StatonWalsh

⚖️ Think you've handed off your fiduciary risk? Ask one question first.

If you sponsor a retirement plan, you're already a fiduciary — whether you think about it that way or not. The real question is how much of that responsibility you've actually delegated versus how much you only think you have.

3(21) covers investment advice. 3(38) transfers investment discretion. 3(16) is different — it covers the operational side of running the plan: enrollments, distributions, Form 5500, required notices. A true 3(16) arrangement shifts the liability for getting those things right to the provider, not just the workload.

So ask your current provider directly: "If a required notice goes out late, or a distribution gets processed incorrectly, who's the named fiduciary responsible — me, or you?" A lot of business owners have delegated the labor, not the liability. There's a difference, and it matters at audit time.

📩 Let's review your plan's real fiduciary structure.

To schedule a meeting:
🔗 https://calendly.com/d/g6k-bkk-m6b
👉 Check out our blog to learn more: https://www.statonwalsh.com/blog

📅 Seasonal team? Project-based payroll?

Most 401(k) plans are built for a workforce that looks the same every pay period — steady hours, steady headcount, steady pay. If your business staffs up and down around seasons or specific projects, that default design can quietly exclude the exact employees you most want to keep coming back.

Standard eligibility rules (often a full year and 1,000 hours) can shut out returning seasonal staff entirely. Match formulas based on regular per-period pay can shortchange people whose compensation is concentrated into a few busy months. And vesting schedules built for continuous employment often fail to credit real, multi-year loyalty from people who only work part of the year.

The good news: this usually doesn't mean starting over. It means a plan design review — elapsed-time eligibility, true-up provisions, and service-based vesting — built around how your team actually works.

📩 Let's review whether your plan actually fits your payroll reality.

To schedule a meeting:
🔗 https://calendly.com/d/g6k-bkk-m6b
👉 Check out our blog to learn more: https://www.statonwalsh.com/blog

🙋 Low 401(k) participation isn't a motivation problem. It's a default problem.

Ask most owners why participation is low and you'll hear "employees just don't prioritize saving." The data says otherwise. Opt-in plans typically see 40–60% participation. Auto-enrollment routinely pushes that above 85–90% — with an easy opt-out still available.

The gap isn't about whether people value saving. It's about how much friction sits between intending to enroll and actually being enrolled, especially for a new hire buried in first-week paperwork.

A generous match that nobody uses delivers zero retention value — you're paying for a benefit no one experiences. Auto-enrollment, paired with auto-escalation, turns your plan from a line item into something employees actually feel is part of working for you.

📩 Ask us about auto-enrollment for your plan.

To schedule a meeting:
🔗 https://calendly.com/d/g6k-bkk-m6b

👉 Check out our blog to learn more: https://www.statonwalsh.com/blog

🏗️ What is turnover really costing your jobs?

Every time a foreman or skilled tradesperson walks, you're not just posting a job ad. You're absorbing schedule delays, safety risk from less-experienced replacements, and onboarding costs that often run 20–30% of that employee's annual pay — sometimes more for specialized field roles.

Most contractors track turnover as an HR headache. Fewer connect it directly to their retirement plan design — even though retirement benefits are one of the few retention levers a construction company fully controls. A vesting schedule that doesn't match your real turnover curve, or fringe dollars still being paid out as cash instead of directed into retirement, can mean you're leaving one of your best retention tools on the table.

A plan built around how your crew actually cycles — not an industry template — can measurably offset what turnover is costing you on every active job.

📩 Let's run the numbers for your team.

To schedule a meeting:
🔗https://calendly.com/d/g6k-bkk-m6b

👉 Check out our blog to learn more: https://www.statonwalsh.com/blog

When to Upgrade from SIMPLE IRA to 401(k)—And What Most Firms Miss

📈 Still running on the SIMPLE IRA you set up years ago?

A SIMPLE IRA is a great starter plan — cheap, easy to administer, and enough to check the "we offer retirement benefits" box in the early years. But the plan that made sense at 8 employees and $1.5M in revenue often quietly becomes a liability at 30 employees and $8M.

Here's what most owners don't realize until it's too late: SIMPLE IRAs cap how much owners and key people can defer, require immediate vesting on every dollar, and don't allow the kind of profit-sharing formulas that let you reward your top performers more than the rest of the team — legally.

Upgrading isn't just swapping paperwork for a bigger plan. Done right, it's a full redesign of match formula, vesting schedule, auto-enrollment, and fiduciary structure — built around your business today, not the one you had five years ago.

📩 Let's talk about whether it's time to make the move.

To schedule a meeting: 🔗 https://calendly.com/d/g6k-bkk-m6b

👉Check put our blog post to learn more: https://www.statonwalsh.com/blog

Happy Labor Day from StatonWalsh!

Today, we recognize the hard work, dedication, and determination of the people who keep our businesses, communities, and country moving forward.

At StatonWalsh, we’re fortunate to work alongside hardworking business owners, employees, and families every day—and we know that building something meaningful takes commitment, perseverance, and a whole lot of effort.

We hope you enjoy a well-deserved break and some time with family and friends this Labor Day.

Happy Labor Day from all of us at StatonWalsh!

Markets pushed higher in August as AI-driven optimism helped investors look past softer economic data. The S&P 500 gained 2.62% and the S&P/TSX Composite rose 2.96%, even as softening retail sales kept consumer spending in focus. Back-to-school season adds another data point to that story, with spending expected to reach \$146.8 billion in the U.S. and \$4.5 billion in Canada this year.

Monthly Market Insights | September 2026 The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index advanced 2.62 percent, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 3.93 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lagged, adding 1.34 percent. The S&P/TSX rose 2.96 percent.1,2

📊 You offer a 401(k). Your office staff use it. Your field crews mostly don't.

The plan isn't broken. The design might be.

Why participation lags in the field:

Prevailing wage & fringe pay confuse how contributions work
Enrollment is a one-time form, signed once and forgotten
Transient crews don't always trust "long-term" savings
A mailed summary plan description was never going to compete with a 5-minute explanation from a foreman they actually trust

Low participation doesn't just hurt employees — it can trigger nondiscrimination testing failures and limit what you are allowed to contribute for yourself.

Auto-enrollment + plain-language, field-delivered education is the fix, and it consistently moves the number.

To schedule a meeting: 🔗 https://calendly.com/d/g6k-bkk-m6b
👉Check put our blog post to learn more: https://www.statonwalsh.com/blog

🔨 "Passing the hammer" sounds sentimental. Underneath it, it's a financial transaction with real consequences if it isn't planned.

Without a funded plan:
⚠️ Estate taxes can force a fire sale of equipment or the business itself
⚠️ "Equal" inheritance ≠ "fair" inheritance between kids in vs. out of the business
⚠️ Key employees may leave mid-transition
⚠️ The next generation inherits debt right alongside the opportunity
⚠️ An unexpected health event compresses a decade-long plan into a crisis-driven scramble

An intention you've never documented or funded isn't a plan — it's a hope everyone in the family is quietly assuming will work itself out.

To schedule a meeting: 🔗 https://calendly.com/d/g6k-bkk-m6b
👉Check put our blog post to learn more: https://www.statonwalsh.com/blog

🧩 One LLC for the operating business. One for the real estate. One for equipment. Maybe a fourth from a project that never happened and was never dissolved.

Each decision made sense on its own. Together? They can quietly create a tax mess and a retirement plan compliance risk nobody saw coming.

The IRS has a name for it: controlled groups. And it can affect who's eligible in your 401(k), how much you're allowed to contribute for yourself, and whether an old, unused entity is still technically part of the problem.

When's the last time your full entity structure was mapped out in one place — ownership, purpose, and all?

To schedule a meeting: 🔗 https://calendly.com/d/g6k-bkk-m6b
👉Check put our blog post to learn more: https://www.statonwalsh.com/blog