In a post last week, we touched on the topic of vendor neutrality and how that can impact a plan when shopping for a TPA. Today we are going to take a further look at the benefits of having a vendor neutral TPA.
While some may think that a TPA only provides the administration or document work for a retirement plan, most third-party administrators will also offer some kind of investment product for the Employer to provide to their employees. This can happen in two ways: some TPA’s will own their own investments directly and others will be a direct affiliation with an outside investment firm.
The difference between a producing TPA and one that is vendor neutral lies in the options that the Plan will have when it comes to investments. Most TPA firms that own or are affiliated with an investment company will limit a Plan to using those specific assets. While it is not an obligation, naturally they push what brings them more business.
It seems like adding a product to our services would bring ADMIN more income so we are often questioned on why we chose to be vendor neutral versus including investments. The answer is simple: Being vendor neutral gives us the ability to focus all our energy on retirement plan administration and allows us to be an expert in our field. It also gives us the ability to work with plans that have multiple vendors without creating any sort of conflict of interest. Our goal is to be able to help plans of all sizes be successful in maintaining the best retirement plan for their organization. Being vendor neutral grants us this opportunity without being in competition with any other investment companies.
ADMIN Partners has an existing relationship with over 60 investment providers in the 403(b) market. Want to know more about how we can use these relationships to help you build a plan that fits your organization’s needs? Feel free to contact our Sales Manager, Greg Verna, at 856-382-3501 or you can reach us via email at [email protected].