Franchise 401k Plans
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OUR SERVICES

Franchises, Affiliate Groups,
Associations & Organizational
Retirement Plan Consulting.
What We Do. How We Do It.

Independent advice. Fiduciary process. Plan design expertise built for franchise operators — not adapted from a corporate template.

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Service Catalog

Everything We Do for Your Plan.

Our services cover the full lifecycle of your retirement plan — from initial design to ongoing compliance, fiduciary oversight, and employee engagement.

Plan Design Consulting

We design the structure of your plan from the ground up — eligibility rules, vesting schedules, contribution formulas, and safe harbor elections optimized for your franchise workforce and ownership structure.
✓Eligibility, entry dates, and vesting
✓Match, safe harbor, and profit sharing design
✓Franchise workforce demographic optimization

Fee & Design Benchmarking

We compare your total plan cost against the market across every fee category — setup, base, per-participant, AUM, and transaction fees — surfacing the costs that are easy to miss, and presenting the findings clearly rather than in a wall of numbers.
✓Hidden fee identification
✓Market comparison report
✓Complimentary — no commitment required

3(38) Investment Fiduciary

We accept appointment as your ERISA 3(38) investment manager, taking full discretionary authority to select, monitor, and replace the plan's investments. Responsibility for those investment decisions — and the liability that attaches to them — shifts from you to us in writing; you retain the duty to select and monitor us prudently.
✓Discretionary investment authority transfers to us
✓Ongoing fund monitoring and replacement
✓Written IPS and quarterly review on record

Fiduciary Governance & Documentation

We review and formalize your plan's fiduciary governance structure — identifying documentation gaps, establishing your annual compliance calendar, and ensuring all required agreements are signed and dated.
✓Governance gap analysis
✓Annual fiduciary calendar: audit, testing, 5500
✓Documented selection and monitoring process

Employee Education & Enrollment

We support employee onboarding and ongoing education so your workforce understands and uses the benefit you are providing — supporting participation and reducing administrative burden on your HR team.
✓5-minute mobile enrollment
✓Automatic enrollment setup
✓Live human support for participants

Plan Conversion Management

We manage your conversion from an existing provider start to finish — coordinating due diligence, plan document execution, and asset transfer so you do not chase anyone. Plan typically live in 30 days, with full asset transfer generally completed within 90 — timing depends on your prior provider, plan assets, payroll, and documentation.
✓48-hour due diligence review
✓Employee contributions continue without interruption
✓One point of contact throughout

Ongoing Plan Monitoring

We provide continuous compliance monitoring, annual plan reviews, and investment oversight so your plan evolves as your business does — without you having to manage it day to day.
✓Annual plan review and benchmark
✓Continuous compliance monitoring
✓Investment oversight and fund review

Tax Credit Optimization

We identify the federal tax credits your business may be eligible to claim — admin cost credits, per-employee contribution credits, and auto-enrollment credits — and complete Form 8881 on your behalf.
✓Up to $5k/yr admin credit (3 years)
✓Up to $1k/employee contribution credit (5 years)
✓$500 auto-enroll credit (3 years)

Profit Sharing & Cash Balance Design

We model what a coordinated Profit Sharing and Cash Balance stack could shelter for you and your key employees — which can reach well beyond what a 401(k) deferral alone allows. We build this analysis into every plan design from day one.
✓Owner and key-employee contribution modeling
✓Cash balance plan design and actuarial coordination
✓Age- and comp-based contribution stacking
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The Power of the Full Framework

Put It All Together

When every service works together, the result isn't incremental improvement — it's a fundamentally different retirement benefit. Here is what that can look like when the full framework is applied.
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A plan designed around your actual franchise structure, entity count, and workforce
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Every fee surfaced and benchmarked — including revenue sharing and costs embedded in fund expense ratios
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Total plan cost reductions that, in our modeled conversion scenarios, may reach 66% versus legacy bundled arrangements
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Participant transaction fees — loans, distributions, QDRO, wires — at $0 under our published fee schedule
✓
Investment selection and monitoring shifted to a 3(38) fiduciary under written appointment
✓
Fiduciary documentation gaps closed and an annual governance calendar in place from day one
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Auto-enrollment and auto-escalation built in — design features under which participation may more than double
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Plan typically live in 30 days, with employee contributions continuing uninterrupted
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SECURE 2.0 credits identified and filed — a qualifying new plan with 10 eligible employees could claim $44,000 over five years
Illustrative figures modeled on our published pricing and 2026 statutory limits under favorable assumptions — not projections or guarantees. The 66% cost-reduction figure is fully reconciled with entity-level assumptions on the pricing case study. The $44,000 assumes a qualifying employer with 50 or fewer employees, 10 of them eligible non-highly compensated employees earning $110,000 or less in 2026 who each receive $1,000 a year in employer contributions: $7,500 in startup credits ($250 per eligible employee, $2,500 a year for three years), $1,500 in auto-enrollment credits, and $35,000 in contribution credits ($1,000 per employee in years one and two, then $750, $500, and $250 as the credit percentage steps down). Actual credits depend on employee count, compensation, and contributions. Cost and participation outcomes vary by plan. Not tax advice — consult your tax professional.
On fiduciary delegation: Appointing a 3(38) investment manager or 3(16) administrator transfers specific duties — and the liability attaching to them — away from the plan sponsor, but does not eliminate fiduciary status. Under ERISA, an appointing sponsor retains the duty to select and monitor those fiduciaries prudently, may retain co-fiduciary exposure, and keeps any duties outside the written delegation. We document that selection and monitoring process on your behalf. Allocation of duties is governed by your service agreements and plan documents.

Not sure which services apply to your situation?

Schedule a 30-minute conversation. We will tell you exactly what applies — and what does not. No obligation.
Scenarios We Solve. Framework We Apply.

What a Franchise 401(k) Can Look Like When It Is Built Right

Illustrative scenarios modeled on our published pricing foundation and 2026 federal limits — showing what the right framework makes possible.
Illustrative Scenario Reducing franchise 401k plan costs
Plan Cost Reduction

Where a Multi-Unit QSR Operator Could Cut Plan Costs by 49%

Consider a 14-unit quick-service franchise operator with roughly 100 eligible participants and just over $5,000,000 in plan assets, nine years into the same bundled 401(k). For a plan of this size, the 401k Averages Book reports an average bundled cost of 1.26% of assets, plus a separately reported average advisor fee of 0.37% — a fully-loaded average of 1.63%. Converting a plan with this profile to a Syndicate structure, at $110 per month base plus $2 per participant per month, a 0.15% AUM fee that includes 3(16) and 3(38) services, and a 0.60% advisory fee for a plan this size, brings the fully-loaded cost to roughly 0.82%, while improving the investment menu and bringing participant transaction fees to $0.
Bundled cost benchmark: 401k Averages Book, 22nd Edition (100 participants, $5,000,000 in assets). Advisor compensation benchmark: 401k Averages Book, 25th Edition, as reported by 401(k) Specialist (June 2025). Modeled against our published Syndicate fee schedule and our advisory fee schedule for plans of this size; actual advisory fee and savings depend on current fee load, participant count, plan assets, and fund lineup.
Modeled Outcome
Up to 49% reduction in fully-loaded plan cost, $0 participant transaction fees
Illustrative Scenario Multi-partner franchise ownership group reviewing tax strategy
Tax Strategy & Profit Sharing

Where a Multi-Partner Group Could Stack Over $900,000 in Combined Annual Tax Shelter

Consider three co-owners of a multi-unit franchise group, all in their late 50s, contributing only the standard 401(k) deferral and leaving most of their legal shelter capacity untouched. A coordinated Profit Sharing and Cash Balance stack, modeled to each partner's age and compensation, could raise each owner's annual shelter from roughly $32,500 to over $300,000 — a combined total that may exceed $900,000 sheltered from taxable income in a single year.
Modeled on 2026 statutory limits: $24,500 deferral plus $8,000 age-50 catch-up, a $72,000 §415(c) defined contribution limit, and cash balance credits actuarially determined by age and compensation. Requires sufficient compensation, favorable census, and passing nondiscrimination testing.
Modeled Outcome
Up to $900,000 in combined annual tax shelter across three owners
Illustrative Scenario Franchise association members reviewing group retirement plan
Fiduciary Governance

Where a Franchise Association Could Shift Fiduciary Exposure Off 60 Member Operators

Consider a franchise association whose 60 member operators each run their own standalone 401(k), each personally named as Plan Administrator with no documented governance process. Exposure in that posture is significant. Moving the association onto a group structure with an appointed 3(16) plan administrator and 3(38) investment manager could shift day-to-day administration and discretionary investment responsibility away from each member operator while consolidating costs across the group. Each member retains the duty to select and monitor those appointed fiduciaries prudently — a responsibility we document on their behalf.
Delegation under ERISA §3(16) and §3(38) reallocates specified duties; it does not eliminate fiduciary status.
Modeled Outcome
Investment and administrative duties shifted to appointed fiduciaries across 60 member operators
Illustrative Scenario Small business owner franchise storefront
Employee Participation

Where Participation Could Climb from 34% After Redesign

Consider a 6-unit retail franchise offering a 401(k) in which barely a third of eligible employees participate — no automatic enrollment, no auto-escalation, and a fund lineup most employees find difficult to navigate. Redesigning with auto-enrollment at 6%, auto-escalation to 10%, and a simplified three-tier investment menu addresses each of those barriers directly. Vanguard's How America Saves 2026 reports a 94% participation rate across plans with automatic enrollment, compared with 64% in voluntary-enrollment plans.
Participation figures per Vanguard, How America Saves 2026, reflecting 2025 plan-year data across Vanguard defined contribution plans. Results depend on workforce demographics, compensation, turnover, and employee elections.
Modeled Outcome
Participation potentially reaching up to 94% following automatic enrollment
The scenarios above are hypothetical illustrations, not actual clients, engagements, or results achieved. They are modeled on our published fee schedule, 2026 federal statutory limits, and third-party industry benchmarking data under favorable assumptions. Hypothetical results have inherent limitations, do not reflect unfavorable conditions, and are not projections or guarantees. Actual outcomes depend on your current provider and fee structure, participant count, plan assets, entity form, owner age and compensation, employee census, nondiscrimination testing, actuarial assumptions, and individual employee elections, and may be materially less favorable. Delegation to 3(16) and 3(38) fiduciaries reallocates specified duties but does not eliminate fiduciary status. Nothing here is tax, legal, or investment advice — consult your tax professional and ERISA counsel.
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Common Questions

Services FAQ

What is the difference between a 3(21) and a 3(38) fiduciary?
A 3(21) co-fiduciary makes investment recommendations but the plan sponsor retains final approval and shares liability. A 3(38) investment fiduciary has full discretionary authority — the advisor selects, monitors, and replaces investments without sponsor approval. Responsibility for those investment decisions, and the liability that attaches to them, shifts to the advisor in writing; the sponsor retains the duty to select and monitor the advisor prudently. 3(38) is our standard offering.
What does a 3(16) plan administrator do?
A 3(16) administrator handles the day-to-day fiduciary responsibilities of running the plan — eligibility, enrollment, required annual notices, compliance monitoring, and government filings including the Form 5500. When a 3(16) is engaged, the plan sponsor's operational burden and associated liability are substantially reduced.
What is an Investment Policy Statement?
An IPS is a written document defining the criteria and process for selecting, monitoring, and replacing plan investments. It is the foundation of a defensible fiduciary process. Without one, there is no documented framework to show regulators or courts that investment decisions were made prudently.
What does nondiscrimination testing cover?
The ADP test (deferral rates between HCEs and non-HCEs), the ACP test (employer matching), the top-heavy test (key employee asset concentration), and the coverage test (eligible employee inclusion). We run these continuously and automatically — not annually after the fact. Issues are corrected early, before they become violations.
Is compliance testing included or billed separately?
Included at $0. Nondiscrimination testing is automated and continuous on our platform. It is not billed separately by a TPA at year-end. See pricing for the full fee breakdown.
What does fee benchmarking involve?
We compare your current plan's total cost — base, per-participant, AUM, and transaction fees — against market rates, identify hidden or mislabeled fees, flag missing fiduciary provisions, and present findings in plain language. Your plan's 408(b)(2) fee disclosure is the most useful document to bring. See proposal review.
How does plan conversion project management work?
Two assigned specialists manage the full transfer — a 48-hour due diligence review, direct coordination with your prior provider, and continuous employee contributions throughout. No contribution blackout. Typical timeline: 30 days to establish, 90 days for full asset transfer. See plan conversion.
Do you complete IRS Form 8881 for SECURE 2.0 credits?
Yes. We complete Form 8881 on your behalf and deliver it with your plan documents so the startup costs, employer contributions, and auto-enrollment credits are actually claimed. Many businesses miss these credits simply because no one prepares the form. See tax credits.
Do you model profit sharing and cash balance plans for the owner?
Yes. We model what a coordinated Profit Sharing and Cash Balance stack could shelter for you and your key employees — often well beyond what a basic 401(k) alone allows. Many bundled providers rarely run this analysis; we build it into every plan design from day one.
Your Franchise. Your People. Your Plan.
Isn't It Time Your Franchise Had a 401(k) Built for It?
Franchise ownership creates retirement plan complexity that generic providers were not designed for. A complimentary benchmark review takes 30 minutes and shows you how your current plan's costs, structure, and fiduciary process compare to the market.
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Fiduciary-grade 401(k) consulting built exclusively for franchise operators, from single-unit owners to multi-brand enterprise groups.
AIF® QPFC® CPFA™ C(k)P® Ri(k)™
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Capital Investment Company of Virginia and Franchise 401k Plans are trade names of Retirement Fiduciaries of VA, LLC. Investment advisory services are offered by J. Andy Ingram, an investment adviser representative of Sollinda Capital Management, a Registered Investment Adviser. An additional advisory fee applies for investment advisory services. This fee is separate from and in addition to the plan administration, recordkeeping, and AUM fees described on this site, and varies based on total plan assets and whether the engagement involves a new plan or a plan conversion. This website is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute an offer or solicitation to buy or sell any securities or investment products. Past performance is not indicative of future results. All plan design, consulting, and fiduciary services are subject to a formal written engagement agreement. Nothing on this site constitutes tax or legal advice. Please consult your tax professional or attorney regarding specific tax questions, including eligibility for federal tax credits under SECURE 2.0. Retirement plan consulting services are provided in connection with qualified plan platforms governed by applicable ERISA regulations.
Sollinda Capital Management, an SEC-registered investment adviser (CRD #321742), is located at 1111 Brickell Ave., 10th Floor, Suite 68, Miami, FL 33131 | (844) 662-1211. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. You can review Sollinda Capital Management's Form ADV Part 2A and Form CRS (Client Relationship Summary, February 2026), check its background on FINRA BrokerCheck, or view its profile on the SEC's Investment Adviser Public Disclosure (IAPD) website.
© 2026 franchise401kplans.com  |  J. Andy Ingram, AIF®, QPFC®, CPFA™, C(k)P®, Ri(k)™  |  1-844-4-RETPLAN  |  aingram@franchise401kplans.com