Build to Enough

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Keila Hill-Trawick: Hello. You're listening to Build to Enough, a podcast for entrepreneurs who want to scale at their own pace. I'm your host, Keila Trawick, and I'll be your chief storyteller and cheerleader in a world that glorifies endless expansion, we're tuning out the noise and discussing the beauty of enough. Each episode will dive into inspiring stories, practical insights, and strategies to cultivate sustainable success on your [00:00:30] own terms. So whether you're a solopreneur, small business owner, or aspiring entrepreneur, get ready for a refreshing take on the entrepreneurial journey. This is build to enough. Hi everybody, and welcome back to Build to Enough. I am super excited today because we don't often get the opportunity to talk about the inner workings of firms and what we might need to do for our teams, for our businesses, and really just all around how we're supporting what we're doing. So really excited to today to [00:01:00] have guideline with us. And James, I'll let you start by introducing yourself.

James von der Leith: Thanks so much, Kayla. Uh, I'm James von der Leith. I'm a product manager at guideline, and I focus. A lot of my job is on Guideline Pro, which is geared for accountants and financial advisors. Uh, really excited to be here today. And big fan of the podcast as an ex accountant myself.

Keila Hill-Trawick: Okay. Well, we love fans of the podcast being here and I'll jump [00:01:30] right into it. As you know, our audience is really a lot of accounting firms who are in what I call that messy middle. So not solopreneurs, but haven't built like the major empires that a lot of other accounting firms have built. Um, what would you say is a reason why it's important for small firms to even be looking at 401 (K) plants?

James von der Leith: Sure. Yeah. So for small accounting firms, offering a 401 (K) plan can be crucial because it helps attract and retain top talent in [00:02:00] a competitive job market. Employees, especially accountants, increasingly have been prioritizing retirement benefits when evaluating job opportunities. Looking back at my time when I owned Clear Desk, a small, um, bookkeeping and accounting firm, about ten years ago, I remember the biggest challenge I faced on a day to day was attracting and retaining talent to help scale my small firm and capitalize on the real estate accounting niche. I found traction in, um. At the time, I didn't [00:02:30] have access to this podcast or resources, so I wasn't offering any employee benefits. And ultimately I was, uh, you know, attracting inexperienced talent that I had to keep going through this cycle of spending time training. And then, you know, after they're finally ramped up, pray they don't leave. And it just became real exhausting. So part of why I love building product at guideline is we're helping small businesses of all kinds, including accounting firms in accounting firms, [00:03:00] really compete with those larger businesses by being able to offer an affordable 401 (K) benefit.

Keila Hill-Trawick: So one of the things at Little Fish, when I first hired our first person, I didn't have any benefits. I didn't even know what kind of benefits we should be thinking about. I think a lot of firms struggle with this idea of wanting to be competitive. We talk about the pipeline crisis all of the time and wanting to be able to bring quality talent into our firms, but also not necessarily knowing that there [00:03:30] are options for us to for us to be able to offer affordable benefits to our team, especially as it scales some being able to still afford it as it gets bigger. And so we went on to guideline really early on because I knew that I wanted to offer 401 (K). We'll talk about this in a bit, but I also had heard that it was really difficult and I was like, I mean, I want to be able to match, but how much can I match? What am I supposed to be offering you? How do you even [00:04:00] set this thing up. So guideline made that super, super easy for me. Now, retirement planning was something that we instituted probably a few years ago, but now there's new stuff going on and 401 (K) planning. And so what are some of the current trends in retirement planning overall that firm owners specifically should be aware of?

James von der Leith: Yeah, it's a great question. I would say there's three major trends going on right now in the retirement planning landscape. The first [00:04:30] one is state mandates. So many states in the US are rolling out these retirement saving program mandates to help more people save for retirement. And while each state program is a little bit different, most currently give employers the option to choose between the state sponsored plan or a private plan, like a guideline 401 (K). Just to give an example, on December 31st, 2025. [00:05:00] All California businesses with one or more W-2 employees will be required to offer a qualified retirement option whether the Calsavers state Roth IRA plan or a qualifying alternative like a guideline 401 (K). The second trend to be aware of are these awesome secure 2.0 tax credits. So to make retirement benefits more accessible, Congress established [00:05:30] a retirement plan tax Credits, under the Secure act, which took effect in 2019 but was expanded in a big way in and revised in 2022, so that eligible businesses may receive up to $16,500 in tax credits over a plan's first three years. So, as an example, let's say you have nine eligible employees. That means your annual cost for the first [00:06:00] three years could be $0 for off plan. Um, and then lastly, um, one that I'm super proud of because my team helped launch this. Um, we were one of the first providers to launch the starter 401 (K) last October. Um, and the starter 4K is really cool. It's essentially a lower cost plan design option that Congress introduced into law at the end of 2022 as part of the secure two Point Act. [00:06:30] Um, it's essentially a cheaper and easier to administer than a traditional 401 (K), and it can be a great option for small businesses looking for an alternative to the state run plans, um, that I mentioned earlier. And guideline was one of the first providers to launch this ability. Um, last year. So those were the three main ones, you know, state mandates secure 2.0 tax credits and then the starter 401 (K), which is really cool.

Keila Hill-Trawick: I think that's really important to bring up one because [00:07:00] affordability is really one of the main things that people are thinking about when they're trying to offer benefits, like the bigger companies have all these options of what they can give team members. And while we know that we can't do exactly the same things again, we want to make sure that we're competitive without breaking the bank. And so we are looking at all kinds of options that we can offer as benefits, so that when team members are brought on as they grow here, what that change looks like for them, we want to make sure that we're giving them a holistic [00:07:30] experience that goes beyond just their wage to really how do we support them as individuals. And because guideline is specifically focused on retirement, I'm curious to know your thoughts about how 401 (K) plans really enhance the overall attractiveness of benefits packages, as we're looking to offer those to our team?

James von der Leith: Yeah, that's a that's a really great question. Um, so a 401 (K) plan can significantly boost the appeal of a benefits package by addressing a critical [00:08:00] aspect of an employee's financial future. And that's retirement savings. Um, so it helps to complement other benefits like health insurance, paid time off, and really just making the overall package. Competitive risk can lead to higher job satisfaction, improved morale, and reduced turnover rates. Um, for example, there's been studies that show employees are 40% less likely to leave in the first year when offered a retirement benefit.

Keila Hill-Trawick: That's actually [00:08:30] a really big deal, because it's not just hard to get people, it can be hard to retain people. And so we can hear all of like the benefits of why we should be offering 401 (K) plans. What is the opposite? Like some challenges that you see that small businesses, including accounting firms and other service providers that we face when we're setting up a 401 (K) plan and then how can we address those?

James von der Leith: Yeah, that's a great question. Um, so historically, there's been two main Challenges [00:09:00] for small businesses offering a 401 (K) plan. And that's really why guideline exists to to address both of these challenges. The first one is near and dear to every small businesses heart, which is cost, right. Um, so although a lot of the cost can be offset by those secure 2.0 tax credits that I mentioned earlier, um, for the first 3 to 5 years, businesses often elect to offer an employer match to stay competitive in the talent market. [00:09:30] And the most common type of 401 (K) for businesses at guideline is what's known as a safe Harbor basic plan. And that requires a 4% match. Um, so the good news is that for firms that aren't ready to offer that match yet, but they still want to offer a 401 (K) benefit, um, they can choose the starter 401 (K) plan if they if they aren't really ready yet to, um, eat that cost. Um, but again, the safe harbor plan or the 4% match is [00:10:00] most popular at guideline. The second challenge, um, is administrative complexity. And really, you know, and this is a lot of the legacy providers. This is kind of how 401 (K) got a bad rap, but we're here to make that a lot easier. Um, and it's it's because managing a 401 (K) involves compliance, record keeping and fiduciary responsibilities. Leveraging a modern provider like guideline that provides an all [00:10:30] in one bundled solution that automates a lot of this administrative complexity, um, can really alleviate that burden for a small business owner so they can set it and forget it.

Keila Hill-Trawick: So one of the things that I think is really cool about the startup, 401 (K). So we started with the Safe Harbor plan. I already had a team in place. I budgeted for the fact that we were going to match that, and we've been good to go ever since. But if you're a firm owner that maybe you have one employee, you're just kind of testing this out to figure out how much you can make [00:11:00] in order to be able to offer that later. I think it's really cool to have that opportunity of seeing that a lot of, um, employees or people who are looking for employment just want it as an option. Yes, they would love to have a match. And when you're in a position to be able to do that, maybe that's a goal that you have down the line. But people at least want to have some power to be able to save for their own retirement. And so having that as a choice that you can potentially, you know, in the next year or two years, move up to a safe harbor plan is something that's really attractive [00:11:30] to business owners who are like, just dipping their feet into wanting to provide retirement benefits at all.

James von der Leith: Absolutely. Yeah, it's a very it's a seamless upgrade to the safe harbor plan when you're ready for it. And, um, you know, the starter plan just offers so many, um, benefits compared to a lot of the state mandated retirement plans as well.

Keila Hill-Trawick: Yeah, I live in Maryland, and it's required here too. And they started sending us notifications. So it was really cool to be able to be [00:12:00] like, oh, we already have a retirement plan. We are in compliance because we have all these rules that we're thinking about, and it can be hard to remember which ones are those. Okay. So now let's say you're an accounting firm. You've already decided. Yep, I know I want to offer a 401 (K) plan. I know I want to give retirement to my team. And I will say just software in general promises us that it is going to be easy. And sometimes it is and sometimes it isn't. And so I'd be curious [00:12:30] from your perspective, how do you make sure or what practical tips do you have for businesses that have decided that they want to do it, but really want to implement a 401 (K) plan effectively?

James von der Leith: Yeah.Great question. Um, so the first one is really do your research up front on the provider that you go with. Um, you know, you in my opinion, it's important to choose a provider that has excellent customer service ratings. And in a really great track record [00:13:00] because it's very easy to sign up for a 401 (K), but a lot longer and more complicated process to switch. You know, you and your employees retirement assets to a new provider if you have a poor experience. Um, so if a, if a provider doesn't disclose their customer satisfaction scores very publicly, it can be a big red flag that they value, boosting their sales more than the long term relationships with you and your employees. Um, [00:13:30] so doing your research up front is really important because you want to make sure you're picking a long term partner for your firm. The second one is, um, if you're not sure which 401 (K) plan design is right for you, um, you can check out our new personalized recommendation engine, um, that our team launched. Yeah, it's super exciting. Um, this is all new this year, and and basically, it will it will ask you what your goal is. So what's your top goal [00:14:00] of offering the 401 (K)? Is it to attract and retain employees? Is it to satisfy a state mandate? And then what it will do is it will take all of your payroll data from Gusto or Intuit or any one of our, um, you know, integrated providers, and it will come up with a recommendation. So it will actually tell you what, um, could be a great fit for your plan just because there's so many options out there. And we wanted to build something that really cut through all of that for a busy [00:14:30] business owner. Um, so if you're interested in that, go check out guidelines.com and just hit Get Started and it will sort of walk you through that pretty awesome personalized recommendation engine.

Keila Hill-Trawick: Cool.

Keila Hill-Trawick: Okay. Well, we'll make sure that that link is in the show notes. And I think that that point about the payroll integration is really important. Um, one, a lot of us have bigger tech stacks than we actually expected to. We have tons of things that are talking to other places. And so one of the things that actually attracted us to guideline [00:15:00] was the idea that our payroll provider would integrate directly so we didn't have to do any more work. And so the ability for us to be able to run payroll and know that guideline is going to take care of the rest and take the money out that they need to and put it in its right place. It's just one less piece of work that we have to take care of. I think the other thing is we've always had a really good experience. Um, as I said before, we know that when, um, resources are trying to get us to sign on, everything [00:15:30] sounds great. Um, and so it can feel really easy, like you said, to say. Yeah. Sounds good. Talk to a sales person. Sign me up. But you don't want to have to go through the change of having to, like, offload everybody when you realize that it wasn't what you were promised. The same thing that we talked about with our tech stack and all of the other software and resources that we're using, the same way that we don't want to move our clients off of something when it turns out it's not what we expected. We also don't want to do that for our team and so the.

Keila Hill-Trawick: Ease with which.

Keila Hill-Trawick: It was [00:16:00] not only simple for me to set up, but like the team can go in there and update their stuff on their own and make any changes that they need to, has also been really helpful. As you scale and as you add from your first employee to your second to your fifth, not having to be responsible for all of the work that happens with bringing them on is really helpful. Um, so I will say that as a person that both set it up and has had to add and remove people off of that platform, as we've been working with guideline, it's been super [00:16:30] simple, which I appreciate because I got enough jobs.

James von der Leith: That's awesome. Yeah, it's always great to hear from, uh, customers like yourself because we're so busy building the product and we really are a, you know, product first company that, um, you know, it's always great to hear this feedback, so really appreciate that. Kyla.

Keila Hill-Trawick: Yeah, absolutely. I'd like to tell people when they're listening to that, like, I don't bring people on to things that we don't know and like. So it is not a situation of like anybody who pitches or.Offers or even that [00:17:00] we reach out to that we want to be on. We only do that for resources that I feel like would be useful for people who are listening, and that we're using to so excited to be a partner in that. So next question. Um, we have a lot of choices in terms of retirement plans, benefits, all of the things that we're offering both to our clients, um, and to our team. So not only are we're in a really special position as a accounting firm, owners, that we're able to give this to our team [00:17:30] as small business owners, but we're also recommending this to clients who are asking for benefit and 401 (K) recommendations. And so when we are thinking about evaluating plan providers so that we can figure out what's the best fit for us, how should our clients be evaluating platforms to see what's the best fit for them? What criteria do you recommend that we think through?

James von der Leith: Yeah, that's a great question. And it's so important because again, as an accountant, I know that business owners [00:18:00] really rely on their accountant to help them make these types of decisions with tech and finance. And, you know, 401 (K) plays into tax strategy too, right? So it's really important to make sure you're advising your client on the different criteria to at least consider. Um, and I think you kind of touched on the, the big one, which is the quality and reliability of the, the payroll integrations. Um, so not all [00:18:30] integrations are, you know, built the same. Um, you want to make sure that, um, the provider's not using third party software to connect to your payroll provider, because that can just lend itself to some really unpleasant experiences. And when it's your employees retirement or your client's employees retirement and things aren't going well with the paycheck deductions, there's just a headache you don't want. So so that's really the most important, I would say. Um, and that's even more important than than [00:19:00] cost too. Just making sure you have that peace of mind. The second one is you want to make sure that they have real time compliance testing and monitoring. Um, that's really important because again, it's not something that every provider offers. And you want to just make sure that that's included. Um, like it is with guideline.

Keila Hill-Trawick: And real fast.

Keila Hill-Trawick: Before we move to the next thing. What does that mean? Compliance testing and monitoring. Like if we're looking for making sure that someone [00:19:30] does that, what is what does that mean?

James von der Leith: Yeah. So the nice thing about a starter 401 (K) or safe harbor for one K is that it covers the bases for a lot of the compliance testing.

Keila Hill-Trawick: Ah, okay.

James von der Leith: But there are things, um, you know, if a business owner chooses that or decides they want to offer a match, but they're not ready for that 4% match yet. Um, there's certain compliance testing that that goes along with that.

Keila Hill-Trawick: Hmm. Okay. [00:20:00]

James von der Leith: And and so you just want to make sure that the provider you're partnering with is doing that for, for you and monitoring it for you so that you don't have to worry.

Keila Hill-Trawick: Oh, okay. What else?

James von der Leith: Uh, the other one I think is really important is, is, um, just making sure the provider provides live channel support for both you and then also your employees. Right. Um, in other words, you can call them and get someone on the call, and they're publishing their support metrics. [00:20:30] Um, and then lastly, I would say it's really important to understand what their customer satisfaction scores are. Um, and how long it takes them to respond to support tickets. Um, you know, if your employees want to do a withdrawal and something comes up, um, you want them to be able to work directly with the provider and get the help they need and not have to come to you because they can't get Ahold of the provider. [00:21:00] Um, so those are really the big ones I would say to consider. Um, in addition to cost, of course, is important.

Keila Hill-Trawick: Yeah.

Keila Hill-Trawick: I think that that is really important, as anyone is thinking about what they want to offer and what it looks like. Um, a lot like accounting. We can say that, like, anybody can do the basic level of things that we do. Somebody there are lots of accountants that can do bookkeeping, lots of accountants that can do tax, lots of accountants that can do advisory. So you really want [00:21:30] to take those deeper nuggets and those deeper level of research to be able to say what makes you the right provider for me versus just like, I can make you a plan. Um, and I think those are some really important criteria to think about as you're trying to figure out who might serve you best. So I really appreciate you being here today. I've got one more question before you leave, which is your time to shine. So I already know that I love guideline [00:22:00] for all of the things that you've done for us, but in your own words, how would you say that guideline empowers especially small accounting firms to help their clients design and manage their 401 (K) plans?

James von der Leith: Yeah. Um, this is where my product team comes in. So really passionate about empowering accountants like yourself and other firms out there. Um, but but basically, like I mentioned before, a guideline. We know accountants are often that trusted [00:22:30] advisor and expert for the small business owners that they lean on, um, for decisions around accounting, tax and even technology providers. Um, so to help empower accountants and their clients, my team at guideline has has launched a product, um, especially specifically geared towards them, and it's called Guideline Pro. And so with Guideline Pro you can pass along exclusive discounts to your clients and help them design and manage [00:23:00] their plan if they want you, if they want help there. Um, and then also, um, accounting firms receive a dedicated relationship manager to help assist them and their clients along the way. Um, we also recently launched an optional rewards program. So if you want to make a little extra money by referring guideline, um, you have that ability. Not everyone chooses to participate in that. Um, but that is something we launched, which is pretty exciting. Um, and [00:23:30] we have a lot more we're launching. We're going to be launching next year. That will really bolster the, the rewards and, and our, our, um, how we're able to help our account accountant partners as well.

James von der Leith: So stay tuned that that program we're always investing in and a lot of exciting things on the horizon there as well. Um, but the other thing too, I would mention is that, you know, um, I always think about Bill.com as a great example, right? Like [00:24:00] they sort of unlock this whole new revenue channel for accountants. And so our vision at guideline two is to really help accountant firms differentiate themselves and be able to help guide their clients on things like state mandates and what plan design could make sense. Um, because that just really deepens the relationship. And so we're always, you know, launching new educational resources and trainings as well to, [00:24:30] uh, assist accountants to that end so they can really, you know, continue bolstering their firm and those, those client relationships. So if you're interested, you can go to guideline.com/accountants to learn about Guideline Pro. And it's free to sign up. Once you go in there you can schedule a time with a dedicated relationship manager to learn more. Um, but yeah, a lot. Lots of great stuff on the horizon as well. For Guideline Pro,

Keila Hill-Trawick: I think that's a good place for us to wrap up too, because [00:25:00] accountants, this is a way for us to make more money. I think that we get asked a lot for things that we don't necessarily feel like are our expertise, but we get to be the liaison because we know more than our clients do. So having a program like this that allows us to say, hey, I can help you set this up, I may be able to help you set this up alongside your payroll or some other services that I can kind of package for you, but also not feel like we have to be the experts in 401 (K) in order to be able to do that is a really cool opportunity [00:25:30] to say, hey, not only do I know how this works, I know how the integrations in the background should be talking to each other. I understand how this is going to affect your team. I can kind of walk you all through how you're going to use it, which I think is just an opportunity, especially as in our industry, we talk a lot about advisory and like packaging services. These are some of those touch points that we can add to say it's not just that, I will tell you here is an opportunity for you to save on taxes. Go make a 401 (K) plan. [00:26:00] I can actually walk you through getting one set up for your team, and we've done it for our clients. It's worked out really well, but it's also an opportunity to have a deeper, more hands on relationship with clients in areas that I think we would have shied away from before, because we didn't necessarily feel like we were the ones for it. So appreciate that as a call out. Um, James, thank you so much for being with us today. Is there anything that you want to leave the audience with? We'll make sure that the links that you noted are in the show [00:26:30] notes so that listeners can click directly from there, but any lasting notes that you want to leave with the accounting community that's listening?

James von der Leith: I would just say, um, I just have so much respect for accountant firms that I've gotten to know over the years, and I just know how much peace of mind that, um, accountants can give their clients that don't necessarily want to be involved in the details of 401 (K) or taxes and so, um, you know, small businesses, power [00:27:00] America and accountants power them. So, um, just that's that's how I would leave it. Um, you know, thank you all for everything you do. And hopefully we'll see you at one of the events we're at.

Keila Hill-Trawick: Yeah, absolutely. If anybody has questions about guidelines that are not answered directly or that you just want to send through us, you can shoot something to podcast at Little Fish Accounting. Com but otherwise, James, thank you so much for being with us today and everybody. We will talk to you soon.

James von der Leith: Thanks for having me Keila. This was fun. [00:27:30]

Keila Hill-Trawick: Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Build to Enough. If you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to subscribe, rate and share the love with your fellow entrepreneur friends, and make sure to sign up for the Build to Enough newsletter. The link is in the show notes. Stay tuned for more episodes as we continue to redefine success one intentional step at a time.