TPA Uses Brightscope Data for Plan Benchmarking

PlanPerfect, Inc., a corporate retirement plan consulting firm in New York City that services 401(k), profit sharing, and defined benefit pension plans for small to medium size companies, has aligned with BrightScope, Inc., to independently diagnose retirement plans in its marketplace.

BrightScope is a service that allows anyone to look up 401(k) plan data, which is gleaned from public sources such as Form 5500s, the Department of Labor, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Bureau of Labor Statistic and some directly from plan sponsors (see “BrightScope Unveils Adviser Service,” “BrightScope Launches 401k Plan Management Dashboard“). According to a press release, BrightScope quantitatively rates individual 401(k) plans against a unique peer group by using algorithms to calculate such factors as average age of participant, vesting schedule, company match, and investment diversity.

Sheree Tallerman, President of PlanPerfect, Inc.,says, with the BrightScope data, she is able to evaluate how a plan stacks up against similar plans in the marketplace, both from an overall design standpoint as well as investment structure. She is then able to suggest changes to enhance the plan’s efficiency and maximize return on investments.

More information is available at http://www.planperfectretirement.com