Feedback on Guideline 401k

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mdds
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Joined: Sat Jul 08, 2017 3:39 pm

Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by mdds »

Hi everyone,

I am a partner in a small business which will have ~20 participants and am considering Guideline 401k and Employee Fiduciary for new 401k for 2018. The main points seem to be the following:

Guideline:
$500 setup fee
$8/participant/month (would be $1920/year for 20 participants)
No AUM fees
Good menu of low-cost Vanguard funds, some DFA as well
Provides 3(38) fiduciary responsibility and advice to participants, if participant desires

EF:
$500 setup fee
0.08% AUM fee
Can create own menu of funds
No 3(38) fiduciary responsibility or participant guidance unless adding service through Frugal Financial, which is a subsidiary of EF
AUM goes to 0.18% by adding FF

Looking for feedback on Guideline 401k as they are a newer provider. I was able to search the forums and there is some good information but a lot seems to be buried in threads, so I was hoping here at the end of 2017 to have a thread about others experience with Guideline as we are strongly considering going with them. I like the no AUM fees and that they do offer 3(38) and guidance to participants. Additional note, we do not plan to set up as profit sharing, if this makes a difference. Some points looking for:

-Ease of setup
-Website and viewing/managing investments
-Quality and responsiveness to emails and guidance to participants

Thanks!
KSActuary
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Re: Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by KSActuary »

Have never used Guideline so comments are based on review of web site and your original question. I currently offer EF as a possible 401k solution.

Guideline appears to be another version of the recent crop of internet 401k solutions where investment choices are limited to low cost index funds and advice is given to participants through a customer service structure. The intent of this approach, which is used by most internet solutions, is to present an attractive low cost solution. It is not clear who Guideline uses for recordkeeping. I am not familiar with the interface (administrative or participant) but assume that it is similar to other recent entrants into the field which is good.

EF has been around for quite some time and caters to the small business 401k market. They provide an open architecture environment for selecting funds line-ups so every fund is available. For plans with a lot of cash flow into the plan, the 8 bps trail can cause fees to exceed their competitors fairly quickly. The web site is not top notch.

As to cost comparison, they are both inexpensive and Guideline does not have any asset-based fees. I would focus on your participant group and how they will adapt to an online technology-driven customer service interface. Most participants do not use the web site or CSR for questions and everyone has questions regarding saving for retirement. As a fiduciary, the availability of advice is important and the recent internet solutions may not be the best fit but this may vary by employer.
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retiredjg
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Re: Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by retiredjg »

I have nothing to offer, but if you do use Guideline, I hope you'll come back in a year or two and give us a report. It would be nice to have a second company to suggest when people are looking for small business 401ks.
Topic Author
mdds
Posts: 17
Joined: Sat Jul 08, 2017 3:39 pm

Re: Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by mdds »

retiredjg wrote: Mon Oct 09, 2017 1:53 pm I have nothing to offer, but if you do use Guideline, I hope you'll come back in a year or two and give us a report. It would be nice to have a second company to suggest when people are looking for small business 401ks.
I definitely will do this if we end up with Guideline! Hoping someone else can jump in with some experience!
Topic Author
mdds
Posts: 17
Joined: Sat Jul 08, 2017 3:39 pm

Re: Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by mdds »

KSActuary wrote: Mon Oct 09, 2017 1:43 pm Have never used Guideline so comments are based on review of web site and your original question. I currently offer EF as a possible 401k solution.

Guideline appears to be another version of the recent crop of internet 401k solutions where investment choices are limited to low cost index funds and advice is given to participants through a customer service structure. The intent of this approach, which is used by most internet solutions, is to present an attractive low cost solution. It is not clear who Guideline uses for recordkeeping. I am not familiar with the interface (administrative or participant) but assume that it is similar to other recent entrants into the field which is good.

EF has been around for quite some time and caters to the small business 401k market. They provide an open architecture environment for selecting funds line-ups so every fund is available. For plans with a lot of cash flow into the plan, the 8 bps trail can cause fees to exceed their competitors fairly quickly. The web site is not top notch.

As to cost comparison, they are both inexpensive and Guideline does not have any asset-based fees. I would focus on your participant group and how they will adapt to an online technology-driven customer service interface. Most participants do not use the web site or CSR for questions and everyone has questions regarding saving for retirement. As a fiduciary, the availability of advice is important and the recent internet solutions may not be the best fit but this may vary by employer.
What is your thoughts on EF with or without a named/hired fiduciary? In email correspondence with EF, I was told that having one is "optional" but I am still a bit concerned with the lack of guidance, not for myself but for employees. I wouldn't use any advisory service myself as I use and manage a 4-fund portfolio myself. Something about an employer choosing an advisor for its employees feels odd to me, but maybe this is how it is typically done.
KSActuary
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Re: Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by KSActuary »

The employer, as a fiduciary, will decide who provides financial education to their employees whether it be an advisor or a CSR solution provided through the recordkeeper. Providing appropriate and cost effective participant support is one of the biggest problem with 401ks, other than hidden asset-based fees and poor fund solutions. Most employers distrust financial firms with good reason - the advisors are there to protect their ever growing asset-based fee stream which results in the employer being the focus of their attention and not the employees. It is an odd relationship. The employer, who predominantly does not pay the lion share of the fees, selects the service providers who will support the plan and its participants.

I assume that you are speaking of a 3(38) Investment Manager when you ask about hiring a fiduciary. Being a 3(38) Investment Manager relieves the employer of the fiduciary responsibility of selecting and monitoring an investment line-up in the plan. The employer is still required to monitor the actions of the appointed Investment Manager and still retains all other responsibilities of a fiduciary for the plan. I have always acted as a 3(38) Investment Manager when working with plans, including EF, as I perform the Investment Manager duties anyway when we screen and monitor the fund line-up each quarter.

The keys to a successful 401k include a low cost administrative solution coupled with a broad selection of low cost funds to choose from. How effective your plan will be long term is how well this solution is communicated and supported to the plan participants. Technology is a great tool but may not be a replacement for an advisor who can react to those participants who need to make good decisions.
Topic Author
mdds
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Re: Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by mdds »

Bumping thread. Anyone using Guideline for their small business 401k?
Topic Author
mdds
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Re: Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by mdds »

Bump again for the Monday crowd😀
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retiredjg
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Re: Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by retiredjg »

I think you may have to be our :wink: guinea pig.
Spirit Rider
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Re: Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by Spirit Rider »

I know that I have seen a handful of people here and on other forums indicating that they were going to go with guideline. Other than a couple of updates that things have been going well initially. I haven't heard anything else good or bad. Take that for what it is worth.
Monty12
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Re: Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by Monty12 »

We were using Employee Fiduciary for 5 years and then switched to Guideline at the beginning of 2017. When we were with Employee Fiduciary, we had another firm providing 3(38) services. Interesting point on this, when we told the 3(38) that we were switching to Guideline they didn't even attempt to save the business. I think they just can't compete with the pricing.

Back to Guideline. Our experience has been overwhelmingly positive and I would highly recommend Guideline. However, that is not say that there were no issues. Guideline's website and reporting are great. Certainly superior to what we experienced with Employee Fiduciary. Our safe harbor contributions are done per pay period so it's always up to date. I'm not sure if it was our particular setup with Employee Fiduciary but we had an annual true-up for the safe harbor contributions with Employee Fiduciary.

I interacted with Employee Fiduciary's customer service a number of times and was underwhelmed to say the least. Several times I was initially connected with people who had no idea what they were talking about. Guideline has had its issues in this department as well. Their customer service was mediocre when we started in 2017 but seems to have gotten a lot better. I recently had to contact them and was put in touch with someone knowledgeable right away. Earlier on it was difficult to get a response to inquiries at all.

Our rationale for switching to Guidleine was cost (no AUM fees, etc) and we figured we didn't have much to lose given the service we were getting from Employee Fiduciary. It turns out that we think we have a much better service now even though the cost is much less. So with the headline that we are very happy with Guideline, here are some issues that we encountered:

- We were initially handled by a transition team at Guideline to move our plan from Employee Fiduciary. The transition was better than I thought it would be but that mostly speaks to my low expectations. We planned deliberately moved the plan on Jan 1 and coordinated with Guideline to do this but the initial contributions were still off when the plan mechanics first kicked in. This was a startup problem that was a one time thing but it shouldn't have happened. There was a communication breakdown between the Guideline transition team and the regular team

- Some of the changes to our 401K plan docs were unanticipated. With our old plan we did not offer 401K for part-time employees who worked below a certain threshold number of hours. With Guideline, the threshold can only be based on time with the company.

- During my last portfolio rebalance, nothing seemed to happen after. I had to email Guideline to see what was going on. The rebalance was eventually completed but it took a week or something like that. I'm not sure what the problem was.

- I have been told by departed employees that Guideline charged them $50 to transfer their assets out of the plan. I have not confirmed this with Guideline myself

- The customer service was shaky and it was difficult to get in touch with people at Guideline for help but this does seems to have gotten materially better in the course of a year
pepperz
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Re: Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by pepperz »

We are about to pull the trigger with Guideline for our employees. We have 6 employees so looking at $48/month to offer this account.

Guideline integrates seamlessly with our payroll provider so convenience is the primary factor.
MidasMulligan1
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Re: Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by MidasMulligan1 »

We have used Guideline for the past 12 months or so, and the experience has been horrendous.

Profile:
- 5 employees
- were attracted to low expenses, and integrated service

Experience:
- lost documents (multiple times)
- horrific customer service after going live (multiple times, and multiple employees)
- missing forms
- terrible follow-up (dozens of times)
- junior customer service people handling sophisticated requests
- lacking basic functionality

In aggregate, we terminated the account, and they managed to (unsurprisingly) screw that up as well. If you have any reasonable expectations at all, my experience would suggest staying AWAY.
Mck2017
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Re: Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by Mck2017 »

Horrible company to work with! I would never recommend anyone to use them. I had a small business and wanted to offer my employees a 401k option and unfortunately my business closed and now trying to close this account and get my previous employees their money back has been a nightmare! I have been trying to close this since 7/2018. It’s now 12/2018 and still not resolved! They charge fees like crazy with out your knowledge then tell you they have the right because you supposedly signed some 300 pages of paperwork, which you never actually sign! Mine was all automated through a payroll service. But now of course they are both separate entities and refuse to help in resolving the matter. As it stands today they are giving me 3 days to send a $500 check or they will take all money owed to them from my previous employee accounts and mine. They tell me this is legal!!! Find a real company! Don’t torture yourself or your employees with Guideline.
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LadyGeek
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Re: Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by LadyGeek »

This thread is now in the Personal Finance (Not Investing) forum (401k plan provider).

Mck2017, Welcome!

There is a relevant discussion here: Guideline 401k [What happens if they were to bankrupt?]
Wiki To some, the glass is half full. To others, the glass is half empty. To an engineer, it's twice the size it needs to be.
craycray
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Re: Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by craycray »

I'm reviewing Guideline for a small company 401k. I would appreciate more experience feedback.
1. Is their custodian Benefit Trust Co? If so, is that where the money is held?

To follow-up on some comments in this other thread: viewtopic.php?t=223160
2. Did Guideline resolve being able to process QDRO?
3. Does Guideline have an IOS app? In the other thread (link above), dustincole provided a dropbox hyperlink to his PDF analysis that showed Guideline has a mobile app; however, I cannot find the app in Apple app store. Also, I find it strange that his analysis did not show that Fidelity has a mobile app to access 401k portal.

Thanks for all your help!
z0r
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Re: Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by z0r »

Have had guideline a year now as an employee. It's been great.

They do slow-roll rebalances. They seem to have some formula where, if they see your ongoing contributions will be able to rebalance within a month or so, they will do that instead of selling+buying. If ongoing contributions aren't quick enough for the rebalance then it seems to take 1-2 weeks for a sell+buy. I have only rebalanced twice now and had one of each type. Didn't bother me, within a month meets my needs. They should communicate this rebalance strategy up front though.
Tamer Wurf
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Re: Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by Tamer Wurf »

I have chosen to move our 401k plan to Guideline as well. I just started the process today. For those interested, here is a document they provided that lists the required features of the plan:

https://www.docdroid.net/HXpJyTM/conver ... review.pdf

Notably, the plan must allow for automatic enrollment, the employer must pay the record-keeping fees, force-out provisions are not allowed (although you don't continue to pay $8/mo for terminated employees. Instead, the terminated participant pays $4/month), the plan must allow for loans & hardship withdrawals, an hour requirement can't be part of the plan in determining eligibility, the only eligibility options are 0/3/6/9/12 months of service, all employees can become eligible for the plan (except in rare circumstances) which would include interns and part-time employees, and vesting schedules are not allowed.

Outside of allowing for loans, I'm OK with all of the above. I'd rather our employees not use 401k assets like a credit card, though. I know ~25% will end up taking loans.
InvisiBill
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Re: Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by InvisiBill »

Tamer Wurf wrote: Wed Dec 19, 2018 8:11 pm I have chosen to move our 401k plan to Guideline as well. I just started the process today. For those interested, here is a document they provided that lists the required features of the plan:
Who were you with before, and why did you want to switch? We're looking at setting up a plan, and I'm curious why people might choose to leave an existing provider.
Tamer Wurf
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Re: Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by Tamer Wurf »

ke6lbm wrote: Wed Dec 19, 2018 8:48 pm
Tamer Wurf wrote: Wed Dec 19, 2018 8:11 pm I have chosen to move our 401k plan to Guideline as well. I just started the process today. For those interested, here is a document they provided that lists the required features of the plan:
Who were you with before, and why did you want to switch? We're looking at setting up a plan, and I'm curious why people might choose to leave an existing provider.
We are with American Funds. All funds have an expense ratio of 1.5-2%, and all funds have significantly under-performed their benchmarks over the last 10 years. Employees don't have online access, and all changes are required to be made via paper form requests. All contributions have to be manually entered after payroll is run by one of our administrative employees, and the company has under-calculated the employer match every time since the plan started in 2015. There's going to be a pretty big corrective contribution, plus lost earnings calculation. I just started with the company a week and a half ago, and moving has been my #1 priority.
InvisiBill
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Re: Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by InvisiBill »

Tamer Wurf wrote: Thu Dec 20, 2018 4:54 am We are with American Funds. All funds have an expense ratio of 1.5-2%, and all funds have significantly under-performed their benchmarks over the last 10 years. Employees don't have online access, and all changes are required to be made via paper form requests. All contributions have to be manually entered after payroll is run by one of our administrative employees, and the company has under-calculated the employer match every time since the plan started in 2015. There's going to be a pretty big corrective contribution, plus lost earnings calculation. I just started with the company a week and a half ago, and moving has been my #1 priority.
Thank you. We were not considering American Funds, but having that type of feedback about a provider is very helpful.
gsmith
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Re: Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by gsmith »

We started a new 401k with Guideline.
I think it's a good deal at $8 per head, but they don't do cater to complicated plans.
There are participant fees for loans, inactive accounts, etc, but reasonable IMO.

Great:
1. Easy setup, they borrow almost all their information from OnPay, our payroll provider.
2. Employees can choose to reallocate, change contribution amounts, or Pretax or Roth %s at any time without bothering HR.
3. On the backend, they seem to be using State Street Trust as custodian, or at least that's where the ACH come from
4. They encourage participants to use a percentage based asset allocation, instead of pick a fund.
5. Employer matches are made with every payroll, instead of year end.
6. Guideline should only rebalance your portfolio automatically when your entire portfolio has a “drift”* of 5% or more from your target allocation.
*“Portfolio drift” is calculated as the sum of each investment’s absolute deviation from its targeted allocation, divided by 2. For example, a portfolio has a target allocation of 50% Fund A, 30% Fund B, and 20% Fund C. The current allocation is 40% Fund A, 36% Fund B, and 24% Fund C. Portfolio drift will be (10+6+4)/2 = 10% and will trigger a rebalance according to Guideline’s rebalancing methodology.

Not-so-great:
1. They don't offer an automated transaction history per fund, just "here is how much you contributed in past, here's your match, and # of shares you own currently" This is probably due to reallocation, but I still would enjoy an "audit trail" like report.
2. It takes ~1.5 weeks from payday to settlement. The website is reflected 3 days once the ACH pull is made, which itself takes a week.
3. They don't handle Roth IRA rollovers
4. They don't handle after-tax 401ks.
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banhbao
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Re: Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by banhbao »

Hello,

I found this thread while searching for Guideline in the bogleheads forum. I would also like to consider Guideline for our small business because the costs appear to be phenomenally low. (For reference, our current provider charges something like 1.25% annually for "recordkeeping services"... but I can stomach it because we have extremely low expense ratios, down to 0.02%...)

But, I am a bit worried because I see two posts here regarding horrible experiences... that is quite concerning. Just wondering if these are outliers, or indicative of an underling problem with this company.

Thank you.
bmleaser
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Re: Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by bmleaser »

We have been using guideline at my company for a while now. Their pricing is great, options are limited, website is good, payroll integration is great, but customer service is awful. If you have an issue and you keep contacting them it will eventually get resolved. However expect it to take weeks and have to deal with multiple customer service agent. Overall I think the that positives out weight the negatives. Much like vanguard they are low cost and it shows in there customer support. However, if you want a cheap basic safe harbor plan with low cost funds they can't be beat.
MotoTrojan
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Re: Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by MotoTrojan »

Really enjoy mine. Only drawback is it works more like M1 Finance in that you control AA via % of allocation and cannot independently control your old vs. new money allocations, it will simply rebalance as added. Doesn’t impact me though. Great fund options.
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gilgamesh
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Re: Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by gilgamesh »

MotoTrojan wrote: Wed Mar 27, 2019 4:24 pm Really enjoy mine. Only drawback is it works more like M1 Finance in that you control AA via % of allocation and cannot independently control your old vs. new money allocations, it will simply rebalance as added. Doesn’t impact me though. Great fund options.
I did not know this, very interesting. I assume you can change your AA any time.
MotoTrojan
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Re: Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by MotoTrojan »

gilgamesh wrote: Wed Mar 27, 2019 4:59 pm
MotoTrojan wrote: Wed Mar 27, 2019 4:24 pm Really enjoy mine. Only drawback is it works more like M1 Finance in that you control AA via % of allocation and cannot independently control your old vs. new money allocations, it will simply rebalance as added. Doesn’t impact me though. Great fund options.
I did not know this, very interesting. I assume you can change your AA any time.
Correct and it’ll rebalance (also does this if you hit bands, believe 5% but not sure).

Works fine for me as I use my spreadsheet to review overall AA and see what I’d need to make 401k % wise in order to balance and then I’m set. But I know some people like the emotional aspect of having one AA on portfolio balance and then have new contributions come in at something different (100% bonds or equities perhaps).

Seems the change occurs next-day just like regular MFs.
anisomorpha
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Re: Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by anisomorpha »

We've been using Guideline for just over a year. We currently have approx 140 employees with $7 mil in assets with Guideline.com. We transferred from our previous plan, which when you calculate admin, record keeping, average fund exp, etc., the employee's total 401k fees were reduced from an average of 1.51% with previous solution to .09% with Guideline. HUGE win! No other employee or employer fees than what you see on their website. Seriously.

We had a rocky start getting into a consistent groove with payroll processing and regular asset investing, but once ironed out, our contributions are withdrawn 4 days prior to payday and Guideline has them invested the same day employees receive their pay (same 4 days later). I would not hesitate to recommend Guideline.
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gilgamesh
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Re: Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by gilgamesh »

Anyone has Roth401k with guideline...I might consider safeharbor 401k with Roth option.
Maui Business
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Re: Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by Maui Business »

Make sure you know how to cancel the program and what Guideline will charge. There was WAYYYYYYY MORE than met the eye with the 401K that we set up. Initially, Alex Kemper was easy to deal with and helped us set up the account and it was easy to begin sending them funds. Now we are trying to unroll the program and it is a logistic nightmare full of charges and fees. Charging fees and expecting us to communicate with long ago terminated employees and paying fees while we wait for these long ago terminated employees to take action. BEWARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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gilgamesh
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Re: Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by gilgamesh »

Maui Business wrote: Sat Apr 13, 2019 3:05 pm Make sure you know how to cancel the program and what Guideline will charge. There was WAYYYYYYY MORE than met the eye with the 401K that we set up. Initially, Alex Kemper was easy to deal with and helped us set up the account and it was easy to begin sending them funds. Now we are trying to unroll the program and it is a logistic nightmare full of charges and fees. Charging fees and expecting us to communicate with long ago terminated employees and paying fees while we wait for these long ago terminated employees to take action. BEWARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Is there any other fees than mentioned here
https://my.guideline.com/agreements/ann ... disclosure
Spirit Rider
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Re: Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by Spirit Rider »

Maui Business wrote: Sat Apr 13, 2019 3:05 pm Make sure you know how to cancel the program and what Guideline will charge. There was WAYYYYYYY MORE than met the eye with the 401K that we set up. Initially, Alex Kemper was easy to deal with and helped us set up the account and it was easy to begin sending them funds. Now we are trying to unroll the program and it is a logistic nightmare full of charges and fees. Charging fees and expecting us to communicate with long ago terminated employees and paying fees while we wait for these long ago terminated employees to take action. BEWARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Beware of what? Guideline has their problems being a bare bones, no frill, low cost safe harbor 401k provider. You get what you pay for. When you hire someone like Guideline you need to understand that for that low price you are assuming a lot of the administrative responsibilities.

However, It really sounds like you didn't do your due diligence in understanding just what is involved in being a plan sponsor/administrator of a safe harbor 401k plan. Guideline isn't the one creating the logistics nightmare, you did that by not understanding what you were getting into and bailing. Guideline is just doing what the IRS requires to terminate a safe harbor 401k plan. All plan assets must be distributed/rolled over to all participants.
Staying the Course
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Re: Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by Staying the Course »

Curiously, the strongly negative reviews are only coming from single-post accounts. That could mean they simply haven’t had reason to post anything until now, but that coupled with the fondness for exclamation points make me skeptical, to say the least.
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banhbao
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Re: Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by banhbao »

Staying the Course wrote: Sat Apr 13, 2019 11:45 pm Curiously, the strongly negative reviews are only coming from single-post accounts. That could mean they simply haven’t had reason to post anything until now, but that coupled with the fondness for exclamation points make me skeptical, to say the least.
I noticed the exact same thing... when you see statistics like this you must remain skeptical:

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Last active:Tue Dec 11, 2018 8:27 pm

To be fair, perhaps they have a legitimate complaint with the company. But it seems strange to me, to create an account on an online forum specifically for the purpose of making a negative comment and then never participating in the forum again.
niceguy7376
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Re: Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by niceguy7376 »

Duplicate post
Last edited by niceguy7376 on Mon Apr 15, 2019 11:03 am, edited 1 time in total.
niceguy7376
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Re: Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by niceguy7376 »

Staying the Course wrote: Sat Apr 13, 2019 11:45 pm Curiously, the strongly negative reviews are only coming from single-post accounts. That could mean they simply haven’t had reason to post anything until now, but that coupled with the fondness for exclamation points make me skeptical, to say the least.
Definitely surprising.
Even the OP had a grand total of 9 posts out of which 5 are in this topic. Multiple posts from Users that have only one single post in their profile.

As for topic, we have a SIMPLE IRA with Fido for last 13+ years and currently use Gusto as our payroll provider. They do offer guideline integration and I was tempted to move to them but we dont have enough employees participating in the SIMPLE IRA (3% match for those that contribute and willing to offer the similar match in 401k as well). Since the flat fee is minimum of $40 per month and we currently only have owner (spouse) and another employee contributing, we thought it didnt make sense to pay $40*12 = $500ish per year to have ability to contribute extra 6.5K.
Owner doesnt make enough is another point of not pulling the plug yet.
ERISA Stone
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Re: Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by ERISA Stone »

Staying the Course wrote: Sat Apr 13, 2019 11:45 pm Curiously, the strongly negative reviews are only coming from single-post accounts. That could mean they simply haven’t had reason to post anything until now, but that coupled with the fondness for exclamation points make me skeptical, to say the least.
I feel like I see this on every message board when someone doesn't like an opinion. You have 11 posts, by the way.

The best advice I have seen in relation to Guideline is basically general advice that can be applied across most subjects:
Spirit Rider wrote: Sat Apr 13, 2019 9:50 pm
Guideline has their problems being a bare bones, no frill, low cost safe harbor 401k provider. You get what you pay for. When you hire someone like Guideline you need to understand that for that low price you are assuming a lot of the administrative responsibilities.
lebushjr
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Jul 15, 2019 1:01 pm

Re: Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by lebushjr »

Hi, we had a small business using Guideline. It was very quick to setup and get participants going. Additionally it integrated with payroll provider (Gusto). While the plan was active, the service was good. But, the business sold assets and was trying to shut down US operations. Terminating the Guideline 401k plan was very difficult. The termination duration (compared to experiences with other plans) was very lengthy - 90 days. All this time collecting fees.

Any changes to an account (i.e. source of fee payments), required a discussion with a Termination Agent. A Termination Agent was never available nor would they ever call me back. The entire process was a poorly defined black box. The experience with Guideline has been one of my more frustrating when dealing with a B2B service.

So, I would not go with Guideline again given the opportunity again.
BusterMcTaco
Posts: 396
Joined: Tue Jul 11, 2017 6:36 pm

Re: Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by BusterMcTaco »

FWIW, I just initiated a direct rollover OUT of Guideline to my wife's new 401(k). They say 4-6 weeks for the disbursement check. This seems an extremely long time to me, so that's a solid negative in my book. I will try to remember to provide an update when we actually get the check.

There was also a $50 fee but I imagine that was disclosed somewhere.
pcflojet
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Jul 08, 2020 8:36 pm

Re: Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by pcflojet »

Hey, late to the party...
I also registered this account just to provide negative feedback, I was considering whether to do so or not, or to potentially help others from falling into the trap that it's easy for startup companies to setup with Guideline401k and put money into them for administering, but nightmare to take the money out.
I had the terrible misfortune of having to call them and Google'd their number and there are quite a lot of bad reviews with the same pattern of unethical practices when trying to get money out of them to rollover. So please do your research on the Google reviews and also TrustPilot https://www.trustpilot.com/review/guideline.com , you will definitely notice a pattern of delays, "lost checks in the mail", fees upon fees to cut disbursement checks, They charge Non Industry Standard Fees from such reviews gems: "Upon initiating a rollover, I was informed that they charge $50 for a distribution fee, which after consulting Charles Schwab was told is not an "industry standard" as they claim."

Again, sounds like they make it super simple to get started with them and it's all honkey dorey when you're using them, but nightmare on the way out e.g.: "Stuart Holmes
1 review
1 star: Bad
Dec 11, 2019
Guideline looks like a fintech
Guideline looks like a fintech, slick experience. But when you rollover funds they act like a bank circa 1970. They do not have electronic integration to rollover funds. it has literally been 15 years since I have been through this type of experience. "
"Zach
2 reviews
1 star: Bad
Feb 3, 2020
All is fine until you want to move to a new custodian...beware
These guys don't support industry-standard ACAT transfers and take 4-6 weeks to send a paper check with distribution. Causing you to miss market moves for a long period of time. Yet they still want to charge a $50 fee for the distribution which is neither timely nor through ACAT.

They also ridiculously won't send the distribution check directly to your new custodian and instead require it be mailed to you first, so more time is wasted in the process."

Anyways, please beware and pass the word of knowledge to any companies that may want to do business with Guideline401k to know of these pitfalls that will haunt your employees in the future.
Best Regards
401(k) Gee(k)
Posts: 10
Joined: Wed Sep 18, 2019 7:56 am

Re: Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by 401(k) Gee(k) »

Here is another site that rates Guideline. It seems to be a little less harsh than the Trustpilot reviews but there are some very scathing and recent reviews. https://www.g2.com/products/guideline/reviews
BigTexan
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Oct 14, 2020 10:21 am

Re: Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by BigTexan »

Hello All:

I, too, am considering Guideline. I have offered a SIMPLE IRA through Edward Jones for years, and it's time to make a move. I like the idea of either Guideline or Employee Fiduciary. What appeals to me about Guideline is the simplicity - once everything is set up and going. I use a local payroll provider that does not interface with Guideline, so I'm considering switching to Gusto.

I've read all of the bad reviews, but I also realize you get what you pay for. I would love to hear updates from any current users, or those who have left due to the poor customer service. I'm trying to get things rolling by 01/01/2021, and I have to notify my employees of the termination of the SIMPLE IRA by 11/02/2020.

For anyone using Employee Fiduciary, do you have any feedback you care to share on your experience with them?

Thanks!

Bryan
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retiredjg
Posts: 54082
Joined: Thu Jan 10, 2008 11:56 am

Re: Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by retiredjg »

BigTexan wrote: Wed Oct 14, 2020 11:36 am Hello All:

I, too, am considering Guideline. I have offered a SIMPLE IRA through Edward Jones for years, and it's time to make a move. I like the idea of either Guideline or Employee Fiduciary. What appeals to me about Guideline is the simplicity - once everything is set up and going. I use a local payroll provider that does not interface with Guideline, so I'm considering switching to Gusto.

I've read all of the bad reviews, but I also realize you get what you pay for. I would love to hear updates from any current users, or those who have left due to the poor customer service. I'm trying to get things rolling by 01/01/2021, and I have to notify my employees of the termination of the SIMPLE IRA by 11/02/2020.

For anyone using Employee Fiduciary, do you have any feedback you care to share on your experience with them?

Thanks!

Bryan
Welcome to the forum. :happy

I have no personal experience, but Employee Fiduciary has consistently received good reviews here for many years. I don't recall any bad reviews myself.
User avatar
retiredjg
Posts: 54082
Joined: Thu Jan 10, 2008 11:56 am

Re: Feedback on Guideline 401k

Post by retiredjg »

You can use the google box at the top right to find previous threads on either provider. There are likely to be many.
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