When you’re designing or redesigning an investment lineup for your employer sponsored retirement plan, there is no one size fits all solution, but there are a few best practices you can follow to make sure your investment menu aligns with your participants’ needs and goals.
As a retirement plan sponsor, choosing which investments you will offer to participants is a critical part of designing your plan. Thoughtful investment menus can increase participation and have a positive impact on employees’ retirement outcomes. When designing your unique lineup, here are five key guidelines to keep in mind. First, consider offering a range of investment options that cater to different types of investors. Of course, you have a fiduciary duty to help participants diversify their investments, but how you do that can vary depending on your philosophy as a committee. For instance, you may want to give participants access to domestic equity, but will you choose to do that via active management, passive management, or a combination of the two? Will you separate your large cap strategy from your mid and small cap strategy? Or will you offer a white label fund that combines all three market caps into one investment option? You may choose to make these decisions yourself or work with a financial advisor.
Second, keep things simple. While it’s important to offer diverse options, it’s also important to make sure that your menu is streamlined and easy to understand. Participants should be able to quickly and easily identify which investments are best suited to their needs. If your lineup is overwhelming or confusing, you could see participation decrease. Try to simplify and organize investment choices in ways that are easy to navigate. For instance, you might group investments by time horizon or by risk. To understand what participants want, consider asking them to self-select their level of engagement, their time horizon, and their goals. Risk tolerance questionnaires are one way to help guide participants through the selection process. However, more plan sponsors are now offering one-on-one participant advice sessions in addition to online tools and resources to help participants navigate their investment options.
Another best practice is to offer a QDIA, or qualified default investment alternative. If a participant doesn’t specify how they want their money invested, it is automatically placed into the plan’s QDIA. While most plan sponsors utilize target date funds as their QDIA option, more are considering a hybrid approach that uses target date funds for younger participants and moves to a managed account for older participants who may require more customization.
Third, remember to account for all types of investors. While some will want to set it and forget it with automatic features, others will want to make their own educated investment decisions by periodically updating their asset allocations. A robust menu should include a range of investment options across different asset classes so that each participant can create their own diversified strategy. It’s also a good idea to include both passive and active options for investors who want broad market exposure at a lower price point.
For your most active participants, you might also consider offering a self-directed brokerage option that is separate from the broader investment menu. A brokerage window provides each participant with access to a larger range of investment options, allowing them to select and change allocations at their own risk. As the plan sponsor, you can typically set broad limits as to how much participants can invest and what kind of investment options are offered.
Fourth, regularly review all investment options to be sure they are performing well and continuing to meet the needs of plan participants. It’s important to stay up to date on which investment options are available as this can change over time, as can the needs of your participants.
Lastly, remember that a well-designed retirement plan menu should be accompanied by educational resources to help participants make informed investment decisions with appropriate tools and advice like savings calculators, retirement planning tools, and access to financial advisors, participants can learn to make the most of the retirement plan lineup that you have designed.
Want help determining which investment options might be best for your participants? Call CAPTRUST. Our team of retirement plan advisors can help you navigate menu design and more.
CAPTRUST offers a best-in-class client experience, using local financial advisors with highly specialized expertise and supporting them with centralized, nationwide resources. In this video, learn about the suite of resources CAPTRUST wealth advisors have available to them—from industry-leading cybersecurity and centralized trading to performance reporting tools and wealth planning technology, including our proprietary planning software, WealthView.
Video Synopsis – “CAPTRUST Wealth Management Services Overview”
What sets CAPTRUST apart? In this in-depth overview, leaders and advisors from across the firm share the infrastructure, values, and team dynamics that power the CAPTRUST experience.
1. Built Around the Client, Not the Company
CAPTRUST was designed from the ground up to work backward from the client’s needs. Rather than fitting clients into a one-size-fits-all model, the firm built its platform to support advisors in solving real financial challenges, with tools and resources tailored to individual goals.
2. Centralized Strength, Local Expertise
While each advisor is a local expert, they’re backed by a nationwide bench of over 700 professionals specializing in trading, research, operations, performance reporting, and financial planning. This centralized model ensures consistency and efficiency while allowing advisors to focus on what matters most—client relationships.
3. Comprehensive Resources Under One Roof
From best-in-class planning software (WealthView) to a robust client services team, CAPTRUST brings together the technical, operational, and human expertise needed to support complex financial lives. Specialized teams cover everything from U.S. and international equity research to trust and estate planning.
4. A Culture of Ownership and Continuous Improvement
Every CAPTRUST employee has the opportunity to be an owner in the firm, fostering a culture of shared accountability and long-term commitment. As Rush Benton explains, clients benefit when they’re working with someone who owns the business—because that alignment drives better service and results.
5. Investing in the Future
CAPTRUST reinvests half of its earnings annually into the business, fueling innovation in technology, cybersecurity, and client services. This approach not only ensures resiliency through changing markets—it also keeps the firm positioned at the forefront of the industry.
Key Takeaway:
CAPTRUST wealth advisors aren’t operating in isolation—they’re part of a deeply connected, highly resourced team built to deliver confident outcomes and exceptional client service. This video illustrates how scale, specialization, and culture converge to create a standout wealth management experience.
As life expectancy rises, so do the odds—and the price tag—of needing extended care. In this short explainer, CAPTRUST breaks down what “long-term care” actually means, how much it can cost, and three main ways to pay for it.
Why It Matters
Likelihood: Today’s 65-year-olds face a nearly 70 percent chance of requiring help with daily activities such as bathing, dressing, or meal prep.
Price tag: A private nursing-home room averages $108,000+ per year; hiring an in-home aide can top $60,000 annually.
Three Funding Paths
Traditional long-term-care (LTC) insurance
Pros: Dedicated pool of dollars; optional inflation protection; preserves retirement savings.
Cons: Premiums climb sharply with age and health changes—buying earlier locks in lower rates.
Hybrid policies (life + LTC)
Combines a death benefit with access to LTC coverage. If care isn’t needed, heirs collect the payout. Expect higher premiums than standalone LTC insurance, but some like the “use it or leave it” flexibility.
Self-funding (“self-insurance”)
Paying out of pocket lets you keep full control of your assets—until a prolonged illness, market downturn, or unexpected expense erodes them. Best suited to households with ample liquid net worth and a solid investment plan.
Key Considerations
Timing: The younger and healthier you are, the more affordable traditional or hybrid coverage becomes.
Liquidity: Even with plenty of real estate or business equity, you’ll need accessible cash to cover care on short notice.
Estate impact: Large insurance payouts kept inside your estate could trigger estate-tax exposure; an irrevocable trust may help.
Spousal coordination: Weigh how benefits—or asset drawdowns—would affect your partner’s future needs.
Next Step: A financial adviser can model different cost scenarios, evaluate policy quotes, and weave long-term-care planning into your broader retirement strategy. CAPTRUST is ready to help you decide which mix—insurance, self-funding, or both—fits your goals and peace of mind.
Video Synopsis – “Planned Giving Strategies for Individuals”
In this informative explainer, CAPTRUST’s Drew Battle walks through several planned giving strategies that can help individuals support their favorite causes while also achieving tax advantages and long-term financial goals.
1. Getting Started with Simple Moves
Planned giving doesn’t require a complex legal structure right away. Easy first steps include designating a charity as the beneficiary of your IRA or making a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD) if you’re over age 70½. QCDs count toward your required minimum distribution (RMD) and can lower your taxable income—making them a smart way to give while meeting IRS obligations.
2. Reducing Taxes with Strategic Asset Donations
Gifting long-term appreciated assets like stocks or real estate to a nonprofit allows you to avoid capital gains taxes while deducting the fair market value of the gift. You can also include charitable bequests in your will or estate plan, helping reduce estate taxes and align your legacy with your values.
3. Giving Vehicles for Long-Term Impact
Battle outlines tools like donor-advised funds (DAFs), which allow donors to front-load charitable deductions in a single year while distributing funds over time. For those seeking both philanthropic impact and retirement income, structures like charitable remainder trusts and charitable gift annuities offer ongoing payouts to the donor or their beneficiaries, with the remainder going to the designated charity.
4. Reversing the Flow with a Charitable Lead Trust (CLT)
Whereas remainder trusts prioritize the donor’s income first, CLTs direct income to the charity for a set term, then pass the remaining funds to heirs—allowing for immediate charitable impact and potential tax savings.
Takeaway:
Planned giving strategies aren’t just about writing a check—they’re about aligning your financial planning with your values. Whether your goal is reducing taxes, supporting a cause, or shaping your legacy, a CAPTRUST advisor can help tailor the right approach.
In September, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates for the first time since 2020, and with that cut, the U.S. economy entered a new chapter of the post-pandemic story. This policy shift signals the beginning of the end of higher rates. But aside from lower rates, what could it hold? In this edition of our quarterly Market Update video, CAPTRUST Chief Investment Officer Mike Vogelzang explains what’s happening in the market, and what could happen next as this new chapter unfolds.
Please note: This is an AI generated transcription – there may be slight grammatical errors, spelling errors and/or misinterpretation of words.
Executive Benefits for Plan Sponsors
Your most senior employees often have complex compensation and benefits, which aren’t well served by one size fits all financial wellness solutions. Today, we’ll discuss what CAPTRUST at work can do for your key employees. As one of the country’s leading retirement plan advisors, CAPTRUST has decades of experience in complex employee benefits. We understand that financial wellness means so much more than just retirement assets. That’s why our executive services, available through CAPTRUST at work, include advanced financial planning, executive compensation planning, and more.
Company stock planning, concentrated position analysis, tax optimization, legacy planning and wealth transfer, risk management and insurance assessment, and business succession planning. We help your employees maximize their chances of success and minimize the risks of accumulated wealth. CAPTRUST at Work for Executive Employees includes on demand support. From a dedicated financial advisor who is familiar with your organization’s qualified and non-qualified plans, stock programs, and executive compensation.
Through one-on-one meetings, our advisors can address timely questions and help your key employees develop financial goals and plans tailored to their unique needs. They can also create retirement income and wealth projections that help your key employees visualize their financial future. So that they can make better informed decisions all along the way to retirement.
As the benefit sponsor, you can determine the number of key people that receive this service for a flat annual fee. CAPTRUST will meet with your key employees in person or virtually using video and screen share technology. Your chosen employees will also have access to CAPTRUST’s industry leading financial wellness content, including Vested Magazine.
While we believe all employees can benefit from tailored financial advice, your most senior employees often need extra help to navigate their complex financial situations. For those who are interested, CAPTRUST can also deliver discounted comprehensive wealth management services, which would include ongoing discretionary asset management and implementation of all financial planning recommendations to help them grow and guard their wealth.
To learn more about this valuable financial planning tool and the impact it could have on your key employees, contact your financial advisor or visit CAPTRUST.com today.
Why High-Earning Executives Value Nonqualified Plans
The video explains that a nonqualified deferred-compensation plan (NQDC) is a selective savings vehicle designed for roughly the top 10 percent of your workforce—those who routinely bump against 401(k) or 403(b) contribution ceilings. Because NQDCs are exempt from many IRS limits and most ERISA nondiscrimination rules, sponsors can:
Lift the lid on deferrals and matches. Participants may defer a much larger share of salary, bonuses, or commissions, while employers can layer on uncapped matching or discretionary credits.
Customize eligibility and vesting. Plans can target only highly compensated employees and use bespoke vesting schedules to sharpen retention incentives.
Offer broader investment choice and flexible payouts. Recordkeepers often mirror or expand the qualified-plan menu and let executives schedule in-service or post-retirement distributions that align with future cash-flow needs and tax planning.
Sponsor Benefits at a Glance
Recruitment & retention edge in competitive talent markets
Minimal ERISA reporting—no Form 5500 filing, no annual audit
Administrative efficiencies when the NQDC rides on the same record-keeper platform as the qualified plan
Key Trade-Offs to Weigh
Assets remain unfunded and subject to corporate creditors, so financial-health monitoring is critical.
Plan design must respect Section 409A timing rules for deferral elections and distributions to avoid adverse taxes.
Because payouts are taxable as ordinary income to participants, sponsors should evaluate whether future tax-rate trends support the plan’s appeal.
When Demand Peaks
Interest in nonqualified plans typically rises when top tax brackets are expected to increase, markets are strong, and unemployment is low—all factors that push executives to seek additional, tax-efficient savings space.