For the intelligent dreamer, there are no dreams that deserve more time and attention than those depicting one's retirement years. But, as is often the case, wishing won't make it happen. That's where a PEO comes in. Today, more than ever, it's a PEO who is in the best position to make these dreams come true. It might even be said that it's a PEO's sworn duty to put a client's employees into the best possible 401(k) plan-one that leaves no stone unturned in protecting their "golden years" from being tarnished or, even worse, stolen from them.

401(k)plans do make retirement dreams happen. That's why a good 401(k) is one of the keys that brings you new business. But how much attention have you paid to the 401(k) benefits you're packaging for your clients?

Do you know the proper criteria for selecting vendors? Are you up on the latest thinking among major 401(k) vendors that influences their current offerings? What are the hot buttons that make your 401(k) a hit or a miss? What are the vital questions you should be getting answers to now so that you can avoid disastrous problems later-when the costs to you and your clients are the greatest.

Did you consider your PEO 401(k) plan to be an investment company decision? A PEO 401(k) plan has four dimensions: proper plan design; accurate administration; effective communication; and an appropriate investment program. When all four of these are considered and managed well, the PEO 401(k) plan becomes a silver bullet in your marketing arsenal.

Proper Plan Design: Pinnacle Financial Services can provide a single employer plan structure, a multiple employer plan structure, or a combination of both. This provides you with the greatest opportunity to reach your client's objectives. This can encourage potential clients to join your PEO based upon your ability to satisfy their 401(k) plan objectives.

Accurate Administration: Pinnacle has created data interfaces which will allow continuous review of data. Other administration systems simply store data. Our system evaluates payroll data for accuracy. Our system also evaluates the 401(k) plan data on a continuous basis with each contribution to determine its compliance within the Internal Revenue Code. As your PEO grows, the accuracy and verification of data will be a key issue in your ability to provide an accurate plan environment.

Effective Communication: With Pinnacle, your client's participants have the ability to reach qualified personnel to obtain accurate information on all plan issues. Pinnacle's customer service representatives understand the relationship of the PEO to the client. This allows us to deliver a quality of service that enhances the PEO's relationship with their client. Compare this to toll free access to the investment company where customer services representatives, who may be untrained in PEO customer service issues, are responding to your client/participant's questions.

Appropriate Investment Program: Many PEO's consider the investment product to be the major decision in deciding which 401(k) product to use. The new buzzword for investment companies is "bundled services." If you take their investment product, they will provide bundled administration, communication, and plan design services.

Pinnacle Financial Services' position is that the reverse arrangement is in your best interest. Pinnacle provides the plan design, administration and communication services and then bundles the investment product. Using Pinnacle as an interface between the investment company and the PEO provides benefits in administration, communication, and plan design that cannot be achieved elsewhere in today's market.

With the Pinnacle "PEO 401(k) Dream Plan©," we can offer the flexibility of changing your investment product because we provide an infrastructure for your 401(k) plan that does not exist with other plan structures. By allowing the investment product to dictate the bundled administrative services, you lose the flexibility of making changes in your investment selections without changing all of the other aspects of your 401(k) plan infrastructure. Pinnacle's flexibility allows you to maintain your 401(k) infrastructure when you make a change in the investment product.

By linking the investment company with the Pinnacle Financial Services PEO 401(k) Dream Plan©, we provide a level of support that fills in the gaps of missing support and service. We provide additional support and services to enhance your marketing and sales to your clients.

The PEO 401(k) Dream Plan©: The development of a PEO 401(k) is multidimensional. Consideration of the investment product is only one dimension of the PEO 401(k) plan. When the other issues (plan design, effective communication, and accurate administration) are the responsibility of the PEO, your 401(k) plan can be a nightmare. When these four issues and responsibilities are handled by Pinnacle Financial Services, your 401(k) plan can operate like a dream.

David W.D. Core is a registered representative of, and securities offered through, Lincoln Financial Advisors Corp.