Attorneys may not think of themselves as running a small business, but even law firms with 50 or 100 attorneys and support staff have much in common with small business when it comes to offering a 401(k) plan. Law firms, like other small and mid-sized businesses, are often charged high fees and receive little administrative and compliance support from their providers and advisors.
Law firms, just like other smaller companies, tend to pay 401(k) fees that are substantially higher than larger companies. Research from the 401(k) data vendor, Brightscope, has shown that smaller firms are paying much more than their larger counterparts:
“Large plans (over $100m in assets) almost uniformly have fees below 1%. The largest plans are usually below 0.50%. The large end of the 401(k) marketplace is incredibly competitive. The small plan marketplace is a different story. Average fees for small plans are between 1.5-2%, with plenty of plans paying more than 2% a year in fees.”
Fees have a dramatic impact on retirement savings, since many 401(k) fees typically are paid directly from the participants’ assets. This means that a partner at a small law firm maxing out his or her 401(k) each year will sacrifice a substantial amount of assets at retirement in the form of fees. How big is the impact on the partner’s savings at retirement? It could easily add up to hundreds of thousands dollars lost to fees.
According to the Department of Labor data, there are 28,000 law firms in the United States who file Short Form 5500’s reporting on their firm’s 401(k) plans. This dataset generally includes companies with less than 100 employees, so it excludes the largest law firm’s 401(k)s (which you can read about here).
Beyond regularly benchmarking fund performance and fees, there are some steps law firms should consider to make sure their retirement plan is going to provide for the partners’ and staff’s retirement. We have produced a white paper, “5 Ways to Optimize Your Law Firm’s 401(k),” designed to help lawyers take a critical look at their plan. Download the white paper for free here.
Since 2012, there have been significant changes in 401(k)s that have created new risks and opportunities for small and mid-sized law firms’ 401(k) plans. Due to the fast pace of change, many busy partners, and even some small 401(k) advisors and recordkeepers, have not kept up. Whether you have staff devoted to running and monitoring your 401(k), or have outsourced some administrative and investment functions, we suggest that there are areas where there is likely room for improvement and at least five things you should consider doing:
*Assumptions: Assumes a 40 year-old partner with $350,000 in their 401(k) at the age of 40. Assumes the partner saves the maximum possible per year until the age of 65 ($18,500 until 50, $24,500 when 50 and over). For the scenarios that include law firm contributions assumes $6,600 annual firm contribution, based on the average firm contribution for the 2016 plan year as reported on Short Form 5500 filings by law firms with over $1 million in assets.
Give your employees more than just a 401(k), join the movement.
