Investments



Investment Flexibility


Recognizing that no one fund family can offer historically high performing mutual funds in every category, we offer access to all funds available through trading partners. They provide us with the choice of thousands of no-load, no-transaction fee, same-day settlement mutual funds from which we develop a plan’s investment options. This type of platform is commonly referred to as an “Open Architecture” platform because there are no pre-determined lists of available funds. We are free to objectively provide investment alternatives that are best-in-class.

Investment Selection


The goal of developing a select investment list is to maintain a high quality array of fund options which adhere to established benchmarks while avoiding an environment of excessive addition or deletion of funds based on prudent criteria. These standards guide the selection and retention of the investment alternatives, but are not the only factors considered. Accordingly, the general investment philosophy is to provide participants with a broad range of investment alternatives that have different risk and return characteristics in a manner that is sufficient for participants to construct and maintain a diverse investment portfolio which matches their individual investment time horizon and risk profile, and provides them with a reasonable investment return.

Investments

Investment Policy Statement


We work with the Plan Trustees and investment committee to review or develop a comprehensive Investment Policy Statement (IPS). The purpose of the IPS is to create a written document of the guidelines and standards utilized in the selection of the plan’s investment alternatives/asset classes and to provide a basis for the periodic evaluation of the performance of these investment alternatives. We don’t abandon our clients there. We aid the client in selecting the actual funds that will be offered within each asset class. As a part of our investment services offering, our firm screens and develops a diversified range of investment alternatives to meet your participants’ needs (with model portfolio allocation if applicable).

Investment Monitoring


Working with your plan’s financial advisor, we provide our clients ongoing support with an Investment Policy Monitoring report (IPM) comparing the plan’s investment alternatives offered to the standards outlined in the IPS and measured against their corresponding asset class peer groups. As needed, we guide the client through the process of replacing funds and communicating these changes to plan participants. Additionally, we save all plan and investment reviews, investment committee meetings minutes, investment monitor reports and communications provided to employees in our electronic document vault system. Storing this information electronically allows us to provide this information to our clients, the Department of Labor, the Internal Revenue Service or any other entity requesting the information as proof of satisfaction of ERISA’s fiduciary standards. ERISA requires that Plan Fiduciaries follow a prudent process for managing their plan investments. Our goal is to help our clients fulfill their fiduciary responsibilities.

Platform of Flexibility

Plan Guardian investments are constructed from a total of 40 investment options segmented into two sets.

CORE 20 PLUS 5
The CORE 20 list of 20 investments is a set list applied to all plans.

The asset categories selected are such that, taken together, participants have a reasonable opportunity to potentially realize investment returns in their accounts while at the same time controlling risk or volatility.		 The PLUS 5 list of 20 investments allows an additional 5 investments to be added to the investment options.

The PLUS 5 list provides advisors and Plan Sponsors with added flexibility, while maintaining a standard that is conducive to the Investment Review Committees selection criteria.

We recognize that fund selection and monitoring is an important part of the due diligence process for plan fiduciaries, and we are confident that our investment selection and monitoring process meets the highest standards.

Investment Review Committee has selected a broad range of different asset categories across multiple fund families, including:
  • Alliance Bernstein
  • Franklin Templeton
  • Janus
  • INVESCO/AIM
  • BlackRock
  • Columbia
  • MetLife
  • Ridgeworth

For a complete list of the CORE 20 and PLUS 5 investments please visit the Investments page by clicking on 'Investments' menu item at the top.