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Products December 17, 2020
OneAmerica Launches Simplified Multi-Plan Tool
The feature comes at a time when administering multiple plans at once can be a confusing process for employers with little knowledge of the retirement industry.
Reported by Amanda Umpierrez
OneAmerica has released a tool to combat the complexity of administering multiple retirement plans.
Called the ComboPlan solution, the feature allows defined contribution (DC) plan sponsors of tax-exempt organizations to administer several plans at once, including 401(k), 401(a), 403(b) and 457 plans. The solution provides one point of contact and a single website experience for the participant, thereby reducing multiple point of references and account logins.
According to the Plan Sponsor Council of America, four in 10 employers in the nonprofit and governmental space offer more than one type of retirement plan, and administering multiple plans simultaneously can be a confusing process for employers with little knowledge of the retirement industry.
Kevin Kidwell, vice president of national tax-exempt sales at OneAmerica, explains to PLANSPONSOR that managing several plans at once can increase regulatory concerns if the plans are not administered correctly. “We want to keep the plans similar in terms of their definition of compensation, eligibility and contribution remittances, so that plan sponsors aren’t involved in a compliance failure,” he says.
Because the retirement industry increasingly focuses on 401(k)s, the largest DC plan type, other retirement plans such as 403(b)s, 401(a)s and 457(a)s are typically left out. With OneAmerica’s ComboPlan solution, administrators can properly manage different types of plans simultaneously, Kidman says. “[The industry] doesn’t train administrators on 403(b), they train them on 401(k) plans,” he continues. “We built our system so that it’s for all 401(k), 403(b) and 457(a) plans.”
Jennifer Jenkins, regional vice president of tax-exempt markets at OneAmerica, says the ComboPlan solution provides an effective way to streamline plans, especially for employers challenged by COVID-19. Duplicating tasks, such as payroll contributions and census retrievals, increases costs, she tells PLANSPONSOR. “If they’re working with tighter margins and fewer employees, this efficiency is now more important than ever,” Jenkins says.
“At some recordkeepers, the more complex the multiple plans, the more costs the employer faces,” Kidwell adds. For OneAmerica clients using the ComboPlan solution, it’s simply a few additional signatures, he notes.