[topic 1]

Two Levels of Pricing

We offer two levels of 401k plans: our Economy 401k and our Elite 401k. Our Elite 401k has heightened investment and plan customization flexibility as well as free technical support beyond that offered in our Economy 401k. Please visit our Customization page for complete product comparisons.

Pricing for both our Economy and Elite 401ks is two-fold:

(1) First Year Only Fee
Every Web 401k plan incurs a one-time plan setup and system customization fee of $695 ($465 for one-person plans). In most cases this fee, which is assessed at your plan's outset, is open to IRS rebate (see below). Our setup fee covers complete customization of your 401k plan (including conversion from an existing plan, if applicable) and also customization to that plan of your Web 401k Plan Sponsor Gateway and Plan Participant Gateway.

(2) Annual Fee
Each year (including that first year) there's a Web 401k Access Fee that's commensurate with your plan's size and customization level (see the Pricing chart below). This fee grants you and your employees unlimited use of your Gateways plus our maintenance of those Gateways, including technological as well as content updates (for instance, to government-imposed 401k contribution maximums and other the regulatory parameters that help define your plan's IRS-compliant, highly automated operation).

-- Web 401k fees are significantly less than industry averages (scroll down to our Price Comparisons).

 

Please note: Web 401k pricing includes everything you'll need EXCEPT (1) investment custodian services, which handle the safe and secure transfer of 401k monies to and from each participant's designated investment(s), and (2) the ERISA bond required by the federal government for any retirement plan. Please see Our Pricing Is All-Inclusive, below, for a listing of all that's included as well as links to information on custodian services and ERISA bonds.

The first year only, there is also a one-time plan setup and software customization fee. This fee does not vary with plan size. A $30 charge is assessed to cover additional processing costs associated with the following transactions, on a per-incident basis: loan disbursements, distributions, QDROs, compliance testing corrections and hardship withdrawals. There is a plan termination fee of $50 per plan participant.

In most cases Web 401k charges a one-time $500 plan conversion fee. (should you already have a bundled 401k plan that you want to run via Web 401k), NO processing fees (per enrollment, per loan, etc.) nor any administration fees, because you perform the few mouse clicks required. There's even free technical support during your plan's setup period (Economy 401k), and extensive free online support thereafter. (See our Technical Support page for more information.)

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[topic 2]

Our Setup Fee Is a One-Time Charge

The Web 401k setup fee is a one-time charge that covers customization to your needs of both our IRS-approved prototype 401k plan (and the official documentation related thereto) and the online 401k Plan Sponsor Gateway and Plan Participant Gateway that you and your employees will use to interact with your customized plan.

-- Our experienced personnel can help you understand your 401k plan and plan management options so you can make educated decisions as to what is most desirable for your company.

-- To view a list of the customization options available, visit either our Customization page (for a general listing of our customization items) or scan through the appropriate Order Form (which list the EXACT parameters available for each customization item).

-- If you'd like more information about any item, just check the "Unsure. Please contact..." button within our Order Form; a Web 401k representative will contact you at your convenience to answer your questions. Alternatively, e-mail us your question or call us at 1-800-660-0050 any weekday during normal business hours.

-- Once you're happy with your plan and plan management's construction, our technical team will code your customization decisions into your online Web 401k portals, streamlining operation of your 401k's management and participation therein. Automation is so complete that plan management via Web 401k takes most small businesses less than 20 minutes a month — while saving them thousands of dollars a year.

All this customization and its resulting automation is covered by the one-time setup fee you pay at your plan's outset.

Future Changes
You don't ever have to feel locked in to your 401k plan customization decisions with Web 401k.

-- Contact us if, at any time, you want to alter your customization decisions. For instance, some companies choose to exclude 401k loans in the early years of their plan, then add in the option at a later date.

-- Sometimes changes are simple for us to implement and can thus be done at little to no charge. However, we do reserve the right to charge for changes initiated by you that require us to recustomize your 401k Gateways and/or official 401k documents. The maximum charge for recustomization work is $500 per instance; the actual fee depends on the complexity of the requested change(s).

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[topic 3]

Our Setup Fee Is Generally IRS-Rebatable

The first-year-only setup fee your company pays for Web 401k is likely rebatable in the form of a federal tax credit.

Most new (non-conversion) 401k plans will qualify to receive this recent federally-mandated dollar-for-dollar refund. As with nearly all tax credits, however, there are some restrictions. We recommend you check with your tax advisor regarding your company's qualifications.

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[topic 4]

Price Comparisons

We compared the cost of a fully-customized Web 401k Economy system with the cost of bundled 401k plans (view definition) offered by a broad cross-section of major national 401k vendors that let you use either self-directed discount brokerage accounts or no-load mutual funds as your 401k investments.

-- It's not a perfect comparison, of course: Their 401k plans include their "full-service" 401k administration (you still have to provide them with the same data Web 401k let's you process with a mouse click, but with other vendors you have to wait while they, on their own schedule, run the data through their computers); also, our plans include hands-on access to all participation and administration functions, unbeatable investment choice, substantial plan flexibility (particularly with our Elite 401ks), the best in asset security, employee statements at a mouse click, compliance testing at a mouse click (with results in seconds), free IRS 401k reporting help, and a 15-day money-back guarantee.

-- We found that Web 401k clients save 60% or more every year off the lowest priced national vendor's bundled 401k plan. That's a savings of 60% or more for about 20 minutes of online data-entry-type work a month!

Compare for yourself. The chart below lists pricing for 20-person plans and 100 person plans by Web 401k and a few of our competitors. (We didn't think it would be fair to compare really small plan pricing because, while we offer price breaks all the way down to the one-person 401k, few, if any, of our national competitors do the same.)

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[topic 5]

[topic 6]

Our Pricing Is All-Inclusive

Web 401k pricing covers just about everything you need to provide your company with a great 401k plan, including...

• An IRS-approved prototype 401k plan
Our IRS-approved prototype 401k plan is replete with 401k customization options that enable your company to offer a 401k plan from which you and your employees can truly benefit.

• Unlimited access to your plan-specific online Plan Sponsor and Plan Participant Gateways
We customize powerful yet easy-to-use 401k plan management and participation Gateways to the exact 401k customization options you choose for your plan. The customization information works in conjunction with the IRS and other governing regulations we program in to streamline your 401k's operation and keep you apprised of your plan's health and growing wealth. Your online system is seamlessly updated as needed to keep its functionality simple, straightforward, and in line with 401k regulations.

• 401k help
You receive free, professional help with understanding your 401k plan management options as well as with actually running your 401k via Web 401k. Plan operation help includes our Getting Started Guide as well as both free and affordable fee-based technical support.

• 401k investments
Web 401k lets you choose both the investment approach (self-directed brokerage account and/or no-load mutual fund family) and the specific investment provider(s) for your 401k plan. No other 401k plan offers greater investment flexibility. Visit our Investments pages for specifics, including listings of potential investments.

• Plan-specific 401k forms and materials
Our online, plan-specific 401k participation and employee education forms and materials explain 401k concepts -- 401k loans, 401k enrollment, 401k investing, etc. -- to your employees while gathering data from them that you need to run your company plan in just minutes a month.

• IRS reporting help
Our 401k FedForms website (www.401kfedforms.com) is a free service to our 401k clients. The website tells you which federal reporting forms are relevant to your particular 401k plan, then displays annotated versions of each relevant Form and Schedule (Forms 5500, 1099-R, etc.). The annotations tell you exactly where within your 401k system to locate the requested information. 401k FedForms even includes ready-to-complete Summary Annual Report PDFs that take just moments to fill in.

There are two items you'll need to purchase separate from signing up for Web 401k (neither of which, due to the nature of the product/service, are under the umbrella of what we can provide):

(1) An ERISA bond
Federal regulations require that all pension plans, including 401k plans, be insured by an ERISA bond that has a payout equal to 10% of plan assets or $500,000, whichever is less. The annual premiums for an ERISA bond average about $200 a year or less. (See topic 8 on our ERISA Compliance page for more information).

(2) Investment Custodian Service
Your investment custodian will handle the actual transfer of monies into and out of your 401k plan, and is specially insured, etc., for such. Custodian fees are most commonly based on the dollar value of your company's plan they're generally much less than half of one percent per year. As explained the Investments section, Web 401k collects NO commissions, rebates, revenue-sharing or other compensation from any investments.

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

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[topic 7]

Money-Back Guarantee

Web 401k comes with a 15-day money-back guarantee on your annual fee. The first-year-only setup fee, however, is nonrefundable -- which is why we created a fully functioning demo version of our online 401k system. You can try everything out BEFORE you spend a dime.

-- The online demo is the "real" Web 401k. It simply has been customized to service a few fictitious companies' 401k plans so that it can contain data you can experiment with. Nearly every 401k participation and management feature is activated.

-- Use the online demo to get a feel how convenient a self-service 401k can be.

-- Give us a call at 1-800-660-0050 or send us an e-mail if you'd like to schedule a guided tour of the system, or if you'd like us to supply you with instructions on how to complete a common task or two. (Actual clients receive our helpful Getting Started Guide; while the system is very easy to use, people unfamiliar with 401k plans might not know just where to start.)

-- If you like the idea of self-service plan participation but aren't interested in self-service plan management, let us know. We can refer you to a company that uses a version of our online system to provide clients with self-service 401k participation and self-service accessibility to certain reports and information but that handles the bulk of your 401k plan management for you. Fees are higher than for Web 401k but still quite reasonable.

-- If you sign up for Web 401k and later find the self-service approach is not right for your company, just contact us. We can help you find the setup that is right for you.

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[topic 8]

Most Technical Support Is Free

With your purchase of Web 401k you receive free help with getting your plan up and running.

-- The easy-to-read Getting Started Guide helps you launch your plan as soon as you receive your pass-code information You simply input -- or upload -- basic employee data, and you're ready to go. The Guide even contains helpful tips about marketing your new plan to your employees.

-- The Guide is accompanied by a supplementary CD-ROM that contains background detail about managing a 401k plan as well as instructions for transactions that aren't typical to monthly 401k administration (and hence not included in the main Guide) but that do occasionally arise.

-- We're also here to help with getting your plan off the ground. Setup help is free. Our tech support phone number is listed at the front of your Getting Started Guide, or you can e-mail us at web401k@401k-network.com.

-- We also offer ongoing support. Online support is always free, and we find clients rarely need anything else. If you do, however, we offer one-on-one telephone-based support for free for our Elite 401k clients and at very reasonable rates for our Economy 401k clients. Visit our Technical Support page for specifics.

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[topic 9]

Low Cost Plan Conversions 

Web 401k can accommodate new or already existing 401k plans of any size. Most plan convervions to 401k Easy Online are done for only $500

-- Visit our Convert An Existing Plan page for more information.

-- See our 401k Conversion Plan Order Forms for a listing of plan customization options available with Web 401k.

-- If you have specific questions about converting your existing 401k plan for use with Web 401k, submit an Order Form and with "Unsure. Please contact..." buttons clicked, where applicable. This is the most expedient way for us to serve you, even if all you want at the moment is answers to your plan conversion-related questions. Submitting an Order Form IN NO WAY obligates you to actually placing an order, and no money changes hands; the Order Form simply gathers the data we need to accurately answer your 401k-related questions.

-- If for some reason you prefer not to submit an order form, you can call us at 1-800-660-0050, but the call will take longer than if you first submit an order form.

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[topic 10]

IRS Reporting Help Is Free

Web 401k includes free help with your 401k-related federal reporting forms and reports.

-- Our 401k FedForms website (www.401kfedforms.com) shows you annotated versions of the relevant year's 401k-related federal reporting forms and schedules (Form 1099-R, the 5500 series, etc.) and tells you which are relevant to your particular 401k plan, when each is due to the IRS, plus additional information.

-- 401k FedForms contains both popup instructions and printable annotations that tell you where within your online 401k system to locate needed information.

-- 401k FedForms even includes ready-to-complete Summary Annual Reports that take just moments to fill out.

-- 401k FedForms is a free service for all our Web 401k clients.

-- Click here to preview our 401k FedForms website. 

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[topic 11]

No Trustee Fees

Web 401k plans are IRS-approved as employer-trustee, which means you never have to hire — and thus never have to pay — a 401k trustee.

-- Trustee fees in other 401k plans can add up to hundreds of dollars a year. Just one more area of savings with Web 401k. 

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[topic 12]

Watch for Hidden Fees

The U.S. Labor Department is currently auditing 401k plans of all sizes because of a trend that may violate current pension laws. Many companies, especially smaller businesses, are shifting plan administrative expenses to plan participants, knowingly or unknowingly. This shift of plan expenses come in the form of "hidden fees" that are routinely deducted from each participants' retirement savings by some plan providers and mutual funds. Because of lax reporting requirements, no one really knows how much money changes hands behind the scenes, but it is estimated that excessive fees may be as much as $1.5 billion per year, and growing.

In the 401k arena, expense fee disclosure, whether to plan participants or plan sponsors, has been notoriously confusing and unclear. The impact of these confusing hidden fees on plan participants' retirement accounts can be very significant over time. As example, consider a hypothetical 401k investment such as a mutual fund, with deducted expense fees of 1.3 percent versus one with fees of just .3 percent. Applied to an initial 401k investment of $5,000, with regular annual investments of $5,000 returning 10 percent and compounded over 15 years, the difference between the "low-fee" investment and the "high-fee" investment adds up to $15,398 -- a significant sum that 401k plan participants could unwittingly be missing out on.

Policymakers and plan sponsors seeking to structure well-managed 401ks for their aging workforces are beginning to acknowledge the negative impact hidden fees has on eroding pension accumulations for retirement. What might appear to be a small difference in deducted investment fees can result in substantial differences in eventual retirement benefits.

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[topic 13]

Our Policy Regarding All Asset-Based Fees

We at Pension Systems Corporation, distributor of Web 401k and 401(k) Easy for the PC, work hard to make 401k plans affordable to our clients, many of whom comprise small and very small companies.

We do not accept any rebates or revenue sharing of fees deducted from our clients' plan assets unless those fees can be returned to the clients' plans or used by Pension Systems Corporation to offset plan expenses. Other entities that provide and support 401k plan investments -- mutual fund managers, fund distributors, asset custodians, asset trustees, investment brokers and advisors, and plan administrators and record-keepers -- typically earn at least a portion of their compensation from asset-based fees deducted from plan assets.

Web 401k is the exception to the norm: We do not earn any compensation -- directly or indirectly -- from our clients' 401k plan assets. In cases where rebates are offered, we have the rebates returned to our clients or directly applied to reducing our clients' costs. Our published prices, available online for all to see, are the only net compensation we collect.

Asset-based fees are an unavoidable fact of life if your company uses mutual funds or self-directed brokerage accounts for its 401k. The cost of these asset-based fees should be factored in when determining the true, overall cost of your 401k -- and the cost savings of Web 401k returning such fees to clients when possible should be factored into the product's cost savings.

For more information on asset-based fees we recommend reading "Revenue Sharing in the 401(k) Marketplace--Whose Money Is It?" by The McHenry Consulting Group and Study of 401(k) Plan Fees and Expenses by the US Department of Pension Welfare and Benefits.

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[topic 14]

Even Taxes Are Included

All Web 401k prices include taxes, shipping and handling (of your Getting Started guide, for instance). When we say "everything is included," we mean everything.

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