Paul Roldan, CEO of Allgen Financial Services, Inc. says, “We are excited about sponsoring the Greater Orlando Scavenger Hunt. As we advise individuals and organizations on their retirement financial needs, we realize there is a great need for emotional support as well. People need confidence, fun, and encouragement. The Greater Orlando Scavenger Hunt will draw our community closer together by providing a critical morality boost to the people of Central Florida.”

A portion of the events proceeds will be used to support the fight against MS. James Zimbardi, CEO of Zynergy says, “Along with a number of other organizations in Central Florida, we are planning on making this event the highlight of 2008 for those who live and work in our community. People need fun right now. The Greater Orlando Scavenger Hunt is designed to be an exciting way to share in a community building activity while growing closer to friends, family, and coworkers. Fun and excitement is exactly what we plan on providing. We will use creative thinking and technology to captivate and engage the participants of the event. This is an event you will not want to miss!”

For more information about the event, please visit http://scavengerhunt.ning.com

About Allgen Financial Services, Inc.
Allgen Financial Services, Inc. is an independent fee-based Registered Investment Advisory (RIA) firm committed to helping individuals and businesses better manage their retirement related assets. Allgen’s service offers personal retirement planning and employee retirement benefits to organizations. For more information visit http://www.allgenfinancial.com.

About Zynergy
Zynergy is a business consulting firm specializing in helping senior executives with their global business marketing and innovation challenges. Since 1997, Zynergy has been helping organizations to reinvent themselves by creating new ways on how to conduct business. For more information visit http://www.zynergy.com.

About the National Multiple Sclerosis Society
MS Stops people from moving. The National MS Society exists to make sure it doesn’t. We do this through our home office and a 50-state network of chapters by funding more MS research, providing more services to people with MS, offering more professional education and furthering more advocacy efforts than any other MS organization in the world. The Mid Florida Chapter of the National MS Society is honoring their 50th year of providing these services to the community. Join the movement at JoinTheMovement.org or http://flc.nationalmssociety.org.

For the benefit:

National MS Society

Steps

1. Have a clear understanding for why you want to establish a 401(k). For example, some companies want to attract or retain good employees, while others want to ensure there is a succession plan in place for the older workforce.
2. Define the needs of your organization and its employees as it relates to retirement benefits. Conduct a simple survey to determine potential plan participation.
3. Determine whether the company is planning to match contributions or not.
4. Create a census with critical employee information such as full name, employment status (part-time or full-time), hourly wage or salary, level of employment (entry level, management, etc.), and the date of hire.
5. Determine a vesting schedule for when employees can participate.
6. Choose a 401(k) advisor well. Do your due diligences by interviewing and receiving a proposal from at least 3 different 401(k) providers. And, ask lots of questions.

Tips

• Make sure you clearly understand how your financial advisor and recordkeeper are being compensated.(Commission or Fees)
• Understand how investment options are chosen and managed by the investment advisor.
• Ask for historical returns for the different allocation models. There should be approx. 5-8 models to choose from (For example: Very Conservative – Very Aggressive). For mutual funds, request fund ratings and report.
• Understand how and when financial statements are provided to the plan administrator and employees who participate.
• There are 3 basic platforms to structure a 401k: 1) Annuity, 2) Mutual Fund, and 3) Trust. Learn the pros and cons of each one as the mechanics are different and the most suitable one depends on several factors including costs and convenience.
• There are open architecture and closed architecture bundled products. Open architecture are more open to varying styles of investment choices and vehicles (ie stocks and ETFs) This can be beneficial for the more sophisticated investor.

Warnings

• Watch for hidden fees and high commission or fee structure. (recommended: 1% or below depending on plan size)
• Your plan administrator (TPA) and investment advisor should not be the same entity. This creates a conflict of interest. In this case, the recordkeeper and compliance provider are also doing the investing.
• The biggest names are not necessarily the best providers.

Sources and Citations

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employee_Retirement_Income_Security_Act
• http://www.dol.gov/dol/topic/health-plans/erisa.htm

Article provided by wikiHow, a collaborative writing project to build the world’s largest, highest quality how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Set up a 401(k). All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

For professional investment advice on this topic contact:
Allgen Financial Services, Inc.
888.6ALLGEN (888) 625-5436
advisors@allgenfinancial.com

www.allgenfinancial.com