Private-Label Open Architecture 401k for Advisors

You can use a slightly modified Open Architecture 401k system to handle your clients' 401k plan administration with the same ease and efficiency granted to our traditional self-service Open Architecture 401k customers. Read on, or simply contact us for details.

As a Registered Investment Advisor, you qualify to purchase Open Architecture 401k at a 10% discount.
You can develop custom portfolios (see below).
You'll enjoy the same plan-specific system customization that enables our Open Architecture clients to run their 401k plans in less than 15 minutes a month, on average.
Your clients will supply you with their monthly payroll and census data, and you will process the data using specially customized Open Architecture 401k plan administration software.
You will act as liaison between your clients and the investment company(ies) and/or brokerage account company(ies) they have chosen for their 401k plans.
You get all of Open Architecture 401k's great automated and plan-specific features, so running your clients' plans is quick and efficient.
Open Architecture 401k lets you offer your clients valuable services such as monthly plan compliance testing and monthly participant account statements. Because the services are highly automated within Open Architecture 401k and included free of charge, offering them to your clients costs your company little more than a few seconds of labor time.
Your clients receive a quality plan that has all the flexibility and per-company customization features of a self-run Open Architecture 401k plan with the luxury of having you handle the data processing and investment company interaction.

Have your clients run their own 401k plans using Open Architecture 401k with you as the designated investment advisor

With Open Architecture 401k you have the option of using our customized 401k systems to run your clients' 401k plans from your offices or having each client run its own 401k plan from its own office - with you collecting any asset-based investment fees either way.

What could be easier? You refer the client to us, we create a 401k plan and plan administration system specific to your client's needs and funding investments of your recommendation to the client, the client handles its own plan administration and you'll collect all asset-based fees.

Your clients can receive a discount on purchasing Open Architecture 401k, too, if you register with us as an SEC-Registered Investment Advisor (see below) and/or as a Referral Partner (see our Referral Partner page). SEC-Registered Investment Advisors receive a 10% discount on Open Architecture 401k purchases they make (a savings they can pass onto their clients in reduced 401k administration fees, for instance); Referral Partners earn up to 50% of the first year's annual fee per system purchased by their clients, or they can choose to qualify each client to receive a rebate on its purchase of Open Architecture 401k.

You must be registered with us as an SEC-Registered Business Alliance Partner (go to SEC Partner registration) and/or Referral Partner (go to Referral Partner registration) before the purchase is made for you (or your clients) to be eligible for the applicable discounts and rebates.
Joining any of the Open Architecture 401k Business Alliance Programs is absolutely FREE and puts you under no obligation to refer any client to us.
We never ask you to divulge any client information beyond that specific to an order actually being placed, and we never market related - or unrelated - products to your clients.

SEC-Registered investment advisors receive a 10% discount on Open Architecture 401k

Custody of 401k assets

Open Architecture 401k is the retail version of 401k Enginuity, our wholesale product offered to plan providers and advisors. The 401k Enginuity administration and recordkeeping platform is the most economical and efficient way an advisor can provide a branded, full-feature 401k to his or her clients. In addition to offering advisors economical and comprehensive third-party 401k administration and recordkeeping, we offer 401k asset custody at the following financial institutions:

Charles Schwab
Fidelity Brokerage
TD Ameritrade

We can easily add other custodians to the list. Please phone us at (800) 660-005 for specifics and a quote.

Develop custom portfolios

Unitized Managed Accounts for RIA-Managed Pooled Investments-Now the RIA Can Offer Custom Portfolios to a 401k Plan.

Today many Registered Investment Advisors (RIA) want to use their investing knowledge and expertise to offer custom portfolios to their clients' 401k plans. A Unitized Managed Account (UMA) is the way this gets accomplished efficiently and affordably. Essentially the RIA used a UMA to create a private 'mutual fund' for the client's plan; shares of this private 'mutual fund' trade like any other mutual fund shares within the 401k plan.

Unitized Managed Accounts give Registered Investment Advisors a wider range of options for their 401k plan sponsor- clients, at a very competitive price, and with full fee disclosure. The UMA, managed online by the RIA, is a pooled account that may include publicly traded stocks, bonds and exchange traded funds, as well as mutual funds. The typical UMA portfolio accounting system calculates the account's precise unit price each night based on the total market value of the underlying securities held in the pool. UMAs are then "unitized" on a daily basis, and settled in a T + O environment. This creates a true daily environment, so that 401k participants can self-direct their personal 401k investments. Historically this type of offering was only available to the mid-to-large 401k plan market. Now small plans can afford to take advantage of this service, at competitive prices. There at two basic UMA configurations available to 401k plans:

Configuration I: RIA Actively Managed Portfolio

A Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) works with the Employer-Plan Sponsor to determine the investment objective for each UMA portfolio. The RIA designs the UMA portfolios, which can range from asset allocations such as conservative to aggressive, or balanced to age-targeted. The RIA actively manages the underlying assets in the UMA, and places the mutual fund trades through a web-based trading platform. In addition to providing the platform for the RIA to manage the portfolio, the UMA provider settles the trades placed by the 401k plan participants to buy, sell or exchange the UMA assets for other investment options in the plan. Specifics:

Accommodates mutual funds only
UMA is actively managed by the RIA
Average $1,000 annual fee paid to UMA provider for each portfolio

Configuration 2: Set Target Asset Allocation Portfolio

An RIA works with the Employer-Plan Sponsor to determine the investment objective for each portfolio, and sets a specific target asset allocation model for each portfolio. The portfolio can be comprised of a variety of assets: mutual funds, publicly-traded stocks and exchange traded funds. This configuration includes portfolios consisting of a cash component for liquidity, and employer stock (including privately held employer stock, under certain conditions) to provide plan participants with T+O trade settlement in an employer stock investment option. The UMA portfolio may be re-balanced back to the targeted asset allocation model each time there is participant activity, or on a schedule as determined by the RIA/Employer. Specifics:

UMA can accommodate a variety of assets and asset types
UMA is managed by an independent investment advisor
UMA-provider executes underlying trades
Average $1,500 annual fee paid to UMA provider for each 'mutual fund only' portfolio
Average $2,500 annual fee paid to UMA provider for each 'multiple asset type' portfolio