The Ameritas Retirement Collective
The Ameritas Retirement Collective is an innovative 401(k) strategy in a multiple employer plan. This program allows multiple business owners to offer a retirement plan to employees while reducing the administrative burden, mitigating and transferring fiduciary risks, and managing costs. The Retirement Collective is personalized for employer organizations, affiliated employer groups and sole proprietors.
Ameritas invests in the technology to smoothly handle multiple employer plans. The backbone of this technology was designed for our largest state and municipalities clients. These client relationships alone consist of 216+ plans and separate payrolls with $3.3B in growing assets and over 44,000+ participants as of December 31, 2021. We built the systems and infrastructure necessary to competently administer plans in multiple employer arrangements.
Key Benefits
Why join a pooled plan?
Easy, compliant and cost effective
As a Raymond James representative, you have full access to offer the Retirement Collective to multiple employer organizations, affiliated employer groups and sole proprietors. It’s an easy, compliant and cost-competitive strategy that reduces administrative burdens, fiduciary responsibilities and liabilities for plan sponsors. This custom, pre-packaged retirement plan strategy provides each of your plan sponsors with their own separate plan.
Benefits to employers/sponsors
Here are the top five benefits for the employer/sponsor
It’s easy to administer: The Retirement Collective performs 95% of the administrative tasks by becoming the retirement department support team. Your plan sponsors don’t have to be 401(k) experts.
It’s compliant: The Retirement Collective is the 401(k) support staff, so it stays in compliance and your plan sponsors don’t get fined or penalized.
It minimizes fiduciary liability: The Retirement Collective allows plan sponsors to shift certain fiduciary duties by providing fiduciary support to mitigate defined legal obligations and responsibilities.
It’s cost competitive: Because the Retirement Collective is built on an aggregated model, your plan sponsors gain the advantages of economies of scale in pricing. They don’t overpay.
We teamed with well-known providers: Ameritas teamed with Raymond James for 3(38) and advisory services and The Retirement Advantage (TRA) for 3(16) plan administration. We also offer optional audit services with Templeton & Company. Together, we have a team that provides end-to-end retirement plan oversight.
Among companies that do not offer a 401(k) or similar plan, 42% say they are likely to begin sponsoring a plan in the next two years.
The most frequently cited reasons companies aren’t planning to offer a plan:
60%
Company is not big enough
37%
Concerns about cost
20%
Employees are not interested
There may be cause for optimism, as 29% of those not likely to offer a plan say that they would consider joining a multiple employer plan offered by a reputable vendor who handles many of the fiduciary and administrative duties at a reasonable cost.**
** Pre-Pandemic: U.S. Employer Benefits and Business Practices. 20th Annual Transamerica Retirement Survey. December 2020.
Benefits to employees/participants
Top four benefits for the employee/participant
Participant website: Our secure online portal gives plan participants the ability to see their retirement path. Capabilities range from checking their investment performance to estimating how much they will have at retirement.
Easy enrollment: We offer interactive, online enrollment with relevant, bite-sized modules of information employees can access when and where it works best for them.
Participant resources: Participants have access to benefit statements, fee disclosure documents, quarterly newsletters and more.
Employee education: Employees can learn more with engaging videos that address timely topics such as plan specific provisions, how much to save and asset allocation.
Investments
With the Retirement Collective, you have a full range of investments available in the Raymond James fund lineup, including MyWayRetirement and BlackRock funds. You’ll also have access to target date funds and the Ameritas Stable Value Fixed Investment Account.
Fiduciary services
Raymond James is the 3(38) investment fiduciary. They handle the investment selection and monitoring, which significantly eases the burden and may also help protect your plan sponsors from certain legal claims. While your plan sponsors cannot entirely delegate investment fiduciary responsibility, Raymond James offers a significant layer of ERISA liability protection to the plan sponsor.
Plan services
Every plan comes with a core team of experienced, dedicated professionals who provide guidance and support. They assist with compliance as well as calculating and allocating contributions and transfers. They also provide all the necessary documentation to help our clients with the administration of loans and distributions for the plan’s participants. This relationship-based service model gives you and your plan sponsors more time to focus on what’s important.
Proposal
Are you ready to get serious about the Ameritas Retirement Collective? Click to see more information about the program. Submit the intake form in the brochure and we’ll create a custom proposal for you.
Access the intake brochure here
About Ameritas
We deliver on our promises
Ameritas offers insurance, financial services and employee benefits, but we deliver so much more. It’s our mission to help individuals, families and businesses plan for whatever life brings.
You get our promise to be there when you need us. We’ve been keeping that promise for over 130 years, and it’s backed by our financial strength and structure as a mutual-based organization. Our commitment to long-term sustainable growth and protecting the resources in our care is reflected in our consistently strong financial ratings from Standard & Poor’s and AM Best.*
*Standard & Poor’s: A+ (Strong) for insurer financial strength. This is the fifth highest of Standard & Poor’s 21 ratings assigned. AM Best: A (Excellent) for insurer financial strength. This is the third highest of AM Best’s 13 ratings assigned.
Retirement plans
The Ameritas retirement plans division delivers full-service recordkeeping, administration and investment strategy programs. We focus on creating a flexible plan design model that fits all industry segments, business sizes and plan types. We’re here to help sponsoring employers create a retirement plan program that works for all employees’ across the life stages of saving. Ameritas is proud to form a custom collective with Raymond James that extends another choice in multiple employer plans. Our fast growth in the pooled plan industry is fueled by four key advantages: expertise, flexibility, specific knowledge and technology. Jim Kais, senior vice president of Ameritas retirement plans, is an expert on multiple employer plans. Jim is a national speaker on the topic and has testified in front of Congress twice.
As a specialized provider in the employer retirement plan marketplace, we’re large enough to provide the stability, technology and resources required to serve multiple employer plans of all sizes. We’re also small enough to be nimble, responsive and provide services tailored to specific plan requirements.
Ameritas can provide the customized strategies that will help benefit all stakeholders for years to come.
About the Program
A full team of support
Ameritas joined forces with Raymond James to offer the Ameritas Retirement Collective. It’s an easy, compliant and cost-competitive strategy that reduces administrative burdens, fiduciary responsibilities and liabilities for plan sponsors.
3(38) investment fiduciary
Raymond James is the 3(38) named investment fiduciary, responsible for the investment selection, monitoring and ongoing due diligence of the funds in the plan. Raymond James Financial (NYSE-RJF) is a Florida-based diversified holding company providing financial services to individuals, corporations and municipalities through its subsidiary companies. Its four principal wholly owned broker/dealers have approximately 8,200 financial professionals serving accounts throughout the United States, Canada, and overseas.
Advisory services
Raymond James offers financial advisory services, playing a key role in helping plan sponsors with due diligence and documentation of that process. With the complexity and liability of running a retirement plan, sponsors can reduce the administrative duties and risk at a cost that is competitive. Raymond James also offers strategies to help increase participation, help with enrollment meetings, provide investment guidance and education, provide regular plan reviews, and suggest potential plan enhancements.
Recordkeeping services
Ameritas is in the business of fulfilling life. We offer competitive insurance, employee benefits and financial products and services to customers nationwide. Founded in 1887 with over 60 years in the retirement plans marketplace, Ameritas remains committed to building enduring relationships. Our heritage as a mutual-based organization means we always put customers first. The way we do business ensures we’ll be here when you need us. You can count on us to keep our promises.
3(16) fiduciary services and plan administrator
TRA serves as a delegated 3(16) plan administrator, providing 3(16) fiduciary services — known as Plan Administration Relief Services (PARS) — and relieving the business owner or sponsor of many of the day-to-day administrative burdens associated with sponsoring a plan. TRA is a national third-party administrator (TPA) that specializes in administration, consultation, and compliance of retirement plans for businesses nationwide. TRA is a trusted retirement plan administrator that you can count on.
Audit Services
Templeton & Company offers optional audit services that may potentially reduce the cost of the annual audit for plans requiring an audit.
Getting Started
Ameritas prides itself on a timely and smooth on-boarding experience for your retirement plan. A designated implementation consultant will guide and help you and your plan sponsors through the steps to get started.
To hear more about the program or for answers to your questions, contact Ameritas retirement plans at 800-923-2732 or RaymondJamesProposal@Ameritas.com.
For 3(38) related questions only, contact Raymond James at 727-567-2375 or IFSInstitutionalFiduciarySolutions@RaymondJames.com.