The new tools are designed to help plan sponsors alleviate participant confusion in regards to upcoming fee disclosure, as well as to help minimize potential call center traffic when the rules take effect.

The participant communication, Understanding Plan Fees and Expenses, is a question-and-answer one-page flyer. Plan providers and/or sponsors can customize the communication with their logo and distribute via mail or as paycheck inserts. The sponsor booklet, Retirement Plan Fee Disclosure: Preparing for Participant Questions, is an eight-page booklet with questions and answers about fee disclosure and suggestions on how to prepare employees for it.

“We’ve heard from advisers and industry experts that the receipt of new fee disclosure information, without laying some preliminary groundwork, may result in a flood of participant inquiries concerning the communications’ purpose and how they should be used,” noted Pete Newkirk, Newkirk’s president. “So we’ve developed these new communication tools to educate and help alleviate concern among participants — and arm plan sponsors.”