Retirement Planology

Based on its co-fiduciary service model, Retirement Planology operates as a registered investment advisor (RIA) under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, not as a recordkeeper or third-party administrator (TPA). As an RIA acting in a fiduciary capacity, the firm accepts — in writing — co-fiduciary status under ERISA Section 3(21) or 3(38), depending on the engagement. This designation carries a legal obligation to act solely in the interest of plan participants, a standard that bundled service providers often avoid by structuring themselves as non-fiduciary vendors (per DOL Advisory Opinion 2001-09A). The RIA model also requires Form ADV filings with the SEC or state regulators, which disclose assets under advisement, fee schedules, and potential conflicts of interest.

The firm addresses the Department of Labor's 'implied warranty' standard — which holds plan sponsors liable for monitoring plan expenses as if they were under warranty — through systematic benchmarking. Retirement Planology structures quarterly investment reviews that compare each fund's expense ratio, performance, and style consistency against comparable universes, producing a documented rationale for retention or replacement. This process is designed to satisfy the procedural prudence standard established in Tibble v. Edison International (US Supreme Court, 2015), where the Court ruled that fiduciary monitoring obligations are ongoing, not limited to the initial selection. The resulting audit trail serves as the plan sponsor's primary defense against excessive-fee litigation.

The firm's fiduciary positioning strongly suggests a fee-only, non-commission compensation model to avoid the conflicts inherent in 12b-1 fees, finder's fees, or revenue-sharing arrangements. Accepting indirect compensation from plan providers would likely disqualify the firm from serving as an independent fiduciary under ERISA Section 408(b)(2), which mandates reasonable compensation arrangements. Moreover, failure to disclose such revenue streams to plan sponsors would violate the prohibited transaction rules under ERISA Section 406. The cleanest path for independent ERISA consulting firms is to charge plan sponsors directly — either as a flat annual retainer or a basis-point fee on plan assets — and transparently offset any per-participant recordkeeping credits.

The DOL's final rule on 'Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder Rights' (effective January 2024) allows plan fiduciaries to consider climate change and other ESG factors as material to risk-return analysis. The firm likely advises sponsors that ESG factors may be considered when they are economically material to the investment — for example, climate transition risk in a long-duration equity mandate — but that ESG-themed funds cannot be the default QDIA (qualified default investment alternative) without a rigorous, documented fiduciary analysis demonstrating equivalent return prospects. The political volatility of ESG guidance means the firm's posture probably emphasizes process documentation more than ideological screening, keeping investment committees focused on financial materiality rather than perceived social mandates.

The firm's client base is almost certainly mid-market companies with 100 to 2,000 employees, where the plan sponsor — typically the CFO or head of HR — lacks dedicated internal expertise to manage ERISA fiduciary duties. Sourcing likely comes through partnerships with employment law firms, CPA firms, and benefits brokers who recognize a conflict in providing fiduciary-level retirement plan advice. An operational flag is the plan asset threshold: plans under $5 million are typically too small to support fee-only engaged fiduciary consulting, while plans over $250 million often transition to institutional investment consultants like Meketa or NEPC. The firm's reference to 'retirement planology' as a discipline suggests a distinctive approach: treating plan governance as a specialized field of study, analogous to how a tax attorney treats the Internal Revenue Code.