Form 5500 Deep Dives

As a thought leader in the retirement space, it's our goal to provide you with knowledge and information that can help you grow your business. We have many tools available through the Retirement Learning Center (RLC) to do just that! Today, our focus is on Form 5500 Deep Dives.

What is a Form 5500 Deep Dive?

A Form 5500 Deep Dive, conducted by one of the Retirement Learning Center's (RLC's) Senior ERISA Consultants, is an analysis of a plan's Form 5500 (including all schedules and detailed notes prepared by the plan's accountant), designed to provide insight on the plan and help the advisor analyze the filing. This premium service is designed for advisors who are looking to become the advisor of record for the plan; however, it can also be used to help identify areas of improvement for an existing corporate plan client as well.

How do Form 5500 Deep Dives help me grow my business?

Upon completion of the review, a written report is provided to the advisor. The report contains an overview of key areas of the plan, as well as discussion points, to help the advisor address the information during a meeting with the plan sponsor. In addition to the report, a conference call between the advisor and an RLC Senior Consultant takes place to discuss, in detail, the review's findings, plan deficiencies (if any) and suggested corrective action (as needed). the purpose of the review, as well as the follow-up call, is to help arm the advisor with more than talking points on how to improve the fund line-up or ensure fees are reasonable.

Below are some examples of items identified and discussed during the Plan Deep Dive process.

• Gaps between active participants and terminated participants with balances, which can lead to increased administrative costs to obtain and maintain contact records for terminated employees;
• Significant and/or consistent corrective distributions, which can imply problems with the plan's nondiscrimination testing and opens up discussion for enhanced plan design considerations;
• Fiduciary corrections such as lae participant deferrals and/or loan repayments;
• recent corporate merger/acquisition activity that may lead to the merger of two or more retirement plans, and a discussion around protected benefits and/or potential increased plan administration (could also lead to a plan comparison or the affected plans).

Form 5500 Deep Dives: Tools that work!

Of course, we think our Form 5500 Deep Dives are great, but so do our clients! Advisors are eager to share their success stories with us and offer testimonials on how RLC's Form 5500 Deep Dives can be leveraged to help increase business.