EBS’s wholly owned subsidiary, Ascende Wealth Advisers, Inc. (AWA), was created specifically to provide independence, protection and results to plan sponsors and committees in fulfilling their fiduciary obligations with respect to investment selection, monitoring, oversight and compliance.
Fiduciaries of qualified plans are expected to oversee plan assets with the skill, prudence and judgment of a qualified professional. In an environment where our legislative and regulatory bodies are broadening the definition of who is considered a fiduciary, as well as raising the standard to which a fiduciary is held, plan sponsors are looking to professional financial advisers to mitigate fiduciary risk.
AWA acts a co-fiduciary to the plan sponsor and investment committee, offering investment advice, innovative risk management solutions and fiduciary education services. The team advises on a variety of retirement plans, including 401(k), defined benefit and nonqualified plans as well as offshore savings arrangements.
Fiduciary Best Practices and Investment Analysis
AWA’s team provides ongoing advice, guidance and support to plan fiduciaries in the following areas:
- Plan goal establishment – meeting with the plan committee to determine the investment goals of the plan and construct the overall structure to help the committee meet the stated goals
- Best practices – establishing the plan committee policies that are intended to maximize the protection of the plan fiduciaries and implementing the procedures that increase the likelihood of generating results that meet the plan’s intended objectives
- Investment selection – determining the appropriate asset classes, money managers and specific fund line up based on the plan type, risk tolerance, participant demographics and available options
- Investment monitoring – ongoing evaluation of fund performance compared to benchmarks and peer groups, manager changes, fee changes, turnover, style drift and other appropriate indicators
- Specialized analytics – including “deep dive” review of target date funds, ongoing review and recommendations with respect to the appropriateness of company stock funds, detailed evaluation of stable value funds and 529 plan research and recommendations
Fiduciary Oversight and Management
Because fiduciary prudence is generally measured by the process and procedures followed and documented, AWA works with the plan fiduciaries and their legal counsel to create and maintain the investment committee charter, the investment policy statement and a fiduciary code of ethics. According to defined schedule, AWA will meet with the plan fiduciaries to review the investment performance, discuss all fees and expenses associated with the plan and consider changes in the market and regulatory environments that could have an impact to the plan and/or its participants. AWA creates documentation of these meetings, as well as other considerations and decisions made by the committee to demonstrate prudence to the independent plan auditor or in the event of a Department of Labor or other audit or challenge.
For more information regarding investment advisory services from AWA, please contact Rob Massa at (832) 629-9666 or rmassa@ebenefitsolutions.com.