Does anyone have any experience with the above firm. Specifically, do they offer no-load mutual funds from fund families like Vanguard, Fidelity and T Rowe Price.

As a result of the new 403(b) legislation my spouse's school district is going to hire them as a third party administrator. I went to their web site and I only saw mutual fund families that normally charge loads and charge above average expense ratios, here is their web-site:

https://www.cpiqpc.com/Data/ouralliances.aspx

I am confused. Under the tab "fund families" there is a tab for redemption fees. When you click on this they show mutual funds from Fidelity, T Rowe Price and a few Vanguard funds. Does this mean that they offer these funds? Or does this mean something completely different?

My spouse cuurently has her 403b with Vanguard and they have said that they will NOT sign an INFORMATION SHARING AGREEMENT provided by a TPA and they require a TPA to sign their I.S.A.

I am hoping that the funds listed under the above mentioned tabs represent mutual funds available from CPI Qualified Plan Consultants. Does anyone currently use CPI Qualified Plan Consultants as a Third Party Administrator and if so do they offer No-Load mutual funds.

Thanks

I don't have experience with CPI so I can't answer the questions directly. But the fact that some funds show up on the list of funds with short-term redemption fees might mean that they used to be offered and are still in some "old" plans but aren't offered in new plans.

Comparing expenses of funds in plans and factoring in other expenses can be very difficult. If your plan is large enough, it appears that some of the "load" funds might be offered at net asset value, effectively waiving the load. And note that many of the funds (including those from "no load" families) might be offered in varying share classes, with varying expenses. So you need to look at the exact funds being offered, in the exact share class, and the expenses associated with that share class in order to make an informed decision.

I work for the firm you are questioning and I would be more than happy to explain the Short Term Redemption fees you are asking about. CPI is a Third Party Administration firm and the funds you have found are funds that we can trade on a daily basis for participants who have retirement accounts on our system. Some of those funds have restrictions that charge a short term redemption fee when a share holder (plan participant) trades a fund in less than an approved time period. These are normally international funds that are concerned about shareholders making trades using time zones to their advantage. The short term trading restrictions are outlined in detail with in the prospectous issued and distributed by these funds. If a particpant in one of the plans that we provide recordkeeping for, makes a trade that is in a time period that is shorter than the fund company allows, the fund company collects a short term redemption fee as a penalty for violating those trading restrictions.

Does that help??

Thanks
JonP