It depends on how many employees he has. All HCE’s, highly compensated employees, are subject to non discrimination testing so he has limits that he has to follow or ERISA issues will kill him. I came from 401k plan administration at State Street Bank. We got small plans in all the time where the owners wanted to plow as much money into the plan as possible. Make sure that you manage their expectations or it will blow up in their faces and in turn yours. Try calling T Rowe Price in Baltimore, CitiStreet in Boston. I also worked at T Rowe Price and they have their act together. I have been out of the business for a few years but PM me if you want more info, I can probably give you some contact names.

If your firm has a retirement planning specialist- call them. Tell them your situation and they can guide you in the right direction.

Almost all vendors will take small plans it really just depends on the cost.  These days basically everybody is open platform and you can buy almost every mutual fund out there.

First Merc is a smaller company but they have money managers not just mutual funds if you are interested in that.  Principal also has a really good product.  And you get get comp built in. 

However, you should check with your firms retrirment plan department as they have all of the contacts and you will probably need to get approval with them first anyway.  ERISA cases are a lot of work and liablity but don't pay much, but it can be a good source of other accounts.  Good Luck. 

Safe Harbor 401(k)'s can allow HCE’s to contribute more. However, there

are some caveats, such as mandatory matching, strict non-discrim rules

that basically allows more participants, etc. It can end up costing the

employer a lot more if they currently have low participation. You didn’t

mention much about your clients stats (# of employees, % participation,

etc.). Not sure where you work, but you should go through your

retirement plan specialists. You should have access to all this info. And

most providors can set up safe harbors. Just be very sure that you have

the right TPA that knows safe harbor plans.

Dear Trainee:

Please learn success secret #1 spend your time PROSPECTING.  Let your home office OR the wholesalers do the other work for you.

Call TransAmerica, Principal or Hartford.  They will go with you to the interview, they will ask the right questions and they will propose the best plan.

You are the relationship manager, the team leader.

call the american funds and talk to their retirement  counsler. you client may want another type of plan. They also have the best marketing/learning materials for just about anything.

[quote=vbrainy]

Dear Trainee:

Please learn success secret #1 spend your time PROSPECTING.  Let your home office OR the wholesalers do the other work for you.

Call TransAmerica, Principal or Hartford.  They will go with you to the interview, they will ask the right questions and they will propose the best plan.

You are the relationship manager, the team leader.

[/quote]

Had a vendor from Principal come into the office today, seems like they have some pretty good options, so I second that.

Try Fidelity Investments. They have a e401k plan that is hands down the best in the business - cheap too.