The 100% figure refers to the SECURE 2.0 Act small-employer plan startup tax credit (Section 102), which can offset up to 100% of eligible administrative startup costs — capped at $5,000 per year for the first three years — only for eligible employers with 50 or fewer employees that have at least one non-highly compensated employee (a reduced credit applies to employers with 51–100 employees). It is a tax credit, not a cash payment, and does not cover ongoing plan costs or employer contributions. Eligibility and credit amounts depend on your specific facts; consult a qualified tax advisor.
We keep the process simple and the outcomes concrete. You get a modern plan, transferred investment risk, and participants who are genuinely engaged — without the operational weight landing on your desk.
Pick a base plan and the piece that pairs with it snaps into place. Change the base — a different partner links in. Select either piece to explore it.
{{ b.line }}
{{ w.body }}
TrailGuide brings guided, tech-forward wealth advice to participants who fall below traditional minimums — and hands off higher-balance savers to Navigate Wealth. Engagement rises, and your people keep guidance when they change jobs or retire.
Four ways to affiliate with Navigate 401K — from equity partnership and succession to light-touch referrals. Keep your brand and your clients; add our platform, our 3(38) fiduciary role, and our participant engine.
Two ways to work with Navigate 401K.
We'll model your fees, fund lineup, and fiduciary scope — and show you what a better plan looks like.
Affiliation, partnership, and succession models for advisors who want to add — or transition — a retirement-plan practice.
Every model transfers operational burden and investment-fiduciary risk to Navigate 401K. What changes is how deeply you integrate — from shared ownership to a simple referral.
Through the Direct Affiliate model, your book builds recurring, wealth-management value — and equity participation gives you a real, structured way to step back or sell when the time comes. No scramble for a buyer; a plan you set up years in advance.
{{ p.body }}
Tell us about your book and your goals — we'll map the fit, whether that's a referral relationship or a full equity partnership.
{{ activeModel.intro }}
{{ d.body }}
{{ activeModel.tg.body }}
{{ activeModel.bestForLead }}
{{ activeModel.oneLiner }}
If you are looking into how to start a 401(k) plan, the first step is not picking a logo or chasing the lowest sticker price. The right plan depends on your employee count, administrative preferences, payroll setup, growth plans, and how much support you want from your advisor and recordkeeper.
Navigate 401K specializes in 401(k) advisory, so we help employers assess what they actually need before moving into setup. For some companies, Navigate Compass is the right path. For others, a different provider or structure is the better fit.
{{ h.body }}
Navigate Compass is designed for companies with 1 to 50 employees that want a compliant, professionally managed Startup 401(k) — set up quickly, priced transparently, and built to scale as the team grows. For startup plans, administration runs through Vestwell.
Vestwell administrationThe SECURE 2.0 Act can offset much of the cost of starting a plan. Estimate your potential startup, auto-enrollment, and employer-contribution credits over five years.
We'll send a copy of your estimate and occasional plan-design insights. No spam — unsubscribe anytime.
Estimates only, based on current SECURE 2.0 Act provisions and the figures you enter. Credits require ≤100 employees, at least one participating non-highly-compensated employee, and no employer-sponsored plan in the prior three years. This tool is not tax, legal, or fiduciary advice — confirm eligibility and amounts with your CPA or tax advisor.
Not every employer needs the same 401(k) platform, service model, or administrative workflow. A plan that works well for one company can create friction for another — depending on payroll complexity, internal resources, employee demographics, and service expectations.
That is why our process starts with assessment. We begin with a conversation about your business, your employees, and what you actually need from a retirement plan — then match you with the right plan type and implementation path.
{{ w.body }}
Tell us about your business and your team. We'll help you evaluate the options and set up a 401(k) that fits — whether that's Navigate Compass or another provider.
An advisor will review your details and reach out within two business days to map the right path for your situation.
Tell us a little about you and what you're looking for. Whichever service fits — a company 401(k), an advanced plan design, an advisor partnership, or TrailGuide wealth — we start with a conversation, not a sales pitch.
Most sponsors stick with a plan that no longer fits because they assume switching is painful. It isn't — not when the conversion is run by a specialist. We move the plan on a structured, low-friction, predictable path from "we're moving forward" through the first 180 days.
You keep control of the decisions that matter and hand us the coordination that doesn't — recordkeeper, TPA, payroll, communications, and fiduciary setup. The result is a better-priced, better-run plan and a team that barely notices the change.
{{ r.body }}
Before anything moves, we build a proposal on your plan's real data — so the case to convert is grounded, not guessed.
{{ p.body }}
A clear runbook takes the plan from decision to a stabilized, fully operational 401(k) — with weekly status the whole way.
{{ s.body }}
Send us your current plan and we'll benchmark it — fees, lineup, and fiduciary scope — so you can decide with real numbers, not a sales pitch.
A Solo 401(k) is built for sole proprietors, single-member LLCs, and owner-only partnerships. Because you contribute as both employer and employee, you can shelter far more of your income than most people realize — all tax-deferred.
For high-income owners, we pair your Solo 401(k) with a Cash Balance plan to accelerate tax-deferred savings well beyond standard limits — then model your contribution ceiling by age and income so nothing is left on the table.
{{ w.body }}
For high-income owners, layering a defined-benefit Cash Balance plan on top of your Solo 401(k) accelerates tax-deferred savings well beyond standard limits. We model the ceiling by age and income, then coordinate both plans through EGPS.
{{ d.body }}
Running your business solo shouldn't mean saving like it. Let's model what a Solo 401(k) — and a paired Cash Balance plan — could do for your tax picture.
Each collection gathers our guides, checklists, and commentary on a single responsibility of running a workplace plan.
Our team is happy to talk through anything about your plan — no proposal required.
Each collection gathers our guides, explainers, and answers on a single part of your retirement journey.
TrailGuide pairs you with a real advisor for guided, personal wealth advice — no account minimum to start the conversation.
{{ p }}
Credentials are only worth as much as the work they inform. Here's how they translate into the way we manage and advise your plan.
{{ c.relevance }}
If you'll be at one of these, reach out ahead of time and we'll find a slot to talk.
Start a conversation about your plan's investments, design, and fiduciary support — with the people who manage it.
Financial advice has historically been built around people who already have money. Most participants in a 401(k) plan have never had a conversation with an advisor at all — and that is exactly the gap this model exists to close.
Americans who report working with a financial advisor.
Source: Northwestern Mutual, 2023 Planning & Progress Study (37%).
Typical account minimum at traditional wealth firms — above what most savers will ever hold.
Illustrative industry-typical private wealth minimum; varies by firm.
Median 401(k) balance for participants ages 35–44 — a decision-heavy stage with no guidance attached.
Source: Vanguard, How America Saves 2024 ($35,537 median).
Third-party figures are cited per stat above and reflect the referenced reports as of their publication; survey results vary by methodology and year. The $250k figure is illustrative of common private-wealth account minimums and is not attributed to a single firm or source. These figures frame an industry problem and are not a guarantee of any outcome.
Enrollment meetings, one-on-one sessions, and a real person to call — delivered to the whole workforce, from the newest hire to the executive team.
TrailGuide carries the same mission into personal wealth advice — built for savers with $25,000–$300,000 in investable assets, the exact people the industry tends to route to a call center.
No one in your workforce gets told they are too small to help.
Some savers need more than a plan account — a rollover managed, a household's full picture planned. We have a fit for both, and we only recommend them when they're genuinely in the participant's best interest.
Guided, personal wealth advice with no high minimum — a natural home for a rollover IRA and everyday planning.
Explore TrailGuideOur sister firm for higher-balance households — full financial planning and investment management as needs grow.
Explore Navigate WealthClear, unbiased help weighing every option when a saver changes jobs or heads into retirement.
See the optionsEvery recommendation we make is held to a fiduciary standard — what's right for the saver, not what pays us most. That's the thread through the entire journey, from the plan itself to the day someone rolls over or retires.
See how Navigate 401(k) supports participants at every step — or book a one-on-one to experience it firsthand.
Sources: AARP/EBRI on payroll-deduction access; Ubiquity Retirement + Savings 2025 small-business survey; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, March 2025; Georgetown CRI state-program tracker, 2025. Shown for general illustration.
Benefits are how small teams win against bigger paychecks. Most owners already know it — nearly all say a retirement plan is central to hiring and keeping people. Yet fewer than six in ten employees at small companies can even access one. That gap is your opportunity.
The rules are moving too. Twenty states now mandate a retirement option, and new 401(k)s must auto-enroll employees — which is exactly what drives participation up. Getting ahead of it now, on your own terms, beats scrambling to comply later.
A competitive plan helps a small team recruit and retain against employers with far bigger budgets.
Choose a real 401(k) on your terms instead of defaulting into a state program under a deadline.
Automatic enrollment turns good intentions into real balances — participation climbs the moment saving is the default.
For many small employers, federal tax credits offset the bulk of startup and administration costs in the first three years — plus a credit for the contributions you make on employees' behalf. For a lot of businesses, a plan effectively pays for itself early on.
Plenty of platforms will sell you a plan. We stand next to you as a fiduciary — designing it, running it, and guiding every employee — so the plan actually works for the business and the people in it.
We take on investment selection and the legal liability that comes with it — not something you shoulder alone.
Recordkeeping, testing, filings, and payroll integration are coordinated for you — it never lands back on your desk.
Group education and one-on-one meetings keep participation high — and each saver on track for retirement.
We have no products to sell. We shop the market for you and benchmark fees so the plan stays competitive.
A short call to understand your team, goals, and budget — and confirm your tax-credit eligibility.
We recommend a simple, right-sized plan — match, auto-enrollment, and a clean fund lineup.
We set up recordkeeping, connect payroll, and enroll your team — then run it for you.
Estimate your SECURE 2.0 credits, then let us model a plan sized for your team.
The plan that got you started rarely fits a bigger team. More employees means nondiscrimination testing gets harder, a competitive match becomes a hiring tool, and payroll and onboarding need to stay effortless.
We add the structure that keeps a growing plan healthy — safe harbor, auto-enrollment, profit sharing — and benchmark your fees as assets climb, so pricing stays competitive as you scale.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, March 2025; Ubiquity Retirement + Savings 2025 small-business survey; SECURE 2.0 Act. Shown for general illustration.
A safe harbor design lets owners and higher earners save at the top while the plan clears testing automatically.
We benchmark your match against your industry so the benefit actually helps you recruit and retain.
Automated contributions and new-hire onboarding keep admin light as your headcount climbs.
As assets grow you gain leverage on pricing. We re-benchmark regularly so you never overpay.
Drive participation automatically as you add employees — and unlock SECURE 2.0 credits.
Sidestep testing headaches and let leadership save the full deferral limit.
Reward the team in strong years and steer more to owners with a cross-tested design.
We'll benchmark your current plan and show you where it can do more for your team.
Plans that have been in place for years quietly drift — fees stay flat while assets grow, fund lineups age, and the fiduciary file falls behind. Meanwhile owners and executives bump against contribution limits a standard 401(k) can't solve.
We benchmark what you have, tighten the governance around it, and layer in advanced design — cash balance, cross-tested profit sharing, and nonqualified deferred compensation — to reward key people and get more out of a plan you already run.
Sources: Abernathy Daley 401k Consultants Form 5500 analysis, 2024; Kravitz/Ascensus National Cash Balance Research Report. Shown for general illustration.
Quartile scoring on fees, funds, and service against comparable plans — so you know exactly where you stand.
Cash balance and cross-tested profit sharing let owners and key staff shelter well beyond the 401(k) limit.
A nonqualified deferred compensation plan rewards and retains the leaders who drive the business.
3(38) investment management, committee support, and documented annual reviews keep your file audit-ready.
If it's been more than three years since your plan was competitively reviewed, you may be overpaying — and leaving design value on the table. We make the review painless.
See how a plan conversion worksWe'll benchmark your current plan, review your fiduciary process, and show you where advanced design could take it.
When you leave an employer, your 401(k) doesn't have to move — but it usually can. We'll walk you through each option and what it means for taxes, fees, and access, then help you act on the one that fits.
If your balance qualifies, you can keep it in your former employer's plan — but you lose the ability to contribute and may have fewer service options.
Consolidate into your new employer's 401(k) to keep everything in one place and continue saving — when the new plan accepts rollovers.
Move to an IRA for broader investment choice and, if you'd like, ongoing guidance — with a clear view of any difference in fees and features.
Usually the costliest path — taxes and potential penalties can take a real bite. We'll make sure you understand the trade-offs before you decide.
As fiduciaries, we're held to a simple standard: our advice has to be what's right for you, not what pays us most. Rolling over isn't automatically the best move, and we'll tell you plainly when leaving your money where it is — or moving it into your new plan — serves you better. When a rollover does make sense, we'll compare fees, features, and services side by side so the choice is yours to make with full information.
If you'd like ongoing help once you've moved on, two options in our family are built for exactly this moment — and we'll only suggest them when they genuinely fit.
Our micro-market wealth solution — guided, personal advice for savers who want a real advisor without a high account minimum. A natural home for a rollover IRA when you'd like help managing it.
Explore TrailGuideOur sister firm for higher-balance households — full financial planning and investment management for individuals and families with more complex needs as they approach and enter retirement.
Explore Navigate WealthTalk it through with our team. We'll lay out your options in plain language and help you choose the one that's right for you.
You're a high earner who likely started saving late, running lean with a handful of hygienists, assistants, and front-office staff — and no HR department to lean on. An off-the-shelf 401(k) rarely fits.
We design plans for owner-heavy practices: structured so you can maximize your own retirement savings, competitive enough to keep good people, compliant with the testing rules that trip up dental offices, and light enough on administration that it never lands back on your desk.
Layer 401(k) deferrals, profit sharing, and — when it fits — a cash balance plan to shelter far more than a standard 401(k) allows.
A competitive match or safe harbor helps you attract and retain hygienists, associates, and staff in a tight labor market.
As your 3(38) fiduciary we take on investment liability, and we coordinate recordkeeping, testing, and filings — so it stays off your desk.
Safe harbor and cross-tested designs let owners save at the top while the plan clears nondiscrimination testing every year.
The right structure lets a practice owner move well beyond a basic 401(k). Here's how the layers build — illustrative for a 2025 plan year.
Your own contributions — plus a $7,500 catch-up if you're 50 or older.
Employer profit sharing lifts total 401(k) additions to the annual defined-contribution limit.
For older, higher-earning owners, a cash balance plan can shelter well into six figures on top of the 401(k).
Figures reflect 2025 IRS limits and are shown for general illustration. Actual amounts depend on your age, compensation, and staff census, and cash balance contributions are actuarially determined. Not tax or legal advice.
We review your current plan, fees, and census — or start fresh if you don't have one.
We model safe harbor, profit sharing, and cash balance options around your goals and staff.
We handle recordkeeper setup, documents, and payroll integration end to end.
On-site and virtual sessions get your team enrolled and confident in the plan.
We monitor fees, investments, and testing every year and adjust as your practice grows.
Your staff get group education, one-on-one meetings, and monthly webinars — so participation stays high and the plan keeps passing testing.
See how we support participantsSend us a few details and we'll model a plan designed around you, your team, and your goals.
{{ ind.intro1 }}
{{ ind.intro2 }}
{{ ind.job1b }}
{{ ind.job2b }}
{{ ind.job3b }}
{{ ind.job4b }}
{{ ind.pressLead }}
{{ p.body }}
{{ d.body }}
{{ ind.signatureBody }}
{{ ind.ctaBody }}
When a business client asks about their 401(k), the answer usually comes from another institution — and the relationship follows the answer. Meanwhile, non-interest income targets keep rising and trust departments were never built for ERISA fiduciary work or recordkeeper management.
Non-interest income growth and a differentiator against the banks that already offer retirement services — with no new business line to stand up.
We add plan advisory to your service list with full fiduciary coverage — complementing the trust department rather than replacing it.
Your RMs don't need to learn 401(k) plans — only to recognize the trigger question. We train the team and make the intro easy.
Your brand sits on the outside; our licenses, fiduciary scope, and compliance infrastructure sit under the hood. Your investment is time and referrals.
In total bank assets — community through regional institutions.
Commercial banking relationships that could ask a plan question.
An active department — without in-house 401(k) advisory capability.
A conservative, relationship-oriented culture — the way we work too.
Most banks require board or executive committee approval for a new business line, so plan on 120–180 days from first meeting to signed agreement. First plans can be onboarded within 60–90 days of signing.
Trust departments generally aren't set up for ERISA fiduciary obligations or recordkeeper relationships. We complement what you have — we don't replace it.
We hold the fiduciary and compliance responsibility for plan-level services. Your brand is on the outside; our licenses and ERISA coverage sit under the hood.
We train them. RMs don't need to understand plan design — only to recognize one trigger question: “Do you offer a retirement plan?”
First plans can be onboarded within 60–90 days of a signed agreement. We've run this before and we manage the project end to end.
We'll build a bank-specific view of plan count, assets, and net revenue — and show you exactly what your team would and wouldn't do.
Four commitments, every time — and none of them put work back on your desk.
We confirm fit quickly and propose next steps, so nothing sits.
A recommendation the client actually understands — not jargon or vendor noise.
Late deposits, testing failures, eligibility errors, and fee opacity handled before they grow.
We don't sell around you, and we keep you in the loop at the milestones that matter.
We'll confirm fit and come back to you with next steps — and you'll be logged as the referring partner on this opportunity.
A few lines is plenty. We confirm fit before anyone's time gets spent, and every referral is logged to you in our CRM so attribution is never in question.
Prefer to talk it through first? Reach out and we'll walk the scenario with you before any client contact.
Subject to signing our referral agreement, referring partners may be entitled to a pre-negotiated, one-time referral fee. It is not tied to assets under management and there are no residuals to track.
A formal referral relationship expects a minimum of five qualified referrals per year — enough activity to justify a repeatable process and dedicated support. Below that we're glad to collaborate informally.
A referral counts as qualified when it includes a warm introduction to a decision-maker, a real “why now,” and basic company context. Meeting the minimum does not create exclusivity, and fee eligibility remains subject to the referral agreement and applicable compliance requirements.
Send the intro and we'll confirm fit fast. If we're not the right answer, we'll tell you that too.
Most wealth advisors we meet hold two to six plans they inherited from a client relationship. The plans are a small share of revenue and an outsized share of risk, effort, and buyer scrutiny.
Acquirers price a mixed book cautiously. Plan revenue rarely earns the multiple your wealth relationships do — and the uncertainty spreads.
3(21) scope, fund lineups, fee benchmarking, and committee minutes — diligence questions that take real time to answer well.
Notices, testing season, enrollment meetings, and provider calls consume the weeks you'd rather spend on wealth clients.
The plan sponsor is often also a wealth client. A thin plan service model puts the household relationship in play too.
Move the sliders to your own numbers. Illustrative only — real terms come out of a book review.
Applies a ~2.6× multiple to recurring wealth-management revenue and ~1.4× to 401(k) plan-advisory revenue, versus a ~2.1× blended multiple when a mixed book is sold whole. Not an offer or a valuation.
Methodology. This is a directional illustration, not a valuation, appraisal, or offer. It applies simple revenue multiples to trailing recurring revenue: ~2.6× for wealth-management (fee-on-AUM) revenue and ~1.4× for 401(k) plan-advisory revenue when priced separately, versus a ~2.1× blended multiple when the two are sold together as one book. These multiples are illustrative reference points drawn from published advisory-M&A ranges — RIA/wealth books commonly transact around 2–3× recurring revenue, while retirement-plan advisory books typically carry a lower revenue multiple (sources: Sica Fletcher 2024 RIA Valuation Multiples report; DeVoe & Company and Echelon Partners RIA M&A deal reports; Advisor Legacy, Aug. 2025). Actual transactions are priced on quality of revenue, margins, client age and retention, growth, and deal terms — not a flat multiple — so a real outcome can differ materially. Nothing here is tax, legal, or financial advice.
Every conversation starts under mutual NDA. Nothing is disclosed to a provider, recordkeeper, or client until you decide to proceed.
Direct Affiliates share in ownership and in the plans we acquire together. If you'd rather buy retirement-plan revenue than shed it, the same book reviews that source our micro-acquisitions can source yours.
Two plans or twenty, a full practice or a single relationship you'd rather not renew — one call under NDA tells you what it's worth and what the transition would look like.
Most advisors holding a few 401(k) plans are excellent at the relationship and improvising on the investments. That's the exposure. ERISA judges the process — how the lineup was selected, on what criteria, reviewed how often, documented where — not whether the funds performed.
A 3(38) appointment moves that process, the discretion, and the liability that comes with it to a specialist firm that does nothing else. Your name stays on the relationship, the enrollment meetings, and the wealth conversations that follow.
A 3(38) is named in writing and accepts fiduciary responsibility for selecting, monitoring, and replacing the plan's investments. That responsibility is ours, not yours and not the sponsor's.
An IPS, quarterly scoring against it, watch-list discipline, and dated committee materials — the file an auditor or plaintiff's attorney asks for, built before anyone asks.
Fund research, share-class review, benchmarking, and report production are weeks a year. We absorb them so your hours go to households and new business.
Against a specialist competitor, "we outsource discretion to a 3(38) and here is the quarterly report" is a stronger answer than any lineup you'd defend alone.
3(21) is advice the sponsor can accept or ignore — they still decide, they still own it. 3(38) is discretion: we decide, and we're on the hook for the decision.
The sponsor never sheds every duty — selecting and monitoring the 3(38) itself remains a fiduciary act. We document that review for them too.
We start from the coverage a participant population needs and fill each slot with the best-scoring option available on that recordkeeping platform. Watch it come together.
Illustrative structure using broad asset classes. Actual counts and categories vary by plan size, platform, and committee direction.
Every quarter each investment is re-scored against the IPS criteria and flagged: proposed, watch, or remove. The committee gets the same document we act on — and it lands in the plan file dated and signed.
Some advisors have a research process they believe in — or a home-office model they're required to use. In the Independent RIA and Independent Contractor models you can build the lineup yourself and still run it on our IPS, scoring engine, and quarterly reporting.
We'll score the current lineup against our IPS criteria and show you the quarterly monitoring report your client would receive — before you commit to anything.
Choose a stage of the relationship to see which systems are working, then select one to read what it does and who touches it.
{{ platDetail.body }}
Third-party systems are named for clarity about how we operate. Vendors change as better tools appear; the workflow they support does not.
The value isn't any single system — it's that the data from one stage is already in the next. A payroll feed built for compliance becomes the engagement trigger, and the engagement conversation becomes the wealth opportunity.
{{ l.body }}
{{ l.tools }}TrailGuide isn't a separate business bolted onto the plan practice — it's what happens at the end of the workflow. The engagement engine that drives plan outcomes is the same one that flags a rollover; the CRM that tracks the plan referral is the same one that attributes the household to your firm.
That's why no participant has to be turned away, and why a household you can't serve today stays connected to you instead of disappearing to a competitor.
There is no platform fee, no seat to buy, and no system for your team to learn. Here is where the two firms actually touch.
We'll walk you through an actual proposal, monitoring report, and engagement calendar — the output of this stack — and show you where your firm's brand sits on each one.
Adding a 401(k) to a business relationship gives you a stickier reason to stay close to the owner — and a standing invitation to every employee's financial life. Balances build, people retire, people leave, people inherit. Those moments are wealth opportunities, and they repeat year after year.
We take the entire 401(k) advisory scope — design, pricing, implementation, fiduciary service, participant engagement — and treat every wealth signal it produces as yours. Navigate doesn't compete for your households. Routing back to you is the point of the partnership, written into how we track opportunities.
The plan gives you a reason to be in front of the business owner every year on something they can't ignore — and a co-branded presence with their whole workforce.
Technical discovery, benchmarking, provider selection, implementation, and ongoing fiduciary service sit with us. You participate as much or as little as you want.
One-on-ones, webinars, and payroll-triggered outreach surface who is ready for advice — so the referral is warm, timed, and already expecting a conversation.
Before the first plan goes live we agree on what a qualified opportunity looks like for your firm. Everything above the line goes to you. Everything below stays on TrailGuide as a nurtured pipeline that can graduate to you later.
Full wealth management with you, on your platform, under your fee schedule. We hand over the context and step out of the advice relationship.
Guided wealth management on our micro-market platform — so no participant is told they're too small to help, and none of them ends up at a competitor.
Thresholds and criteria are set per partnership and can be revised at any time as your firm's profile changes.
Our engagement stack connects to the recordkeeper and payroll systems behind the plan, so outreach lands at the moment something changes in a participant's life — and the wealth signals it produces are captured, not guessed at.
Integrations across 200+ payroll systems keep census and participant data current instead of six months stale.
New hires, terminations, birthdays, and age 59½ milestones fire timely, personal outreach — the moments rollovers actually happen.
Audience segments built from payroll and recordkeeper data — high earners, large balances — so campaigns reach the right participants.
Outreach can be white-labeled to your firm at the plan level — newsletters, education decks, one-on-one invitations. Participants see your name alongside ours, which makes the referral feel like a continuation rather than a handoff.
Referrals get lost when nobody writes them down. Each opportunity is logged against the referring firm in our CRM at creation, so the trail from plan to household is auditable by both sides.
The 401(k) advisory fee is shared between our firms, and referred wealth is compensated in the direction of whoever holds the relationship. Both are set per partnership — driven by who sources the opportunity, who services it, and the volume behind it.
A typical structure has Navigate leading on the plan side and your firm leading on qualified wealth, with the reverse split on TrailGuide relationships we service.
Structures vary by your affiliation model and home office. We work within what your compliance department will approve.
Bring us a single 401(k) opportunity. We'll agree on what a qualified wealth client means for your firm, run the plan, and route what surfaces back to you.
The $25K–$300K household is real work — onboarding, disclosures, rollover paperwork, account opening, funding follow-up, ongoing service — priced for a fraction of what your typical client pays. Serve enough of them personally and your best relationships get less of you.
TrailGuide takes that segment as a service, not a referral you lose. A real Navigate advisor guides the client on a tech-forward platform, and your firm stays visible on the relationship as the place they graduate to.
The participant, the adult child, the departing employee with a $60K rollover — all get a real advisor instead of a polite no or a call center.
No new onboarding load, no service calls, no small-account drag on your team's calendar or your average revenue per client.
Balances grow, inheritances land, businesses sell. When a TrailGuide client crosses your threshold, they come back to you — tracked from day one.
Investment management, financial planning, and personalized guidance for the mass affluent — delivered by a person, supported by a modern stack so the economics work at this balance level.
We can customize the branding TrailGuide clients see in Altruist, and grant your firm view access to the balances of clients referred through your relationships — so the connection to you stays visible on both sides.
Every TrailGuide client moves through the same four stages before ongoing servicing begins. You send the introduction; we handle each step and report back.
TrailGuide is marketed to accounts of $300K and under, so most relationships sit in the first tier. The schedule below is the client-facing fee; how it's shared between our firms is agreed per partnership.
Because Navigate advises and services the TrailGuide household, the majority of the advisory fee sits with us and a referral share flows to your firm. On qualified wealth we route to you, the economics reverse.
Exact percentages are set per partnership and vary with volume, who sources the client, and your affiliation model.
Nothing to stand up. No technology to license, no service staff to hire, no minimum volume. The relationships you send are the only commitment.
TrailGuide is a stage, not a destination. When a household crosses the line your firm defined, we raise it — and the client moves to you, or to a step-up relationship inside the Navigate network if that's the better fit.
{{ g.body }}
Walk us through the accounts sitting below your minimum today. We'll show you what the TrailGuide client experience looks like and how the relationship stays tied to your firm.
If you affiliate with Navigate rather than run your own RIA, you don't have to choose which segment of client you can serve. Plan participants come in through the 401(k). Smaller households are served on TrailGuide. When one grows into full planning, you step them up to Navigate Wealth instead of referring them away.
Every tier runs on the same custodian, planning tools, compliance supervision, and billing — so a step-up is a change in service level and fee schedule, not a transition the client has to survive.
A $40K rollover and a $2M household can both be your client, served at the level each one needs.
Custody, models, planning software, disclosures, and supervision are already built. You don't buy a tech stack to move upmarket.
Your payout reflects the work at each level and rises with the relationship as it steps up.
A client's tier is a function of balance, complexity, and what they want from an advisor — not a hard cutoff. These bands are where each model is designed to work.
{{ t.body }}
Service model: {{ t.service }}Bands are design ranges, not eligibility rules. The step-up threshold for your book is set with you and reviewed as your practice grows.
{{ t.body }}
Moving a client up a tier usually means new planning work, new deliverables, and new compliance obligations. On our platform those are already staffed.
Payout differs by tier and by affiliation model, and is agreed in writing before you bring your first client on. Any split figures you've seen in a partnership presentation were built for that specific opportunity — treat them as illustrative, not as a published schedule.
Tell us what your book looks like today. We'll walk through the tiers, the platform, and the payout so you can see what affiliating would change.
On-site and virtual sessions that explain your plan in plain language — enrollment, contributions, investments, and how to make the most of your match.
Sit down with a member of our team for personalized guidance on your account, contributions, and retirement goals — no cost, no pressure.
Free live sessions on the topics that matter to savers — Social Security, budgeting, college savings, and more. Attend live or catch the recording.
Book a one-on-one with our participant team — we'll walk through your account and answer whatever's on your mind.
A member of our team will follow up at the email you provided, usually within one business day.
Account access, contributions, rollovers, distributions, plan design, compliance — whatever it is, send it over and the right person will get back to you.
For fastest help with account access, transactions, and statements, call the participant service line for the provider that holds your plan.
Numbers are provided for convenience and may change — confirm against your statement or provider portal. Navigate 401(k) is not affiliated with these recordkeepers; each line is operated by the respective company.
Book a one-on-one with our participant team and get personalized guidance on your account and retirement goals.
Navigate 401K is an independent retirement plan advisory firm, deliberately built as its own entity, serving plan sponsors, their employees, and the advisors who work alongside us.
Navigate 401K was founded by Chris Hussar and Caleb Hopkins. Caleb had already established the sister firm, Navigate Wealth Management, so the wealth side of the house existed before this one did.
Chris came from Regions, working the large institutional side of retirement plans. He approached Caleb with a specific intention: build a 401(k) advisory practice designed to go beyond the level of service commonly available in the market.
One structural observation shaped everything that followed. In the founders’ view, when a single firm offers both wealth management and retirement plan services, the wealth side tends to drive the economics — and over time, attention to the plan side can quietly diminish.
Their response was structural rather than aspirational: keep the two as separate entities. That is how Navigate 401K was designed, and how it operates today, so the retirement plan side can be resourced and run on its own terms.
“Wealth management isn’t what keeps our lights on. That changes how we think about the plan.”
The plan is the priority here, not an accessory to another business. The people running it are meant to be doing exactly this.
A partner whose incentives sit on the plan side — not one whose attention is pulled elsewhere by a larger book.
Who we help, and why we care. Everything below is a statement of belief and of how we work — not a promise of any result.
A change to someone’s retirement plan makes them anxious about their money. We lead with reassurance and a human being before we ask anyone to enroll, defer more, or move an old balance. Communication is the service, not the marketing around it.
Automatic enrollment and escalation do enormous work for people who will never optimize their own plan. We believe our job is to make sure participants understand the default, trust it, and choose to stay — not to quietly rely on inertia.
Most people building their first real savings fall below traditional advisory minimums, and the industry has largely built around that fact rather than solving it. We believe a participant with a modest balance and a real question deserves a real answer. This belief is why TrailGuide exists.
Shift workers, remote staff, and people who will never open a benefits email are still participants. That means in-person and virtual sessions, recordings, print, text, and one clear next step per message. And it means dollars instead of percentages — “$1,800 a year” is a real number to a real person; “3% match” often isn’t.
We believe a plan sponsor should be able to see the process, not just be told it exists — an investment policy statement, a service calendar, monitoring documentation, a fiduciary file. Where we serve as an ERISA §3(38) investment manager, we accept discretionary authority and the associated fiduciary responsibility for investment selection and monitoring.
Sponsors retain their own ongoing fiduciary duties, including the duty to monitor the parties they appoint.
These beliefs are what a sponsor experiences directly — and what an affiliating advisor gets to deliver.
Justin Ladden, now a partner, arrived differently. He had built his own firm, Kreativ Retirement Plan Solutions, and merged it into Navigate 401K in May 2024.
The origin was almost accidental. One of Justin’s clients was a close friend of Chris’s, and Chris asked for the 401(k) business. The client declined — they valued working with Justin.
So Chris and Justin got acquainted instead, and found substantial overlap in how they each believed plan work should be done. The merger followed. A client who won’t leave their advisor is meaningful evidence about that advisor.
This is also the template for affiliation: shared conviction first, structure second.
By mid-2025, the Birmingham practice had a proven operating foundation — a documented, repeatable way of running plan advisory.
The question became how to extend it as a platform for two kinds of advisors: retirement-plan-focused advisors who want infrastructure behind them, and wealth advisors who want to deliver serious 401(k) advice to business owner clients and to the employees inside those companies.
A solution built for participants and savers below traditional advisory minimums — including people consolidating old retirement accounts and building their first foundation of wealth.
Rollover conflict of interest. When we recommend moving assets from a 401(k) or other employer plan into an account we manage, we are generally paid more than if those assets stayed in the existing plan, which is a conflict of interest and gives us an incentive to recommend a rollover. A rollover is not always in your best interest — you may be able to keep your money in a former or new employer’s plan, roll it to an IRA, or take a distribution, and these options differ in fees, investment choices, services, and protections. You are never obligated to move your assets to us. (Draft — subject to CCO review.)
A path for advisors to build or extend a retirement-plan practice on Navigate 401K’s infrastructure. It is currently being built out, and it is the firm’s present focus.
Today’s focus is building the affiliation channel: paths for advisors and institutions to add or expand retirement plan advisory capability with Navigate 401K’s infrastructure, fiduciary process, and participant engagement model behind them.
For an advisor, the point is capability and standard, not economics — a documented fiduciary process, an operating system for plan work, participant engagement infrastructure, and a real answer for the participants who sit below their minimums.
And the sponsor side matters just as much: the reason we’re expanding this way is that we believe more plans and more participants should have access to this standard of service. Being bigger is not the objective; reaching more of them is.
Affiliation & compensation. Our arrangements with affiliated and referring advisors may involve sharing advisory fees or other compensation. These arrangements create a financial incentive to recommend our services and to enter into affiliations, which is a conflict of interest. Applicable terms are described in our Form ADV Part 2A and in any separate written disclosure provided before or at the time of engagement. Referral or affiliation arrangements do not increase the fees a client pays. (Draft — subject to CCO review.)
This page is for informational purposes only and is not an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation of any security, product, or service in any jurisdiction where that would be unlawful. (Draft — subject to CCO review.)
This page is for informational purposes only and is not an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation of any security, product, or service in any jurisdiction where that would be unlawful. (Draft — subject to CCO review.)
Our headquarters is in Birmingham, Alabama, with more markets on the way. Hover a state to see its key cities and capital, and select Birmingham to meet the team.
We're not open here yet. In the meantime, our Birmingham team serves clients in this market by video and phone.
An advisor in another city? That's how we grow.
We partner with advisors across the country — affiliation, co-advisory, and referral models that put a Navigate presence in your market.
Visit us in Birmingham or meet virtually — whichever is easier for you and your team.
An independent team of retirement specialists — investment management, plan design, and participant engagement under one roof. Meet the people you'll work with.
Start a conversation with the people who'll actually run your 401(k) — no call center, no handoffs.
Logging in opens your recordkeeper's secure site in a new tab. Navigate 401(k) is not affiliated with these providers; each site is operated by the respective company. Provider logos are the property of their owners.
We work with recordkeepers beyond this list. Tell us who holds your plan and we'll get you to the right login.
All sessions run at 3:00 PM CST and are hosted live on Microsoft Teams. Dates and topics are subject to change.
{{ e.desc }}
Sit down one-on-one with a Navigate 401K advisor and build a plan around your own numbers with MoneyGuide Pro.
Each collection gathers our guides, frameworks, and commentary on a single decision that shapes the future of your practice.
Explore how Navigate's affiliation and partnership models can protect continuity, unlock value, and take the operational load off your plate.
Navigate partners with advisors on continuity, co-advisory, and full succession — with the fiduciary process and service infrastructure already in place.
We work with advisors on partial monetization, affiliation, and equity structures — starting with an honest look at the practice you have today.
Recordkeeper coordination, fiduciary documentation, benchmarking, and participant support — handled by a team that only does retirement plans.
Our participant engagement model and TrailGuide wealth pathway help you serve owners, executives, and employees under one coordinated offering.
If you already have a plan, these are the core documents that let us compare your costs and design against the market. Starting fresh? Skip ahead — we'll take it from your business details.
{{ d.body }}
Don't have these handy? No problem — submit the form below and we'll help you request them from your current provider.
A Navigate 401K advisor will reach out within one business day to confirm details and outline next steps. If you have the 404(a)(5), 408(b)(2), and adoption agreement ready, have them handy for the call.
The more you share, the sharper our benchmark. Everything here is used only to prepare your proposal.
The SECURE 2.0 Act can offset much of the cost of starting a plan. Estimate your potential startup, auto-enrollment, and employer-contribution credits over five years.
We'll send a copy of your estimate and occasional plan-design insights. No spam — unsubscribe anytime.
Estimates only, based on current SECURE 2.0 Act provisions and the figures you enter. Credits require ≤100 employees, at least one participating non-highly-compensated employee, and no employer-sponsored plan in the prior three years. This tool is not tax, legal, or fiduciary advice — confirm eligibility and amounts with your CPA or tax advisor.
Enter the account you're asking about and we'll apply the IRS Uniform Lifetime Table. Everything here is an estimate — read the assumptions below before acting on it.
{{ rmdStatus }}
Because your sole beneficiary is a spouse more than 10 years younger, your actual RMD is calculated on the Joint Life and Last Survivor Table and will be lower than the figures shown here. Treat these as a ceiling and ask us to run the joint-life number.
Roth accounts carry no required minimum distribution during your lifetime, so there is nothing to schedule. Switch the account type to a traditional account to see a ten-year projection.
Every RMD calculator simplifies something. Here is exactly what this one does, so you know when your real number will differ.
This tool provides estimates for educational purposes and is not tax, legal, or investment advice. It does not cover inherited or beneficiary accounts, annuitized balances, qualified longevity annuity contracts, or plans with unusual distribution provisions. Confirm your actual required distribution with your plan administrator, IRA custodian, or CPA before withdrawing.
Which account you draw from, how it interacts with Social Security and Medicare premiums, and whether a Roth conversion or charitable distribution makes sense — those are the decisions worth a conversation.
IRS deferral and total-contribution limits for 401(k) and IRA accounts. Toggle the year to compare.
Source: IRS Notice 2025-67 and related 2026 cost-of-living adjustments. The age 60–63 super catch-up is $11,250 for both years. Beginning in 2026, catch-up contributions for participants whose prior-year FICA wages exceeded $150,000 must be made on a Roth basis. Figures are general reference only and may change — confirm current limits with your advisor or CPA.
Start with the year-at-a-glance overview, then dig into the requirements that apply to your plan. Responsibilities may be shared with your provider or TPA, but staying compliant is ultimately the sponsor's job — these guides help you own it with confidence.
A month-by-month view of the core filing, contribution, testing, and notice deadlines. Filter by the plans and tasks that matter to you, and select any deadline to see what it involves and who it applies to.
{{ calTotal }} deadlines shown
Dates assume a calendar-year plan and are shown for general illustration. Your actual deadlines depend on your plan year, plan design, and whether extensions apply. Adapted in part from the EGPS defined benefit and cash balance compliance calendar. Not tax or legal advice.
We'll map your filings, notices, and testing to real dates and keep you ahead of every deadline.
A better plan only helps when employees use it. These guides cover the three levers that move participation and savings the most — communicating the match, running a strong enrollment campaign, and building automatic features into the plan.
We build enrollment campaigns, participant education, and plan-design features that get more employees saving.
Your advisor should guide your fiduciary duties, monitor plan performance, and support your employees year-round. These guides help you hold the relationship to that standard — starting with the questions worth asking at your next review.
We'll review your current plan, answer your questions, and show you where a more proactive advisor makes a difference.
Whoever makes decisions about the plan or its assets is a fiduciary — regardless of title — and the law holds them to a high standard. These guides explain who that includes, what the duties are, and how a consistent process protects both participants and your organization.
Learn how our 3(38) and 3(21) support can take on investment responsibility and the liability that comes with it.
Start with the metrics that define a healthy plan, then go deeper on participation and deferral rates — the two numbers that move retirement outcomes the most — and close with a framework for your annual review.
We'll analyze your metrics, benchmark your fees, and show you where a few changes would move the needle.
Every participant can meet one-on-one with our team, at no cost — including a look at your current allocation.
Send it to our team — every participant can talk to a real advisor at no cost, and we answer plan questions the same way we write these.
We'll estimate what your savings can produce, map your withdrawal order, and account for Social Security and RMDs.
Our team will walk through your contribution rate, your budget, and your emergency savings with you — at no cost as part of your plan.
Talk it through with our team before you move money. A short conversation can save a lot in taxes and lost growth.
{{ p }}
{{ p }}
{{ p }}
This material is provided for general informational purposes only and is not intended as tax, legal, or fiduciary advice. Specific compliance requirements and deadlines depend on your plan's design and circumstances. Consult your retirement plan professionals before acting.
Our team can help you strengthen participation, stay compliant, and get more from your retirement plan.
Under ERISA, whoever selects and monitors a plan's investments carries fiduciary liability for those decisions. Most sponsors carry that risk without realizing it — or with an advisor who only recommends, leaving the final call, and the liability, on the sponsor.
As a 3(38) investment manager, we accept that responsibility in writing. We build and manage the lineup with full discretion, document every decision to a formal Investment Policy Statement, and stand behind it — so the sponsor is relieved of investment-selection liability.
{{ r.body }}
Both are fiduciary roles, but only one moves discretion — and liability — off the sponsor. We serve as your 3(38).
We start from the coverage your participant population needs and fill each slot with the best-scoring option available on your recordkeeping platform. Watch it come together.
Illustrative structure using broad asset classes. Actual counts and categories vary by plan size, platform, and committee direction.
Every quarter each investment is re-scored against the IPS criteria and flagged: proposed, watch, or remove. Your committee gets the same document we act on — dated and filed, so the process is provable years later.
We'll review your current fiduciary structure and show you exactly which liabilities move to us as your 3(38) manager.
ERISA requires plan fiduciaries to ensure the fees a plan pays are reasonable for the services received. Without a benchmark, "reasonable" is an opinion — and an exposure. A documented comparison turns it into evidence.
We benchmark your plan against comparable plans — matched on average balance and participant count — and score fees, features, and outcomes by quartile. You see exactly where the plan stands, what a better arrangement looks like, and a record that the review was done.
{{ r.body }}
We place each cost against comparable plans, so "reasonable" becomes a position you can point to — and defend.
A benchmark is only useful if the committee can read it. These are pages from a real proposal, anonymized — the same format you'd receive.
Assets, participant count, average balance, and the plan's current all-in cost — taken straight from your disclosures before any comparison is made.
Investment expense, advisory fee, and recordkeeping shown against the benchmark for your size band — with the difference and the quartile, not just a total.
Each component gets a quartile placement against comparable plans, so "reasonable" becomes a position the committee can point to — including where the plan looks expensive.
What we'd change, what it costs, and the fiduciary scope attached — ending in a short list of decisions rather than an open-ended report.
Sample proposal pages, shown for illustrative purposes only. All figures are from an anonymized example — pricing, benchmark data, and quartile results vary by plan assets, participant count, provider, and service scope. Nothing here is a quote, an offer, or a projection of what your plan would pay.
{{ d.body }}
Send us your fee disclosures and we'll benchmark the plan — no obligation, and you keep the documented result either way.
A cash balance plan is a defined-benefit plan that allows far higher annual contribution limits than a 401(k). For owners and high earners, that means accelerating retirement savings and reducing tax liability in the same move.
It fits best for firms with predictable cash flow, fewer employees, and owners looking to shelter more income through large, tax-deductible contributions — with a willingness to commit for several years and fund contributions for eligible employees.
{{ r.body }}
A cash balance plan rarely works in isolation. We design it to sit alongside the rest of your retirement strategy — most often on top of a 401(k) — so every layer of savings is working.
{{ s.body }}
Paired with a 401(k), a cash balance plan stacks on top of your existing deferrals and profit sharing — pushing an owner's total deductible contribution well into six figures.
Limits depend on age, income, and plan design and change annually. We model your specific ceiling before anything is established.
A cash balance plan rewards commitment. It works best for owners who can fund consistently and think in multi-year horizons.
Send us your age, income, and current plan, and we'll model a cash balance design — on its own or stacked on your 401(k) — with the deduction it creates.
A 401(k) is a valuable tool, but its annual deferral cap — $23,500 for 2025, plus catch-ups — often covers only a fraction of a key executive's pay. Nondiscrimination testing can limit highly compensated employees further when broader participation is low.
Nonqualified deferred compensation and executive benefit plans fill that gap, letting select employees defer a larger — often unlimited — portion of their compensation on a tax-deferred basis. They give you a strategic way to reward leadership and close the savings gap the qualified plan leaves open.
{{ r.body }}
Contribution and compensation caps mean a 401(k) alone replaces a shrinking share of income as pay rises. That gap is exactly why leading employers layer a nonqualified plan on top.
Of Fortune 1000 companies offer a nonqualified deferred compensation plan to some or all key employees.
Source: OneDigital, citing industry data (2026).
Of employers offering an NQDC plan do so to keep their benefits package competitive for top talent.
Source: PSCA 2024 NQDC Plan Survey (85.2%).
IRS cap on the pay that can count toward a qualified plan in 2026 — compensation above it can't be deferred or matched there.
Source: IRS 401(k) contribution limits (2026).
Figures reflect the referenced sources as of the dates noted and are provided for general educational purposes; survey results vary by methodology, sample, and year, and IRS limits are adjusted annually. This is not tax, legal, or investment advice. Nonqualified deferred compensation involves risks — including the employer's creditors — that differ from a qualified 401(k); consult a qualified advisor about your situation.
These plans are rarely one-size-fits-all. We match the structure — or combination — to the outcome you're after.
{{ s.body }}
{{ w.body }}
NQDC plans stay part of your general assets to preserve their tax treatment — but you don't have to leave future liabilities unmanaged. We help you set aside assets to meet them with confidence.
Many advisors understand these plans only at the surface and lean on the recordkeeper for answers. For us, executive benefits are a core discipline.
{{ d.body }}
A short consultation surfaces the challenges you're solving for — and the plan structures that fit your goals, workforce, and ownership picture.
Tens of thousands of stocks, funds, and headlines make managing wealth overwhelming. Our singular passion is to study, edit, and siphon the very best choices into a long-term, comprehensive plan customized to you.
We advise clients to make wise decisions that align their assets with their values and goals — so their wealth works in service of their life, and their legacy, rather than the other way around.
Most of our clients are over 50 with $1–$10 million in investable assets. What they share is a common thread: the desire for peace of mind.
{{ c.body }}
A straightforward series of face-to-face meetings lays the groundwork for a customized plan — and keeps it on track for the life of the relationship.
{{ s.body }}
Navigate Wealth is an independent adviser with no products to sell. We're fee-only — paid solely by our clients, never by commissions — and your assets are held with a qualified custodian, so you keep overview, control, and security.
Navigate Wealth is the destination in the Navigate 401K journey — where plan participants and TrailGuide clients graduate as their assets grow. Same team, same values, from your first paycheck deferral to a full wealth plan.
Gain peace of mind with expert, independent guidance. Start with a conversation — we'll decide together whether Navigate Wealth is the right fit.
TrailGuide is built for 401(k) participants wherever they are on the path — helping you make informed decisions and build lasting financial confidence.
1. Typical minimum account size for advisors who charge an asset-based fee, per Kitces Research, How Financial Planners Actually Do Financial Planning (reported by SmartAsset). 63% of asset-based-fee advisors report a minimum; $100,000 is the typical figure. Minimums vary widely by advisor type and firm; this figure illustrates an industry norm and is not a statement about any specific firm.
{{ w.body }}
{{ s.body }}
{{ i.body }}
Designed for savers with $25,000–$300,000 in investable assets, TrailGuide brings value early and grows with you. As your assets grow past $300,000, we step you up to our sister firm, Navigate Wealth.
Your retirement journey is unique. Do you have a plan to turn your savings into a reliable income stream? A brief conversation is the first step toward clarity and confidence.
Navigate 401K is a Registered Investment Adviser. This material is for informational purposes only and is not a recommendation or a substitute for individualized tax, legal, or investment advice. Investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal; past performance is no guarantee of future results. Use of Altruist may involve separate fees not charged by Navigate. See our Form ADV Part 2A for full details on services, fees, and conflicts of interest.
Every participant can meet one-on-one with our team, at no cost. We're here to help you make the most of your 401(k).
{{ b.text }}
{{ b.text }}
This article is for general educational purposes only and is not tax, legal, or investment advice. Consider your own situation and consult a qualified professional before making decisions about your retirement account.
We're not advertising open positions at the moment. We are, however, always in conversation with advisors who want to build a retirement-plan practice — or hand one to a team that will run it properly.
We're a small, deliberate team. Rather than post roles we don't yet need, we hire when a plan, a partnership, or a client relationship makes the seat real — and we usually already know the person by then.
If you're an advisor, that conversation is worth having now. Most people who join Navigate start as a partner or co-advisor long before there's a job title involved.
Whether or not a role is posted, these are the advisors we make time for.
You already advise 401(k) plans and want a platform that handles investment management, plan design, and participant engagement so you can stay in front of sponsors.
You work with individuals and households — including participants leaving a plan — and want TrailGuide's guided, micro-market model behind you.
You're winding down, succession-planning, or want to hand off the 401(k) side of your book to a team that will service it the way you promised.
No proprietary funds, no house recordkeeper, no quota behind a recommendation.
Everyone touches real plans. There is no layer between you and the sponsor.
Documented investment, compliance, and review cadence — so good work doesn't depend on heroics.
Partner advisors keep their client relationships. We supply the plan machinery behind them.
Tell us what you're building. If a partnership fits sooner than a role does, we'll say so.
