Service-Centered Process

At the core of OpenPlan™ is a service-centered process designed to develop a fully Customized Retirement Plan for employers of all size. In order to do so, we follow a disciplined Plan Development process. The Discovery Phase of our plan development work explores critical areas that underlay long-term plan success, culminating with a detailed Plan Implementation Report.

Typically, we address the following items during Discovery; Strategy Assessment, Participant Survey and Plan Practices Audit.

At the conclusion of Discovery, we provide a detailed Plan Implementation Report that focuses on Six Critical Components of Successful Retirement Plans:

1. Design
2. Investments
3. Administration
4. Participant Services
5. Fiduciary Support
6. Pricing

Design. We assess strategic plan design elements, such as employee demographics, employer motivation and investment fund selection factors before recommending applicable plan design components. We want the result of our efforts to be “your plan”, not our plan (see Custom Plan Design).

Investments. Open Plan applies a multi-level disciplined methodology to the Investment Selection Process. Our goal is to create meaningful investment diversification for plan participants across all primary asset classes, so step one is to insure that each asset class is represented in the fund lineup.

Step two is to provide the highest quality of fund choice within each asset class, based on fund investment direction, management style, performance and fees.

Administration. The OpenPlan™ retirement plan administration system is designed to provide the plan sponsor with a stress-free and time-efficient experience as a retirement plan sponsor. We deliver a complete plan administration program that is highly efficient, accurate and responsive (see Plan Administration).

Participant Services. The vast majority of retirement plan participants are not actively engaged in leveraging their retirement plan as planning vehicle. The underlying reason is that plan participants have simple communication needs – but typical retirement plan communication materials are technical and complex. OpenPlan™ creates positive plan participant engagement and provides the guidance they seek by applying three fundamental concepts (see Employee Engagement):

Fiduciary Support. Plan sponsors are obligated to act with prudence in all matters relative to their retirement plan. Failure to do so can result in personal liability for the plan sponsor and any related fiduciaries to the plan.   The SponsorGuard™ plan sponsor support program was developed exclusively for retirement plans enrolled in the OpenPlan™ retirement plan platform. SponsorGuard™ provides a comprehensive level of retirement plan sponsor support activity at no charge. Enhanced support services are available with an additional fee.

Pricing. We use “institutional” share whenever possible. Unlike retail share classes, institutional share classes contain no revenue sharing for third-parties involved in fund marketing and distribution or plan administration. If revenue sharing is included in any recommended fund, OpenPlan™ credits the share amount to plan participant accounts to offset other fees. This practice allows for OpenPlan’s totally transparent pricing and simple fee disclosure.

Discovery Process. Before making any plan recommendations. We conduct an extensive review of all the factors impacting the plan sponsor in search of their optimal retirement plan. Our discovery process consists of three components; Strategy Assessment, Participant Survey and Plan Practices Audit. (see Discovery Phase)

Adult Learning Principles. In order to motivate positive retirement plan participant decision making, participants must be engaged through effective communication techniques. We build our participant engagement platform in recognition of the specific learning principles most appropriate for your employee population. (see Adult Learning Theory Infographic)

Intuitive Sustained Engagement. Although retirement plan participants consistently express a strong desire to make good decisions, the vast majority are not motivated by the plan materials provided to them. We utilize a communications design process developed by the non-profit National Association of Retirement Plan Participants (NARP) that builds trust and encourages participant engagement through four basic principles. (see Communicating Trust and Saving More)