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Want to learn more? We've put together some great resources just for you, including links to plan materials and our top FAQs.
We've compiled a ton of great materials that explain our plan and your options in more detail. Click on each topic to download flyers on a variety of important 401(k) topics.
Whether you have an existing 401(k) plan or are considering starting one for your company, joining our plan is a smart business move. We’ve compiled the most common questions below to help you learn more about our plan and the transition process.
A multiple employer plan (MEP) is a qualified retirement savings plan that is sponsored by one lead company. Other companies join the plan as adopting employers. The MEP is considered a single plan from the perspective of the IRS and Department of Labor so only one Form 5500 is needed for the whole plan. Each adopting employer, however, is able to customize their plan adoption for their own employees, selecting eligibility standards, matching rates, or profit sharing allocations.
MEP Adopters find many benefits of joining a Multiple Employer Plan. Generally, adopting a MEP is less expensive and a lot less work than sponsoring your own retirement plan. For audit-sized plans, adopting employers are not responsible for their own audit, so that can save companies a lot of money. Employers also benefit from the economies of scale and purchasing power of the larger Multiple Employer Plan. This also allows adopting employers to access less-expensive share classes of mutual funds as plan investments. Adopting employers are also able to off-load a lot of business risk when they choose to participate in a MEP rather than sponsor their own plan. Adopting employers are not the named Plan Fiduciary so they can offload those associated risks and responsibilities to a professional plan administrator.
The fees within your MEP are fully transparent and are not hidden in fund revenue sharing or wrap fees. Our plan fees are also regularly evaluated to make sure we are providing our adopters the best value possible. And because we pool together the plans of lots of companies, we are able to offer fees that are much lower than industry averages. Please see your Plan Summary for plan pricing and illustrations.
Your MEP allows for billing flexibility. By default, fees are assessed against participant plan balances. Alternatively, adopting employers may elect to pay some, or all, of their share of plan fees. BlueStar allows for a combination billing of assessment and invoice to adopting employers.
Your plan sponsor has selected CAPTRUST Financial Advisors to craft the plan’s investment menu.
Yes! At the direction of your plan sponsor, self-directed brokerage options can be made available.
Yes! Participants can schedule individual meetings with CAPTRUST Financial Advisors.
For prospective adopters, questions should be routed to Timothy Murphy at tmurphy@theMBSA.org.
Should your firm choose to leave your Association, your plan assets will continue to remain invested. However, future contributions will not be permitted. Your plan can be spun out into a Single Employer plan, or transferred into another MEP.
If you are new to a 401(k) plan, BlueStar can have your startup running in ~45 days from the execution of an adoption agreement. For existing plans, mergers can be completed on average in 60-90 days.
Your MEP is structured to allow flexibility in plan design for individual adopters. Our in-house Plan Consultants will perform a due diligence and design comparison analysis to ensure all benefits may carry over. Generally, we are able to accommodate existing plan designs with little to no modifications.
The transfer timeline can be as quick as 60 days from agreement execution, to ~90 days depending on the transfer availability of your existing provider.
This is dependent on your existing provider. Generally, assets are in blackout for 1 to 3 weeks until they transfer to BlueStar. Upon receiving assets, BlueStar has them reinvested within 3 business days.
No! The bond coverage requirement lands with the MEP Sponsor, so adopting employers need not carry their own.
If you sponsored your own plan prior to merging your plan into our MEP, your prior provider is required to file a final 5500 showing a $0 final balance for that plan. Please be sure to speak with your prior provider regarding this important final filing.
Yes - if you sponsored your own plan previously. This is a very important step to closing out your prior plan. Be sure to explain to your prior provider that a final Form 5500 will be required. Your BlueStar contacts can help if you need any assistance working with your prior provider.