Retirement Planning

Counsel Trust's retirement services are structured very differently from those provided by most other financial institutions, such as insurance companies, banks, and mutual fund companies offering retirement "templates" or standardized model formats with limited fund options and fee-laden layers of service.

Recent regulations set forth by the Department of Labor under ERISA place substantial fiduciary responsibility upon the employer relating to investment due diligence and employee communication/education issues. A comprehensive retirement plan strategy (either for a defined benefit or defined contribution plan) helps the employer meet these fiduciary responsibilities. The Counsel Trust retirement plan consulting program was developed with these issues in mind.

Counsel offers a "turnkey open architecture" approach to Plans that provide unparalleled flexibility to employers and plan participants. This means that although Counsel recommends specific legal, administrative and investment services, the employer can choose one or more of its own providers (such as legal or administrative) and still participate in the Counsel investment program which offers unlimited investment options - separate account management, any no-load mutual fund, private investment pools, exchanged traded funds (ETF's), lifestyle models or any combination.

This approach allows the employer to make one "turnkey" decision
affecting key elements of the plan - legal, administration / record keeping, custody and investments together with the open architecture flexibility that
offers an unlimited variety of investments.

The advantage of a "turnkey open architecture" program is that employers have the simplicity of a turnkey program without the constraints of having to accept the whole package on an "all or none / take it or leave it" basis. In other words, if an employer is satisfied with the record keeping of an insurance company but not their investments, the investments must be retained in order to maintain the record keeping services. These packaged plans simply lack the flexibility to change individual elements that are provided by our service.

Unparalleled flexibility, transparency, internet access, and quarterly performance measurement information are just a few of Counsel Trust’s retirement plan service benefits that our clients depend on.

Some of our plan types include open architecture 401(k) plans, profit sharing, money purchase pension, defined benefit pension, ESOP, IRA’s and IRA rollovers. Each client receives expert, ongoing, comprehensive services with clear purpose and measurable results.

We are confident that our commitment to your best interests is producing significant performance results. Consider us your financial safety rope providing strength and security for your future.

Plan Types