Decimal Nudges Sponsors to Adopt Roth 401KWIRE.COM By Marie Glancy Decimal, Inc., parent company of The Online 401(k), will offer the Roth 401(k) for the first time this week, its CEO told the 401kWire. The San Francisco recordkeeping firm, which focuses on small businesses with 2 to 50 employees, has already had interested inquiries from about 10 percent of its client base, said founder and chief Chad Parks. In a phone interview last week, Parks said the Roth is a valuable but little-understood offering. "People perceive it to be more complicated than it actually is," he said. For sponsors, he added, "there's no extra burden, other than educating the participant." To convince sponsors this contention is true, Decimal has prepared a question-and-answer document explaining the "three easy steps" an employer must take to add the Roth option, including informing its payroll provider, signing a "Roth Amendment," and educating staff. When it comes to participant education, in fact, the Online 401(k) will do most of the work by providing educational materials on its site and automatically informing those who log on to an "online enrollment meeting." The Online 401(k) also offers a Roth calculator for participants to track their savings. Parks said the Roth is a much-needed incentive for American workers to save more, though other such encouragements are needed. Marketing it is easier in cases where sponsor decision makers stand to benefit substantially from adopting the product, he suggested: "We think our market will be more interested in this than the larger companies, since we work directly with many business owners who can benefit from the Roth." In a few weeks, Decimal plans another launch, this time of tools |
