the qualified plan experts

NRP Resources

Kidder Benefits Consultants, Inc., is a member firm of National Retirement Partners (NRP), with complete access to all NRP tools and resources. These tools and resources enable Kidder professionals and the plan’s financial advisor(s) to provide the highest level of investment and fiduciary plan governance services to the plan sponsor.

NRP is a nationwide organization dedicated to the retirement plan marketplace. NRP member firms provide advisory services for nearly 4,000 retirement plans with assets of approximately $43 billion. NRP has over 100 member firm locations comprised of independent advisors and consultants that provide plan consulting, fiduciary best practices and investment due diligence for retirement plan sponsors and their participants. Member firms utilize NRP’s vast resources and services to deliver solutions that have traditionally been available only to the largest companies — including sophisticated independent vendor search and benchmarking analyses, open architecture plan analysis and design, investment due diligence and comprehensive employee communications.

NRP Services and Resources include:

Investment Due Diligence Process

Market volatility makes it critical for retirement plan sponsors and fiduciaries to develop and maintain investment due diligence procedures and supporting documentation. NRP will work with the retirement plan committee to develop and maintain the plan’s investment strategy, which is codified in an investment policy statement. This investment policy statement is used as a guide to evaluate current investment offerings, measuring them against applicable indices, the existing provider’s complete menu and the broader universe of investment options. The process is designed to confirm that a plan’s investments are diversified, well managed, and meet the objectives of the investment policy statement.

Investment Due Diligence Reports

Each investment is evaluated by more than a dozen different and objective analytical measurements, including Zephyr’s Style Advisor, one of the most robust investment analytical tools available.

NRP Fiduciary Monitoring System

NRP provides investment policy development and compliance monitoring services for retirement plan sponsors. Reports are written for executives who are not necessarily financial experts. We offer both summary and detailed exception-highlighted reporting to reflect varying executive styles.

401(k) Search Pro for Finding the Right Provider

Selecting the appropriate retirement plan provider can be a time-consuming, confusing and frustrating process. All too often, standard vendor-provided proposals do not include enough information to determine if services meet administrative, recordkeeping, compliance and employee communication standards. Furthermore, total plan costs are usually impossible to determine from the face of the proposals.

National Retirement Partners is the plan sponsor’s outsource partner in the plan provider review process. NRP employs the Search Pro Plan Provider Review Process, which enables plan sponsors to eliminate confusion and frustration in selecting a 401(k) provider, while dramatically reducing the amount of time plan sponsors must allocate to the evaluation of new plan providers.

Search Pro is a proprietary plan provider analysis and benchmark system. It aims to create transparency, extract better pricing and enhance services from candidate providers, while empowering the retirement plan investment and fiduciary committee. The survey and research cover market sentiment from over 100 providers, 80+ record-keepers and $3 trillion in assets.

Industry Reports

Comprehensive NRP industry reports compare client plans to others in the same industry and asset size. They also compare client plans to Defined Contribution survey results across all industries. These reports are based on feedback from more than 4,900 plan sponsors across 26 different industries.

Every survey topic is covered in detail:

Research Library

NRP’s library includes significant articles and news items pertaining to the retirement plan market, as well as a number of articles written by and about our member firms. There are white papers authored for the use by our member firms on such topics as Fiduciary Requirements For Selecting and Monitoring Plan Providers and Study of 401(k) Plan Fees and Expenses. Links to outside sources of retirement plan news are also available here.

Fiduciary Audit Package

NRP offers plan sponsor fiduciaries (known as Investment Stewards) the most extensive protection available in the market. Our co-fiduciary offering ensures fiduciary safety through effective use of investment committee training, plan governance, provider monitoring and electronic document storage.

Fiduciary Oversight

Investment stewards wear many professional hats. And while they may spend the least amount of their working life on retirement plan issues, their fiduciary roles create the most significant amount of personal risk in the corporate arena. Inundated with primary job functions, finance and human resources executives lament the lack of time and tools available to fulfill their fiduciary accountabilities with high levels of assurance and protection. This uncertainty is the main cause of their concern about their personal liability as a fiduciary.

To meet this void, NRP offers a fiduciary oversight program that delivers protection and ensures excellence in plan management through independent governance and monitoring.

Under this program, NRP clients satisfy the following fiduciary functions with an uncompromised level of assurance.

  1. Demonstrate prudence through a document trail.
  2. Understand the key factors around investment management decision making.
  3. Adhere to the plan document and the committee’s investment strategies.
  4. Avoid conflicts of interest.
  5. Monitor service providers according to the new global benchmarks of fiduciary excellence.

Plan sponsors appreciate our fiduciary oversight program because it’s easy to use, documents decisions, assures continuity of conduct and clarifies all roles and responsibilities.