401k Plan Design to Improve Efficiency
401k plan design will soon be able to contribute time-savings to plan retirement plan sponsors and fiduciaries. The Plan Design Panel was filled with great ideas during the 401kTV GENIE Awards held at the Park Lane Hotel in New York City. Immediately following the 401k Plan Design Panel, Category Finalist, Ms. Michelle Connor – Retirement Plan Advisor with Cafaro Greenleaf – discussed 401k plan design strategies with 401kTV Correspondent, Frank Licari. Ms. Connor is currently pioneering a new plan design with a client. In an effort to reduce the amount of time a specific client may need to spend overseeing their retirement plan, the advisor’s firm is looking to implement an innovative 401k plan design.
During the 401kTV interview, Ms. Connor discusses how her firm anticipates helping plan sponsors in the future. Although the amount of money a plan sponsor may contribute to a qualified retirement plan is limited by the U.S. Department of Treasury, the amount of time that can be saved via strategic 401k plan design is unlimited!
Frank Licari:
Frank Licari here with the 401K TV Genie Awards. First of all, congratulations, [crosstalk 00:00:10]-
Michelle Connor:
Thank you.
Frank Licari:
… for being here today. Give us-
Michelle Connor:
Thank you.
Frank Licari:
… your name and the role at the company.
Michelle Connor:
I’m Michelle Connor. I’m with Cafaro Greenleaf, and I’m one of the retirement plan advisors of the group.
Frank Licari:
Plan advisor. Okay.
Michelle Connor:
Yes.
Frank Licari:
So what did you do to get this great honor that we have here for you today?
Michelle Connor:
We’re here as a finalist for plan design. One of our, my clients is here with me, and we are pioneering an outsourcing project with this client in, to reduce the administrative burden on the HR department to take, alleviate some of the work that they have to do on the retirement plan that they will take away from them. They’ll have more time for others-
Frank Licari:
Got you.
Michelle Connor:
… HR.
Frank Licari:
And how do you do that? What did you implement to help that out?
Michelle Connor:
We are working with our record keeper and they have, are able to track the auto-enrollment. They’re able to track the participants who are excluded from the plan and different plan design features that allow the HR department not to have to do that. They can go online and elect their salary deferrals and different things like that, so that way they, it’s more automated for the-
Frank Licari:
Great.
Michelle Connor:
… administrator and less paperwork-
Frank Licari:
And the results have been?
Michelle Connor:
We’re pioneering it, so we don’t know, but so far, so good-
Frank Licari:
Wow.
Michelle Connor:
We’re in the final stages of setting it all up.
Frank Licari:
So it’s like a test, test program?
Michelle Connor:
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Frank Licari:
Okay.
Michelle Connor:
So we’re in the final stages of setting everything up and should have it completed probably within the next month or so. But so far it seems like it’s going to be really a lot of less administrative work for the client.
Frank Licari:
Great.
Michelle Connor:
Yeah.
Frank Licari:
Congratulations. That’s awesome.
Michelle Connor:
Thank you.
Frank Licari:
What do you think of the Genie Awards so far?
Michelle Connor:
Very good.
Frank Licari:
Yeah?
Michelle Connor:
Yeah. Yeah, it’s good networking. I like that where you can hear everybody’s different ideas-
Frank Licari:
Sure.
Michelle Connor:
And get different thoughts on different things-
Frank Licari:
Like-minded, yeah?
Michelle Connor:
Yes, exactly.
Frank Licari:
Very cool.
Michelle Connor:
Yeah.
Frank Licari:
Pleasure.
Michelle Connor:
Thank you.
Frank Licari:
You bet. Thank you.
Michelle Connor:
Nice to meet you.
