401(k) Investment Analysis

“If you are like most plan sponsors, you pay particular attention to the investment options offered within your 401(k) plan.  For participants, the fund choices your plan offers are the single most visible aspect of your retirement plan.”

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Wouldn’t it be prudent to have an independent opinion on your investment choices and a documented process for fund replacement?

As good as many 401(k) providers are, there is an inherent conflict of interest in allowing your 401(k) vendor to recommend the fund line-up.

This is where we come in.

As independent consultants, we have the skill and resources to manage the investment process for you. Our comprehensive Investment Due Diligence and Analysis process is backed by the combined resources of Cambridge Investment Research and the Retirement Plan Advisory Group (RPAG).

Investment Due Diligence & Analysis
Our independent investment fund review utilizes a proprietary Scorecard System, which incorporates both quantitative and qualitative factors into evaluating fund managers and their investment strategies.

Our 10-factor Scorecard System is built around pass/fail criteria, on a scale of 0 to 10, ranking active, passive, and asset allocation strategies.

• 80% of the fund’s score is quantitative, incorporating modern portfolio theory statistics, quadratic optimization analysis, and peer group rankings.
• 20% of the score is qualitative, taking into account manager tenure, the fund’s expense ratio relative to the average fund expense ratio in that asset class category, and the fund’s strength of statistics, among other criteria.

Combined, these factors are a way of measuring the relative performance, characteristics, behavior and overall appropriateness of a fund for inclusion into a retirement plan as an investment option.

The Leading Investment Process for Retirement Plans

• Peter Philipp is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and works closely with the Retirement Plan Advisory Group which has a CFA-led investment research team to monitor the entire mutual fund universe.
• The Scorecard System utilizes MPI Stylus® portfolio analytics to rank more than 20,000 funds across 36 asset classes and 65 vendor products, including Open Architecture platforms.
• RPAG routinely conducts due dilligence meetings with investment managers at their offices and via conference calls.  A rigorous focus on qualitative analysis helps to ensure that the due diligence process is as comprehensive as possible.

What We Deliver to 401(k) Plan Sponsors

• Investment Policy Statement creation and review
• Fiduciary Investment Review incorporating the Scorecard System
• Transition Assistance & Participant Communications when terminating/hiring a fund manager
• Quarterly Financial Market Summaries

Our proprietary Scorecard System and Investment Due Diligence process is unique in that it uses a complete approach that not only takes into account risk-adjusted return characteristics, but style, peer group rankings and various qualitative factors.

Our 401(k) Investment Analysis process is very similar to what the largest and most advanced investment institutions in the world utilize to select and monitor their investments, yet has been adapted for any sized plan.

Interested in 401(k) Investment Analysis Services?

Contact Us:  Your San Francisco Employee Benefit Consultants

Or Continue to Retirement Plan Services Step 3:  Fiduciary Guidance & Compliance

401k analysis