401(k) Fiduciary Services for Plan Sponsors

If your name is on the company's 401(k) plan — as CFO, head of HR, or a member of the retirement plan committee — you are an ERISA fiduciary. Old Slip Capital advises plan sponsors from 40 Wall Street, Floor 28, New York, NY 10005, providing the investment research, documented process and oversight that role demands.

The responsibility you already carry

ERISA holds plan fiduciaries to a prudent-expert standard: fund selection and monitoring, reasonable fees, and provider oversight must all follow a documented, defensible process. Regulations change constantly, and the duty sits with the plan sponsor even when a recordkeeper or bundled provider is involved. Our job is to give your committee the research, structure and documentation to meet that standard without it consuming your week.

3(21) or 3(38): how much do you want to delegate?

We offer both non-discretionary ERISA 3(21) and discretionary ERISA 3(38) arrangements. Under 3(21), we advise and your committee decides. Under 3(38), we take discretion over the investment menu and the fiduciary responsibility that comes with it. The arrangement is flexible — shaped around how your committee actually wants to work.

What our fiduciary process covers

• Investment menu design, fund selection and ongoing performance monitoring
• A written Investment Policy Statement (IPS) your committee can stand behind
• Committee meeting agendas, minutes and an Investment Oversight Committee Charter
• Annual fee and plan benchmarking against comparable plans
• Investment manager search, monitoring and compliance review
• Fiduciary and participant education
• An online fiduciary briefcase with secure, enterprise-level document storage
• Regulatory and market updates as rules change

Independent research, no product conflicts

Old Slip Capital is an independent registered investment advisory firm. We are not a recordkeeper, a fund company or an insurance provider, and we are not affiliated with one — so the menus we build and the providers we monitor are selected on the plan's behalf, not on a corporate relationship. We obsess over investment performance and fee collection as a matter of course.

Common questions

What is the difference between a 3(21) and a 3(38) fiduciary advisor?

A 3(21) advisor is a non-discretionary co-fiduciary: we recommend and monitor the investment menu, but the plan sponsor makes the final call and keeps the responsibility. A 3(38) advisor is a discretionary investment manager: we select, replace and monitor the funds directly, and take on that fiduciary responsibility ourselves. Old Slip Capital offers both arrangements and helps each plan sponsor decide how much responsibility to delegate.

Why does our company need a fiduciary advisor for its 401(k) plan?

Because under ERISA, the people who manage the plan — often the CFO, the HR lead or an investment committee — are personally fiduciaries. They are expected to run a documented, prudent process around fund selection, fees and provider oversight. Most finance and HR teams have the responsibility without the time or the research staff. A fiduciary advisor supplies that process and the documentation that proves it.

How do we know if our plan's fees are reasonable?

ERISA requires that plan fees be reasonable for the services provided — not the cheapest, but defensible. The only reliable way to know is to benchmark the plan's recordkeeping, advisory and investment fees against comparable plans on a regular basis. We run annual fee benchmarking and plan benchmarking for sponsors as part of our fiduciary oversight of providers.

What does Old Slip Capital do for a plan sponsor?

We build, manage and monitor the plan's investment menu under a written Investment Policy Statement; prepare committee agendas and minutes; maintain an online fiduciary briefcase with secure document storage; deliver fiduciary and participant education; benchmark fees and plan design annually; manage investment manager searches; and keep the committee current on regulatory and market changes.