401K Trust Company of America

[av8r]

I have a small corporation and we started this 401k a few years ago. I've been doing some research and it seems OK, but I thought I'd tap into the brain trust here on ER and see what you guys think. Have you heard of them?

[saluki9]

Sure

TCA is a big back office, clearing, transfer agent and trust company.

They are a large firm and people are generally pretty happy with them. As long as you are happy with the fees I can't see anything to change.

[av8r]

Thanks. Yes their fees are fine. With more research I am finding that the 3rd party administrator is raping us with charges. 1.75 a year for each of us. I found another thru Vanguard that only charges .25.

[NinjaPigeon]

av8r, PM me if you don't mind. I'd like to compare fees for our TPA with yours. We just started our 401k, and I've become the plan administrator. So I wanna know how our plan compares (or if I'll be changing it out in 2008!)

[saluki9]

Quote:

Originally Posted by av8r Thanks. Yes their fees are fine. With more research I am finding that the 3rd party administrator is raping us with charges. 1.75 a year for each of us. I found another thru Vanguard that only charges .25.

Depending on how many employees you have 1.75 per year could be really good. I've seen plans that charge in excess of $25.00 per employee per year.

Also, what is the base fee on that Vanguard plan? I find it very hard to believe a TPA would do a plan for $.25 per employee.

[Texas Proud]

Quote:

Originally Posted by saluki9 Depending on how many employees you have 1.75 per year could be really good. I've seen plans that charge in excess of $25.00 per employee per year. Also, what is the base fee on that Vanguard plan? I find it very hard to believe a TPA would do a plan for $.25 per employee.

I read it as BPs, not $$$s

[saluki9]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Texas Proud I read it as BPs, not $$$s

HUH?

A TPA charging an AUM fee? That is total crap.

The T stand fors Third Party. They should be exactly that and get paid a flat fee for testing, 5500, etc + a per participant fee that usually runs from $30 down to $3-5 for very large plans.

[av8r]

OK. I'm learning as I post. I believe the 1.75 BP is being charged by the broker that setup the plan. It's actually .50 from a company called Symmetry Partners, and 1.25 to the broker. I'm not sure who the TPA is. We get our statements from Symmetry, but they don't call themselves a TPA.

I'm in talks with an agent at Vanguard and will likely be moving the 401k there. I have a call into the broker to get what info I can. It's likely he will not be too happy with my plans.