Retirement Plans

We do not sell anything. No funds to push. No hidden agenda.

We offer unbiased advice with absolutely no conflicts of interest. Our sole motivation is to provide the solution that meets your corporate objectives and affords your employees sound investment options, asset allocation strategies and performance.

In our quest to assist you, we are committed to:

• Serving as an ERISA 3(38) full or ERISA 3(21) co-fiduciary with plan trustees, thus alleviating the trustees of all or some of the liability associated with investment selections.
• Providing a cost-effective, fee transparent solution.
• Providing an appropriate number of investment options: enough to create a diversified portfolio yet not so many that employees are bewildered.
• Providing an exceptional level of service to the plan trustees.
• Educating employees about their defined contribution plan and investing in general.

Fiduciary Responsibility

As a Registered Investment Advisor, we serve as either an ERISA 3(38) full or ERISA 3(21) co-fiduciary, assuming all or sharing the fiduciary responsibility with you for the investments in the plan. This is critical because it legally requires Acropolis Retirement Plan Solutions to put your company’s plan and employees’ interest above all else at all times, and significantly reduces your organization’s exposure to potential litigation.

Trustees and plan sponsors need to understand every aspect of their plans. But this can feel like a daunting responsibility while you try to focus on what you do best – running your organization. We believe trustees deserve more than a travel agent-type sales person who places you in a product and wishes you well. We believe you deserve a partner who will stand by you and help you navigate the ongoing complexities of your defined contribution plan.

Our commitment to our plan sponsors includes:

• Fiduciary Process Management / Risk Mitigation
• Investment Selection / Monitoring
• Annual Employee Education / Individual Consultations
• Fee Auditing / Benchmarking
• Single Point of Contact
• Open Investment Architecture
• No Proprietary Products
• Expert Plan Design, Analysis and Support
• Compliance Testing / Government Reporting
• Employee Website and Call Center Access
• Enrollment Kit and Forms (online link)
• CEFEX Certification (Centre for Fiduciary Excellence)
• Expertise of Entire Acropolis Team Including CFP’s, CFA’s, CEPA, CRPC, CPA, MBA’s, QPA, and QKA’s

Checks & Balances

Acropolis Retirement Plan Solutions does not custody or safe-keep any assets. Assets are held by a national Trust company, such as Charles Schwab or MG Trust. In addition to separate custody, there are independent recordkeepers and third-party administrators for additional protection.

Products

Plans we serve:

• 401(k)
• Profit Sharing
• Defined Benefit
• ERISA 403(b)
• Nonqualified Deferred Compensation
• Cash Balance

We truly care that each employee successfully reaches their retirement goals.

That’s why effective employee education is so important to us. Many service providers say they educate, but they don’t all get results. At Acropolis Retirement Plan Solutions, we believe what you measure, you improve. Our goal is to facilitate positive investor behavior. Therefore, our education is interactive and outcome-based. We write our own education and customize it for each organization. We strive to inspire employees to make good decisions, not talk over their heads.

What We Offer Employees:

• Annual Education Meetings
• Individual Consultations
• New Employee Enrollment Assistance
• Quarterly Participant Insights Newsletter
• Online Educational Resources & Tools
• Website & Call Center Access
• Ongoing Investment Professional Support

Our investment philosophy simplifies the daunting task of investing.

This is critical because the vast majority of employees feel unprepared to direct their own investments. We assist employees with making rational investment selections which can give them confidence to invest appropriately for retirement. We help them optimize the risk/return relationship of their portfolio to meet appropriate goals over the long term.

To accomplish this, we have designed globally diversified custom asset allocations based on the employee’s age and target retirement date, making the investment process understandable. In addition, for those employees who feel competent to implement their own investment strategy, there is a slate of individual mutual funds to select from.

Acropolis Retirement Plan Solutions will provide:

• ERISA 3(38) Full Fiduciary or ERISA 3(21) Co-Fiduciary Service
• Written Investment Policy Statement
• Custom-Designed Target Retirement Date Allocations
• Open Architecture Fund Availability (Unlimited Options)
• Detailed Fund Analysis / Selection Process
• Ongoing Fund Monitoring & Reporting

Principles

Basic financial theory suggests that all investors are risk averse.

The only acceptable risks that an investor should take are those that are likely to be adequately compensated for by portfolio returns and help accomplish a stated goal.

Human behavior leads some investors to be too risk averse while others are risk/thrill seeking. Most are unsure of their risk tolerance and find that it changes depending on market conditions – risk-averse in down markets and risk-seeking in climbing markets.

Our duty is to help determine an investor’s willingness and ability to take risk. Helping an investor understand their risk tolerance is important so they are comfortable with their portfolio’s volatility, while at the same time, are taking enough risk to earn returns necessary to meet their goals.

Diversification is perhaps the most important principle when investing.

By spreading assets across different kinds of investments, it is possible to reduce risk and potentially increase returns. We use funds that are highly diversified and also provide professionally managed allocations that deliver exposure to the following areas: Geography (Domestic vs. International), Company Size (Large Cap vs. Small Cap), Credit Risk (Treasury vs. other bonds) and Duration (Shorter vs. Longer Term bonds).

Simplicity is key.

Investing can be very complex, so Acropolis has made many of the decisions relatively easy for most employees by offering enough funds to create a diversified portfolio, but not so many funds that employees are overwhelmed by choice.

To further simplify investing, we created professionally managed allocations – the Acropolis Target Retirement Allocations (ATRAs), which are offered at no additional cost. These models allow the employee to select an appropriate asset allocation based on the amount of time until retirement, then automatically reduce risk as time passes and rebalance quarterly. The employee essentially makes one investment decision based on their expected retirement date and Acropolis takes it from there.