make sense of them.  You’ll see us frequently and you’ll know that we care about providing great customer service and a top-notch experience for plan participants.

Arlington Wealth Planning has partnered with the following award-winning companies:

Charles Schwab for custodian services.  StockBrokers.com ranks Schwab “Best in Class” Overall in 2019 as well as “Best in Class” in the Customer Service, Research, Platforms & Tools, Education, Offering of Investments, and Banking categories. Schwab was also selected as one of the Top 50 companies on the 2019 “World’s Most Admired Companies®” list, as well as ranked #1 for Innovation in Key Attributes of Reputation within the Securities and Asset Management category.

PCS Retirement for recordkeeping and third-party administration.  PCS is recognized as “Best in Class” by PlanAdviser Magazine in: Participant Call Center, Service Responsiveness, and Staff Consistency.  PCS is one of fewer than 50 companies that holds a Centre for Fiduciary Excellence (CEFEX) certification by the American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries (ASPPA). Additionally, PCS has received the highest rating by Roland|Criss for retirement plan service providers – “AAA” for Superior Quality.

MillenniuM for investment policy management.  MillenniuM is an unaffiliated ERISA defined independent fiduciary to 401(k) and other defined contribution plans. They are a fee-only, codified investment fiduciary as defined by ERISA section 3(38).  MillenniuM serves as an unconflicted “independent fiduciary” under DOL.§ 2509.95-1(c)(6).