In a world where there is ever increasing fiduciary scrutiny, you need a trusted advisor to help guide you along the way. Confluence Wealth Management is a Registered Investment Advisor, and as such, we are charged as a co-fiduciary to the plans we manage. Our independent and holistic approach to managing each of our clients’ plans enables our firm to customize a unique solution designed to meet your objectives. As a result, we help you meet your fiduciary responsibilities as the plan sponsor, ensure compliance with all applicable laws, and create a plan that meet the goals of the plan and the employees who participate.
Fiduciary Compliance
At most companies, fiduciaries to the plan are more than likely not finance professionals. In addition, their primary job responsibilities don’t allow them to devote as much time as required to fulfill their responsibilities to the plan. To help meet this shortfall, Confluence Wealth Management offers fiduciary oversight by:
- Understanding the key issues around the investment decision making process
- Ensuring adherence to the investment policy statement.
- Review and oversight of service providers to ensure compliance to benchmarks and peers.
By leveraging our team, our clients are able to: save time and resources and allow them to focus on their core business, reduce risks with regards to investment selection, and ensure a high level of fiduciary governance.
Fiduciary Review
As a result of Department of Labor policy, Plan Sponsors are required to have investment policy statements. We will work with the retirement plan committee to develop and maintain the plan’s investment strategy, and then craft a policy statement that reflects the risk and return requirements of the committee. The policy will be used to evaluate the company’s investment offerings, measure the managers against the appropriate benchmarks, and review the provider’s investment options to ensure a diversified lineup.
Investment Due Diligence
As a fee for service provider, Confluence Wealth Management is independent source of information regarding investment manager performance. We perform comprehensive analysis of investment providers by leveraging industry leading investment research tools and our own proprietary investment research process that is based on a weighted score of qualitative and quantitative criteria. In combination with the policy statement, we are able to customize an investment portfolio that will provide the plan’s participants with a balanced and effective approach to invest for retirement.
Fiduciary Education
Confluence Wealth Management is committed to providing the highest level of fiduciary education to our clients. By leveraging third party providers, the Department of Labor, ERISA attorneys and accounting firms, we believe we can provide substantial insight into this ever-changing topic.