Getting Started: Employers and Organizations
We work with for-profit businesses and non-profit organizations. Clearly disclosing all fees is our business practice. This level of transparency helps you to make sound investment decisions and avoid fiduciary risk.
Now is Socially Responsible Investing’s (SRI) time to shine. Socially and environmentally responsible entities will be the driving force in creating a more just and sustainable economy. We support mission-driven organizations by providing options for your employees to invest in companies with a high degree of corporate integrity. Two in three investors who do not have a socially responsible option would like to see their company add one. (Source: Attitudes Toward Socially Responsible Investing. Survey conducted by Yankelovich in 12/2005)
Aquarius Financial provides independent consulting services in the following areas:
For foundations and non-profit organizations
• Investment due diligence
•Mission-Related Investment Advisory Services
For entrepreneurs, firms, and non-profit organizations.
• Employer-Sponsored Retirement Plans
• Employer-Sponsored Group Health Plans
The Value of Working with an Accredited Investment Fiduciary®
Employers can legally transfer significant ERISA risk.
If an investment advisor agrees to acknowledge in writing its status as an independent fiduciary under ERISA section 405(d)(1), a plan sponsor gets two immediate benefits. First, the sponsor can transfer to the investment advisor the responsibility (and therefore the risk of legal liability) for selecting, monitoring and replacing (if necessary) the plan’s investment options. Second, the sponsor ensures that the plan (and therefore the plan’s participants and beneficiaries) receives investment advice with legally meaningful accountability (the fiduciary standard) instead of investment recommendations with legally meaningless accountability (the salesperson standard).
Retaining an investment advisor that is an ERISA section 3(38) investment manager, operating as a section 405(d)(1) independent fiduciary, creates a positive relationship with a plan sponsor that has hired the advisor to provide unbiased investment advice. Such an advisor and the sponsor have the same interest in legally and morally doing the right thing for the participants (and their beneficiaries) in the 401(k) plan. That is the significance of providing legally meaningful investment advice to plan sponsors instead of legally meaningless investment recommendations made by sales-oriented advisors.
About 403(b) plans
403(b) plans are not required to use expensive annuities for investments! Read “Fiduciary Focus: Fleecing 403(b) Plan Participants” by W. Scott Simon for more information.
Since 1974, direct investment in no-load mutual funds has been available. This greatly expands the choices available to the plan participants, and allows a plan sponsor to We can provide a retirement plan that enables your employees to invest in companies that reflect your organization’s mission.
Fiduciary Responsibility Regarding Offering Investment Options
A 457 and 403(b) plan sponsor, as does a 401(k) plan sponsor, has fiduciary responsibility related to offering any investment option for plan participants. This responsibility and the associated risk is heightened if the 403(b) plan is subject to ERISA. To reduce fiduciary liability risk, the plan sponsor should make documented efforts to:
- Offer a reasonable choice and range of investment options for employees; and
- Offer suitable investment options for the employees’ needs
- Monitor these investment options for the continued viability and integrity of these options (i.e. the recent mutual fund scandal)
(The above material about the benefits of working with a fiduciary advisor is adapted from an article written by W. Scott Simon, “Fiduciary Focus: Managing Accountability,” http://www.prudentllc.com/download/Scott12-04-08.pdf)
Download “Resource Guide for Plan Sponsors: Adding an SRI option to your DC plan” from Mercer Investment Consulting and Social Investment Forum, June 2007.
