While my career was shaped by working at a third party administration (TPA) firm that was less reputable when it came to actual plan administration and fee disclosure, I have been fortunate enough to work with several TPA firms since.
I work with several TPAs because every TPA has its own niche, expertise, and pricing that may not be the complete fit for every single client out there. As stated before, I stick to non-producing TPAs because I want their focus on plan administration. As noted before, I shun payroll companies because their compliance end isn’t very good.
Having worked for TPAs for 9 years, it’s a thankless job. It’s difficult, highly technical, and very little margins. I worked for a non-producing TPA years ago and our business was sold off to Ascensus because we weren’t making any money. People complain when things go wrong, but there are very few instances where you get compliments for a job well done.
Since I left the TPA world in 2007, I have to say that my overall experience with my client’s TPAs has been wonderful. Any issue that may come up from time to time is easily rectified and the full fee disclosure that these good TPAs provide is a breath of fresh air from what I was exposed to.
I don’t want anyone to suggest that all my views about TPAs are only negative. My negative experience working for one is actually a positive experience because I can pick the good TPAs from the bad ones.
In the coming years, I hope to meet more TPAs out there because good TPAs are like baseball cards. You just want to collect them.
For further details on picking out the good TPAs, check out my article here.
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