Northgate Benefits is an employee benefits company with a specialty in Qualified and Non Qualified retirement planning and a member company of National Retirement Partners. National Retirement Partners has been recognized by Plan Sponsor Magazine as a Best in Class. Northgate's affiliation with National Retirement Partners brings a national presence to local clients. The following are some of the Retirement Planning services that offer to our customers.

Vendor Review and Selection

Northgate Benefits first goal is to ask the right questions to understand the needs of the employer. Often the current Vendor can satisfy the needs of the employer, Northgate Benefits approach is to understand if all the tools available from the Vendor are being properly deployed. Our experience in the market place allows us to ask the proper questions to determine the potential of existing Vendors as well as alternative Vendors.

If it becomes necessary for any number of reasons to "market" the existing plan, Northgate Benefits will help the employer with the Request for Proposal (RFP) and lead the process of selection. This would include investment related decisions, plan design, implementation, initial communication and ongoing communication and monitoring.

Fiduciary Consulting

As a fiduciary of a retirement plan, employers are held to a very high standard. In fact, their personal wealth is at risk. As such it is very important that all fiduciary requirements are met on an ongoing basis. National Retirement Partners employees an independent Chartered Financial Analysts (CFA) to provide both Quantitative and Qualitative analysis of investment programs offered by all top Vendors on a quarterly basis.

Plan Design

Congress continually changes the rules of qualified plans. Over the last decade plan sponsors have been burdened with an overwhelming volume of legislation, making continual review of retirement plans essential. It is critical that legal compliance and design aspects of a plan are current. Legislation dictates uniformity for certain plan features, however, recent law changes are aimed at increasing employee participation and restoring some of the incentives and benefits of qualified plans.

Investment Selection and Ongoing Monitoring

Northgate Benefits provides comprehensive analysis by utilizing multiple tools, including Zephyr's Style Advisor, one of the most robust investment tools available. Each investment is evaluated by more than a dozen different and objective analytical measurements, including:

Performing the analysis up front to select the appropriate investments and performing the analysis on an ongoing basis is essential to documenting compliance with the Department of Labor guidelines and to minimize exposure to fiduciary liability.

Why Fee Based Consulting?

Market volatility makes it critical for retirement plan sponsors and fiduciaries to develop and maintain investment due diligence procedures and supporting documentation. In many cases the best available investment products provide $0 commissions for a broker. As a result, these investments are often over looked in the design of a retirement program. Rick Wedge is registered as a Registered Investment Advisor Reprsentative with NRP Financial. As such, we can accept fees as an alternative to commissions. The result is a truly unbiased approach to investment review.

A fee based management schedule does not reward an advisor for trading in an account or by partnering with specific mutual fund families. Instead, fee based management creates higher compensation only when the assets of the plan grow. This eliminates the conflict that can be inherent in commission based products. In our opinion, the customer never needs to second guess the motivation of the fee based consultant.

Our affiliation with National Retirement Partners allows us to work with the retirement plan committee to develop and maintain the plan's investment strategy, which is codified in an Investment Policy Statement.

The investment policy statement is used as a guide to evaluate your current investment offerings, measuring them against applicable indices, your existing provider's complete menu and the broader universe of investment options.


©2006 Northgate Benefits