PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 68

PS COACH
Easy Access
Plan documents are a sponsor's No. 1 resource
A
nyone new to administering a
retirement plan or to serving on
a plan committee-as well as any
plan fiduciary who wants to review his
role-has access to the perfect collection
of learning tools: the various documents,
notices and disclosures that comprise the
written plan. More than information, each
policy and rule, when formally recorded,
must be followed, or methodically revised,
says the Employee Retirement Income
Security Act (ERISA).
Required for All
For a qualified defined contribution (DC)
plan, just a few documents are required by
law-one to establish the plan's terms and
conditions, and the rest to provide crucial
information about the plan to participants
and the government. Plan sponsors, therefore,
should be familiar with the following:
* Plan document. The simply titled
" plan document " is the bible for the
plan, noting everything important for
its design, operation and administration.
The working plan should mirror the
description in its pages.
For 401(k) plans, there are two types
of models, each with a different plan
document. The more popular by far, says
S. Derrin Watson, an ERISA attorney of
counsel to Ferenczy Benefits Law Center,
in Atlanta, is the preapproved, or prototype,
plan-preapproved meaning the IRS
has signed off on the design and all sponsors
that adopt it will be IRS-compliant.
To customize this plan for its company
and workers, the sponsor completes a
68 PLANSPONSOR.com October-November 2018
Art by Lars Leetaru
supporting document, the adoption agreement.
Sometimes, the two documents
will be merged together or restated as one,
Watson notes.
The other type of plan is individually
designed-custom drawn for each
client. A declining number of employers
have been adopting this model, Watson
says, which he attributes to recent policy
changes by the IRS.
* Summary plan description (SPD).
Per ERISA, plan sponsors must supply
participants and their beneficiaries with
what the Employee Benefits Security
Association (EBSA) calls " a plain language
explanation of the plan ... comprehensive
enough to apprise participants of their
benefits, rights and obligations under [it].
It also informs participants about the plan

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PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018

Looking Closer
2018 DC Survey: Plan Benchmarking
Operational Loan Failures
Looking Beyond Performance
Staying Ahead of Inflation
Private Market Investing
Income Disruptions
Easy Access
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - Easy Access
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - FC1
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - FC2
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - C2
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 1
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 2
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 3
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 4
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 5
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 6
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 7
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 8
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 9
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 10
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 11
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 12
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 13
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 14
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 15
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 16
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 17
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 18
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 19
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 20
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 21
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 22
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 23
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 24
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 25
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 26
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 27
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 28
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 29
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 30
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 31
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 32
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 33
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - Looking Closer
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 35
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 36
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 37
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 38
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 39
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 2018 DC Survey: Plan Benchmarking
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 41
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 42
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 43
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 44
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 45
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 46
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 47
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 48
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 49
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 50
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 51
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 52
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 53
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - Operational Loan Failures
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 55
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 56
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 57
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - Looking Beyond Performance
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 59
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 60
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 61
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - Staying Ahead of Inflation
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 63
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - Private Market Investing
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 65
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - Income Disruptions
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 67
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 68
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 69
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 70
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 71
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - 72
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - C3
PLANSPONSOR - October/November 2018 - C4
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