Retirement Plan Services

Fiduciary Support for The Plan. Real Education for The People in It.

For business owners who sponsor a retirement plan, the responsibility is bigger than most people realize.

Under ERISA, plan sponsors carry a personal fiduciary duty to act in the best interests of plan participants, including selecting and monitoring investments prudently, reviewing plan fees, documenting decisions, and operating the plan according to its terms. These responsibilities apply to the company and to individual decision-makers. Most business owners take this responsibility seriously. Few have the time, the resources, or the in-house expertise to handle it alone.

Symphony Financial Services has extensive experience helping business owners and plan sponsors run retirement plans that work for the company and the people who depend on them. We approach corporate retirement plans with the same coordinated, values-driven philosophy that defines the rest of our work. Symphony serves as an ERISA 3(21) co-fiduciary by default on the plans we advise and is available to serve as an ERISA 3(38) investment manager when plan sponsors prefer to delegate investment decisions. Either way, we share in the responsibility of helping you run a plan that serves the business and the people who depend on it.

Areas of Focus

Plan Design & Strategy

The right retirement plan structure depends on the size of your business, the workforce demographics, the owner’s own retirement goals, and how aggressively the company wants to use the plan for both employee benefit and owner tax planning. We work with business owners to evaluate which plan type fits a traditional 401(k), safe harbor 401(k), profit sharing, defined benefit pension, cash balance pension, or a combination of structures and to design the contribution formulas, vesting schedules, and eligibility rules that meet the business’s goals.

Fiduciary Support & Plan Oversight

Most plan sponsor exposure comes from gaps in process undocumented decisions, an outdated investment lineup, and an unreviewed recordkeeper relationship. We provide ongoing fiduciary support that closes those gaps. We also review plan costs and provider relationships periodically as part of a broader oversight cycle not as a standalone focus, but as one component of the fiduciary work that helps reduce risk for the business and the people who run it.

Participant Guidance & Education

A retirement plan is only as valuable as the participation it actually generates. We help business owners and HR teams improve participation rates, contribution levels, and investment outcomes for employees through plan-level education, on-site participant meetings, one-on-one consultations for employees who want them, and the kind of clear communication that turns a benefit on paper into a benefit people actually use. When employees can retire on their own terms, that is good for them and good for the business.

Our Fiduciary Capacity

Symphony Financial Services, Inc. is a Registered Investment Advisor. On the retirement plans we advise, we serve as an ERISA Section 3(21) co-fiduciary, meaning we provide investment recommendations and share fiduciary responsibility for that advice, while the plan sponsor retains final decision-making authority. For plan sponsors who prefer to delegate investment decisions entirely, we are also available to serve as an ERISA Section 3(38) discretionary investment manager. The capacity in which we serve is established in the engagement letter for each plan.

What to Expect

A documented fiduciary relationship Symphony, serves as an ERISA 3(21) co-fiduciary by default, with ERISA 3(38) discretionary investment management available on request

Independent guidance: We are not tied to a single recordkeeper, custodian, or investment lineup

Regular plan reviews: Investments, fees, and design evaluated on a documented cadence

Direct access to your advisor for plan-level questions and to our team for participant questions