Benefits without the commission hustle
Employee benefits are one of the largest line items on most small-business P&Ls, and one of the least-examined. Part of that is because the entire benefits industry is built on commissions. The broker who sells the group health plan earns a percentage of premiums forever. The 401(k) advisor who installs the plan earns a percentage of plan assets forever. The incentive to revisit those decisions, honestly, sits nowhere inside that structure.
We work the other side of the table. We take a flat fee from the owner and nothing from the carriers, the platforms, or the brokers we introduce. That is not a marketing tagline — it is the mechanical condition that makes the advice worth taking. When the only person paying us is the one whose employees are paying the fees, the math works out in a direction that surprises owners who have only ever worked with commission-paid advisors.
Benefits rarely sit in their own room. They show up in almost every conversation on the work we do alongside owners across Northern NJ, because the dollars flowing into a 401(k) or a health plan are the same dollars shaping everything else on the balance sheet.
The small-business 401(k): fiduciary responsibility in plain English
Most owners we meet do not realize that sponsoring a 401(k) plan makes them a fiduciary under federal law. That means the owner is legally on the hook for whether the plan's fees are reasonable and whether the investment menu serves the employees. When a plan goes wrong, the Department of Labor does not knock on the platform's door. It knocks on the owner's.
What this looks like in practice: a plan where the recordkeeper charges the employees a quarter percent, the investment manager charges another quarter percent, and the fund menu adds another half percent on top of that. The owner had no idea any of that was happening because the platform does not send them an invoice. The fees come directly out of the employees' balances, quietly, every quarter.
We read the fee disclosures the platforms are required to send but almost nobody actually opens. We benchmark what your plan is charging against what plans your size should cost, and we tell you whether the spread is acceptable. Sometimes the answer is yes. Often it is not, and the right move is a conversation with a different third-party administrator — one we have no financial relationship with.
Group health, disability, and life — one broker or three
The default on most small-business benefits stacks is that one broker handles group health, group disability, and group life together. It is convenient, and it usually means the owner is leaving money on the table. Different carriers are competitive on different products in different years, and the broker whose best relationship is in group health is rarely also the best relationship in disability.
We do not sell any of these products. What we do is look at the shape of the stack and ask whether the broker who placed the health plan is also the right person to be quoting the disability program. Sometimes the answer is yes. Often it is a call worth making to a specialist who never would have shown up uninvited. Separating the three usually improves at least one of them, and it almost never makes the others worse.
For owners who want to go one layer deeper on plan design for very small teams or solo practices, the math on contribution ceilings and payroll treatment lives on our page about SEP-IRAs and Solo 401(k)s for one-person firms and tiny teams. It pairs naturally with the benefits audit we run for larger shops.
Benefits planning also overlaps with owner-transition work. When a sale or internal buyout is on the horizon, the coverage the team relies on becomes part of the story a buyer is reading — which is why we often pair this work with the ten-year view on owner exits and continuity for the team.
What working with us looks like
First meeting — the benefits audit
We meet at your place of business, usually for about ninety minutes. Bring the most recent plan documents you can find: 401(k) fee disclosure, group health renewal, disability and life policy summaries, the last broker-of-record letter. We do not need it organized. We will sort through it. By the end of the meeting we can usually tell you where the stack is healthy and where it is not.
Written benchmark and recommendations
You get a written document comparing what you are paying to what plans your size typically pay. We name specific structural changes worth exploring and, where relevant, specific independent brokers or third-party administrators to talk to. We take no referral fee from any of them. If staying with your current setup is the right call, we will say so.
A note on fit
When this might not be right for you
This work is not for everyone, and honest disqualification is part of it. We are probably not your best fit if any of these describe you:
- Anyone looking to buy a specific benefits product from us. We sell no products, so there is nothing to buy.
- Anyone who wants a single broker handling every line of coverage for the convenience of a single phone call. That model is real and valid; it is just not what we do.
- Anyone expecting the advice to be free because it is embedded in the premium. Fee-only means you pay us directly.
- Anyone hoping to shift the fiduciary responsibility onto us without changing how the plan is actually run. Fiduciary duty follows the authority, and a written advisor agreement does not erase an owner's underlying obligation.
If that is the arrangement you want, we will say so on the first call.
Frequently asked questions
What does a 401(k) for a small business actually cost?
For a small firm, a well-designed 401(k) plan usually costs a few thousand dollars a year in administration plus per-participant recordkeeping fees. Many owners discover their current plan charges employees close to a full percent on top of that, hidden inside the fund expense ratios. We look at the total cost to the plan — not the sticker price — and we often find the same structure available for materially less.
Am I a fiduciary on my employees' 401(k)?
Yes, almost certainly. If you sponsor the plan, you are a fiduciary under federal law, which means you are legally responsible for whether the fees and investment options are reasonable for the employees. You can delegate some of that responsibility to a co-fiduciary or investment manager, but you cannot delegate it away completely. Most owners we meet did not know this until we brought it up.
Can you help me pick a group health plan?
We do not sell group health plans, but we review the ones you are being offered and tell you whether the renewal you are looking at is competitive for your size and geography. When a broker change is warranted, we introduce you to independent brokers we have worked with, and we take no referral fee. The broker sells the plan; we tell you whether the plan is worth buying.
We're a three-person shop — do we even need benefits planning?
Yes, and arguably more than a larger firm does. Small headcount means every decision lands harder on each person. A SIMPLE IRA, a SEP-IRA, or a Solo 401(k) might be a better fit than a traditional 401(k), depending on your structure. We walk through the options honestly, because size is not a gatekeeper here and the right plan is usually simpler than the industry wants it to be.
How do you work with my existing benefits broker?
Without turf. Your broker can stay in place if the arrangement is working. Our job is to look at the total stack and tell you where it is healthy and where it is not. Sometimes that conversation leads to a different broker, and sometimes it confirms you already have the right one. Either outcome is fine with us because we are paid the same either way.
How do you bill for benefits work?
We bill a flat engagement fee for the initial benefits audit, then an optional ongoing retainer if you want annual review work. Fees are quoted in writing before you agree to anything, and they do not change based on which products you ultimately buy, because we do not sell any. The fee sizes to the complexity of your stack, not to the premiums flowing through it.