401(k) Plans have surpassed Defined Benefit pension plans as America’s primary retirement vehicle. Companies understand their 401(k) plans are not only a recruiting tool but a critical component to their employees’ overall compensation and benefit packages. While setting up a plan can be fairly straightforward, maintaining best practices is not.

Serving as either a 3(21) and 3(38) fiduciary partner to the plan, Newport Capital Group will help ensure plan fees are reasonable, align the plan and company’s goals through plan design optimization, establish and maintain a formal review process, and vet and monitor plan investments according to an investment policy statement.

When it comes to the employee experience, only a well-planned, targeted and comprehensive education program will ensure plan participants have enough information to make informed investment decisions as they save. Newport Capital Group collaborates directly with many of the industry’s most recognized record-keeping service providers to maximize performance of their tools, platforms and trained educators.

We have experience working with veteran committees, trustees and boards and we are also capable of helping to formalize a company’s first committee. Decision makers turn to us when they lack the internal personnel, do not have the necessary expertise, or are interested in sharing the heavy load of 401(k) fiduciary liability with a committed partner. Newport Capital Group works with 401(k) clients of all sizes with the goal of ensuring their plans are running compliantly and cost-effectively.

We believe Newport Capital Group’s experience with mid to large-sized market, nonprofit organizations has proven valuable to both plan sponsors and participants alike. This is largely due to the combination of our highly customizable service model and our overall experience in the defined contribution retirement plan space.

First and foremost, our initial consultation is focused on identifying the needs of each of our clients and creating a service deliverable blueprint that is unique to each organization. Within the nonprofit market, we have found it especially true that two institutions with similar demographics and the same record-keeper can be vastly different in terms of overall plan fees, investment offerings, and participant education.

Modern 403(b) platforms afford cutting-edge participant tools and wide-ranging investment choices for plan sponsors. Many plans have yet to be updated, and, as a result, a large number of legacy plans still exist. Rather than being record kept by one company, it is common for older plans to have arrangements with multiple service providers. Moreover, the aforementioned service providers may have sold individual annuity contracts directly to plan participants. These contracts are often restrictive and make it difficult for plan sponsors to fulfill their fiduciary obligation to prudently monitor and select investment options. Newport Capital Group has the experience necessary to upgrade clients’ plans, expand the availability of quality investment options, streamline a plan’s administration, and help untangle the complexities of provider annuities.

Flexibility has been critical in creating a retirement program that maximizes participant outcomes while minimizing liability to plan sponsors. When tailoring these programs, our experience with the defined contribution retirement plan space has allowed us to develop solutions based not only on current industry best practices, but also on ever changing legislation and regulation surrounding the management of retirement plans.

Our practice has always been to treat 403(b) plans with the same high standard of scrutiny applied to 401(k) and defined benefit plans. This approach has been successful, especially given the litigation issues faced by many large name 403(b) plan sponsors. Our firm has helped educational institutions and other not-for-profits become more hands-on and understand the implications that are associated with their fiduciary responsibility under ERISA. Through analysis of our clients’ plans, we have successfully consolidated multiple plans to reduce overall fees to plan sponsors and participants.

Newport Capital Group has extensive experience working with both Investment Committees and Boards of Trustees alike. Although many of the day to day decisions related to retirement plans are delegated to committees, it is often the case that the Board of Trustees serves as the final arbiter on matters of pay or broader corporate strategy. For these situations, Newport Capital Group is often asked to present analysis or offer additional due diligence in order to substantiate change. We invite the opportunity to work with Boards of Trustees and offer our experience and expertise in matters requiring the approval of a higher authority.

Newport Capital Group serves as a 3(21) and 3(38) fiduciary advisor to pension plan clients across the United States. In the 3(21) relationship, Newport Capital Group makes investment recommendations to your Investment Committee. As a 3(38) Investment Advisor, Newport Capital Group is given discretion to manage and implement pension investment changes for clients’ plans.

We currently serve a wide array of pension types and plan sizes and we are equipped to handle management plans and union plans. At the onset of each defined benefit plan relationship we begin to gain a complete understanding of the plan’s future benefit obligation and the organization’s goals for the plan. Most plan sponsors have a termination goal; however, other clients have a goal to reach fully-funded status for plans that will be kept open. We believe that a clear picture of plan health and open communication with the plan’s actuary are paramount in order to build a customized investment strategy and to reach a desired outcome.

Newport Capital Group helps clients manage their foundation and endowment assets utilizing an institutional investment approach. The investment strategy is driven around a balancing act between two competing investment goals: the spending policy for the account, and the growth or preservation of account assets to support future spending. A written spending policy should be crafted that balances the needs for current spending, while also taking into consideration future outflows. The spending policy should incorporate the effects of inflation that can reduce the purchasing power of the account’s spending. Therefore, the spending policy’s focus should be on “real” inflation-adjusted spending over time, to maintain intergenerational consistency with regard to spending.

Newport Capital Group’s recommendation in developing a prudent spending rule is customized to each client’s unique goals and objectives. Our approach and investment recommendations to clients is to illustrate how “extra” returns above spending levels should normally be re-invested rather than immediately spent, so as to protect against the inevitable “low” or negative return years. The spending rule and asset allocation policy will then be well-suited to maintain required spending levels over the long-term.