“We always strive to provide the highest level of client service by maintaining close and ongoing communications and by making certain client interests are the highest priority. This is the cornerstone of our fiduciary duty,” says Gray Ingle, director of qualified plans at MMPW.
In the seventeen years since it was founded, MMPW has been established as one of the largest independent, employee-owned investment management organizations on the Gulf Coast. As of June 30, 2023, its regulatory assets under management were $1.9 billion. Clients include individuals, trusts and estates, cities/municipalities, pension and profit-sharing plans, 401(k) plans, IRA rollovers, family partnerships, 529 plans, corporations, endowments, and charitable foundations.
MMPW has specialized in providing investment management services for retirement plans since its inception. The company’s principals, however, have worked with defined contribution and benefit plans since 1978. The firm currently services some of the largest and most complex retirement plans in the Southeast. MMPW acts as a trusted adviser to 401(k) plans, offering fiduciary oversight and expertly managing the selection and ongoing monitoring of investment options within the plan.
More specifically, MMPW acts as an ERISA section 3(38) investment adviser by selecting suitable investment options to meet the investment fund provisions of ERISA. It effectively assumes the liability and full responsibility for the selection and monitoring of the plan’s investments. This is the highest level of fiduciary responsibility available to a participant-directed plan and its sponsors.
In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis and as a result of multiple court decisions, retirement plans have been under unprecedented scrutiny. In this increasingly regulated and often litigious environment, plan sponsors realize that this changing landscape requires a focus on lowering fees and expenses, increasing participant engagement, and mitigating the fiduciary liability of plan sponsors. Through its transparent approach to fulfilling fiduciary duties—the basis of which requires MMPW to always place client interests ahead of its own—the company sheds light on an industry frequently shrouded in hidden fees and undisclosed revenue sharing.
For example, ten years ago, MMPW was hired as an ERISA Section 3(38) Fiduciary Adviser for a 401(k) plan sponsored by a regional heavy manufacturing company. The company had over 500 participants across multiple plants and offices located in two states. With its prior provider, the client was challenged with high fees, low employee participation, and cumbersome administrative procedures without the added protection of a 3(38) adviser. MMPW implemented a new plan structure that resolved these issues and improved plan efficiency through the bundling of third-party administrators, record keeper, and trustee services. It also delivered continual on-site participant education for employees at all levels.
We always strive to provide the highest level of client service by maintaining close and ongoing communications and by making certain client interests are the highest priority. This is the cornerstone of our fiduciary duty.
MMPW believes its experience and expertise in working with retirement plans rival its regional competitors. The company has a track record of success and has earned a reputation for offering a high level of service. At least once per year, the firm offers in-person, individual participant consultation to plan participants and/or newly eligible employees. MMPW views its ability to offer plan participants one-on-one consultations with a registered investment adviser as one of its most important advantages.
