Imagine a diet where it doesn’t matter how much weight you lost. Imagine a golf game that wasn’t about your score. Imagine about a job and not how much money you make. Being a plan sponsor isn’t about a specific result, it’s all about a process. So it really isn’t about how much money that your participants make in their plan account balance, it’s all about how fulfilled your end of the process in running a retirement plan.

The process is about fulfilling your role as a plan fiduciary in a prudent manner. That means hiring good plan providers, reviewing their work, and making sure that participants get enough information to make sound investment decisions. It sounds easier than it is, but it’s better to break down what you need to do in a language that you can understand. I don’t need to speak ERISAese to justify my fee, I need you to understand that as a plan sponsor that everything you do is about doing your part of the process as a plan fiduciary in a diligent manner, you’re not aiming to be the best 401(k) plan on the planet. What your plan participants’ rate of return doesn’t really mean anything as long as you did your job as a plan sponsor in a prudent manner. That’s it, that’s all you need to do.

While it sounds easy, the process is like being on a diet, it means being committed to it and taking it day by day. There is no shortcut to being a responsible plan fiduciary. There is no guarantee that you won’t get sued, but it will guarantee the likelihood that the case won’t go very far.