If you feel that you are not receiving adequate investment advice from your employer’s retirement plan provider, we can manage your 401K, TSA, TSP, Simple Plan or Pension Plan. If your portfolio lost more than 10% in the last recession, you need to take another look at how you are managing risk. Research Financial Strategies can help. We will provide an unbiased review of your 401K and offer advice based on the best potential investment choices available in your plan.
- Jack Reutemann CEO & Founder
Employer Retirement Plan 2nd Opinion
With the uncertainty of stock market fluctuations and the lingering question of when the next bear (down) market may occur, you probably are wondering what to do with your retirement 401K plan investments. Add more to your winners? Take your profits and run? Or do nothing at all? The gravity of making a potentially bad choice can be daunting to most investors. Some weary investors make the mistake of “setting it and forgetting it”. But that level of fiscal avoidance almost always has a negative impact on your portfolio returns. That is why many confused investors are turning to managed accounts in their 401K plans in which they pay a fee to have independent professional investment advisors help make these decisions. This is becoming an ever increasingly popular choice.
Should I Pay Someone To Manage My 401K?
Managed retirement accounts have been proven to offer more value to 401K investors
A recent study by MarketWatch shows that those who used managed accounts earned 3.32 percentage points more on average than do-it-yourselfers NET of fees. That’s probably because of the tendency of investors to chase performance. They become aggressive when the stock market is doing well, and more conservative when the market is down. This ultimately leads investors to buying high and selling low.
Many investors also leave their money in cash, either because it was the default option when they opened their employer 401K and they never changed it or because their unfamiliarity with investing makes them too afraid to do anything else. In fact, the Target Date Retirement mutual funds which have become a staple on most employer sponsored 401K plans were inspired as a default placement for new enrollees. Target Date Funds not only give investors an easy, no research choice but also help reduce the liability claims towards the plan sponsors when they used to use cash as the default choice. But Target Date retirement funds aren’t usually your best choice for maximizing your retirement investment account returns.
Need A Consultant?
We can manage your 401K, TSA, TSP, Simple Plan or Pension Plan. If your portfolio lost more than 10% in the last recession, you need to take another look at how you are managing risk.
Retirement Plan Confusion?
Are Target Date Retirement Funds a good choice?
“Target-date funds don’t necessarily mirror the performance of the larger stock and bond markets. Instead, their returns depend on the mix of their individual portfolios, and in some years, their returns may be very disappointing.” NewYorkTimes.com

Your investment choices most likely will be very limited within a typical employer sponsored 401K plan. You most likely will have access to target-date mutual funds from only a single provider which are the default investment if you choose not to make fund choices. Read More >>

Have you ever thought you’d be happier if you could just pay someone else to do watch your company 401K retirement plan account? Like most other things in life, there is a study that will help you answer that question.
Read More>>

If the majority of fund managers won’t even invest in their own target-date retirement funds….why should you? “More than half of the industry’s target-date series are run by managers who have made no investments in the target-date funds they oversee”.
Read More>>
Recent Financial News
from our Financial Advisors
Market Commentary – June 17, 2019
Are we on the cusp of change?The United States is doing quite well. Randall Forsyth of Barron’s reported: “…the U.S. economy and stock market both seem to be doing better than OK, thank you, as the expansion and bull market celebrate their 10th...
One of the Most Important Things We Do for You
Over the past several months, you’ve most likely heard or seen some combination of the following predictions: If someone was forced to do nothing but read headlines and predictions, they would probably get whiplash. That’s because there’s always so much...
Three financial principles our fathers taught us
It’s June, and that means Father’s Day! As you know, Father’s Day is a chance to tell our dads how much we love and appreciate them. A chance to say “thanks” for providing for us, protecting us, and teaching us – this last above all. The older I get, the...
Market Commentary – June 10, 2019
Surprise! It was a great week for markets.Since the U.S.-China trade conflict resumed in early May, investors have been off balance. The possibility of escalating tariffs on Mexico heightened economic uncertainty. Then, last week’s unemployment report...
Red Flags for Tax Auditors
No one wants to see an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) auditor show up at his or her door. The IRS can’t audit every American’s tax return, so it relies on guidelines to select the ones most deserving of its attention. Ever wonder why some tax returns are...
Market Commentary – June 3, 2019
Tariff trouble.Just two weeks ago, the U.S. government lifted tariffs on Mexico and Canada. So, it was a surprise last week when President Trump tweeted the United States would impose an escalating tariff on all goods imported from Mexico until the flow of...