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If you run a startup, offering a retirement plan as part of your employee benefits package is a good way to attract and retain top talent, especially in today's increasingly challenging job market.
While the benefits of offering 401(k) plans to employees are many, administering those plans is fairly complex. Companies can easily set themselves up for penalties and audits if they don’t follow all the rules and requirements set in place by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Department of Labor (DOL).
To reduce your liability and streamline the administration of your retirement benefits, you may want to consider adding a 401k solution to your HR Tech stack. This guide is meant to help your team pick the right 401(k) solution for your business while avoiding the relevant pitfalls.
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We track thousands of HR Tech solutions. Here are the best 401k Providers as of January 2021
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We love Human Interest because it is a scalable platform that works for both small businesses and large operations. It’s also quick to set up and offers transparent pricing.
Human Interest is a comprehensive, affordable, and scalable 401(k) provider made for growing businesses. It offers Traditional and Roth 401(k)s, 403(b)s, Safe Harbor plans, and profit-sharing plans. As for investments, Human Interest offers a good selection of mutual funds and target-date funds. You can integrate Human Interest with most payroll systems to process contributions. It can also handle all of your compliance testing and IRS paperwork.
Human Interest
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Human Interest
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What sets Betterment apart is that it isn't just a 401(k) platform, it offers holistic advice across all saving and investing goals.
Betterment is a cloud-based financial and investment advisory platform with 3(16) and 3(38) support. It gives personalized, fiduciary advice for retirement planning, wealth building, and other financial goals so participants can invest wisely and make the most returns. Employers can use Betterment for Business to offer Traditional 401(k), Roth 401(k), Safe Harbor plans, and profit-sharing plans. Betterment is integrated with some of the most commonly used payroll providers to help you streamline your administrative processes.
Betterment
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Betterment
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Betterment
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Ubiquity is quick to set up; you can be ready to go in as little as 15 minutes.
Ubiquity is a scalable platform for 401(k) administration. It facilitates contributions, profit-sharing, and allows for loans to be borrowed by employees against their retirement accounts. For an additional fee, Ubiquity also takes care of submitting your annual tax forms and providing tax compliance support. Do note though that it doesn’t select the investment funds for your portfolios. You will need to either choose a self-directed brokerage account or select a third-party broker/custodian.
Ubiquity
Customers:
Razor Rank, Pink Point Media, Geyser Equipment.
Ubiquity
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Ubiquity
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Ubiquity has 4 plans starting at $75 per month:
The exact pricing of the above plans isn’t disclosed on Ubiquity’s website. However, you may reach out to their sales team for an estimate according to the size of your team and scope of your needs.
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Guideline is one of the biggest vendors in this space. It is robust, comprehensive and easy to use. Its low fees are also a bonus.
Guideline is a full-service, user-friendly and affordable 401(k) platform. Offering both traditional and Roth 401(k) and acting as your 3(16) and 3(38) fiduciary, Guideline takes care of all your retirement plan needs from administration, investment management, compliance testing, and recordkeeping. It also integrates with most payroll solutions for an effortless synchronization of your data.
When it comes to investments, Guideline offers 40+ index funds including Vanguard funds and ones from other low-cost providers. Alternatively, participants can choose a managed portfolio with blended average fund fees under 0.07%.
Guideline
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Guideline
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Guideline
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We love Paychex because it is an integrated platform that covers a great deal of HR needs. Having payroll and retirement benefits be managed on a single platform makes things a whole lot easier for businesses, especially small ones.
Paychex is a robust all-in-one payroll and benefits system. It offers several retirement plan options including 401(k), 403(b), SOLO 401(k) for sole proprietors, and SIMPLE IRA. From plan enrollment to maintenance, Paychex takes care of the details for any size business.
PayChex
Customers:
ESET, Funnelbox Inc., Smile Cafe, H.Y.P.E. Counseling Services, ASG, Pet Partners
PayChex
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PayChex
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Paychex’s pricing isn’t listed on their website. However, you may reach out to their sales team for an estimate according to the size of your team and scope of your needs.
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We love 401GO because it is comprehensive but also extremely affordable; it charges up $9 per participate per month without any base fee, administration fees, filing fee or compliance fee.
401GO makes 401k administration easy and efficient with its automated and comprehensive platform for businesses of all sizes. Acting as your 3(16) and 3(38) fiduciary, 401GO handles everything from record-keeping, notifications, compliance testing, and day to day administration. It can also integrate with most payroll providers; this can either be a full integration (360), partial (180), or a file integration.
401GO
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401GO
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401GO
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401GO has two pricing plans:
PLUS: costs $5-9 per month per participating employee. This is designed for larger businesses (50+ employees), existing 401k plans, or those with more complex needs.
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We love ForUsAll because it is comprehensive, quick to set up, and affordable.
ForUsAll is a cloud-based 401(k) administration platform for small and medium-sized businesses. Acting as both your 3(38) and 3(16) fiduciary, ForUsAll ensures you stay compliant while automating manual tasks such as contributions, 401(k) loans, eligibility tracking, hardships, and notifications. You can integrate ForUsAll with most cloud-based payroll systems for an automatic synchronization of your data. Payroll integration also allows it to automatically update deferrals, notify new participants when they become eligible, and more.
ForUsAll
Customers:
CMC Properties, Lever, Arbor Lodging, Smart Biz, Bolt Threads
ForUsAll
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ForUsAll
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ForUsAll’s pricing is not disclosed on their website. However, you may use their price calculator to get an estimate according to the size of your team and scope of your needs.
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401(k) software solutions are an affordable and easy way for small businesses to offer retirement benefits to their employees. Before choosing a vendor, we always advice that you:
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