Why some plans keep moving
Most benefits advisors put their clients first, and a good advisor is one of the best assets a plan sponsor can have. But in parts of the group retirement industry, compensation is structured in ways that reward movement. Some providers pay advisors upfront or enhanced commissions on newly transferred assets, and trailing commissions can be renegotiated when a plan moves. When a recommendation to switch arrives every three to five years, it's worth asking whether the move is driven by your members' interests or by a compensation reset.
What churn costs your members
A provider change is never free, even when transfer fees are covered. Assets may sit out of the market for days or weeks during the transfer. Members often land in a new default fund that doesn't match their risk profile, and many never revisit it. Contribution history, beneficiary designations, and account settings have to be re-established. And every move resets the relationship: new portals, new logins, new statements. Each of these adds friction that lowers engagement, and lower engagement means lower savings.
What churn costs your HR team
Every transition means a new round of plan documents, payroll mapping, employee communications, and enrolment support. For a lean HR team, a provider change can consume weeks of work. If that happens every few years, the administrative cost of the plan is far higher than any fee schedule suggests.
Questions to ask before you switch
Before agreeing to move your plan, ask your advisor directly: how will your compensation change if we move? What will our members' all-in fee be before and after, expressed in basis points? What specific problem with our current plan will this solve? How will members be mapped into new investments? A strong recommendation will have clear answers to all four. If the main benefit is a slightly lower headline fee that's offset elsewhere, the move may not be worth it.
How LINK is built to reduce churn
LINK is designed to be the last move your plan needs to make. Advisor compensation is configurable and disclosed as part of the all-in cost, so there's no hidden incentive to move the plan again. Members are placed in a suitable portfolio based on their risk profile from day one by LINK's registered portfolio management subsidiary. And because LINK supports plan growth from 30 employees to thousands on the same platform, you won't outgrow it and need to switch.
Keeping your advisor, and your plan, for the long term
Switching to LINK doesn't mean leaving your advisor. LINK was built for the advisor channel, with a dedicated partner portal and full support for broker-of-record relationships. The goal is simple: a plan structure where everyone's incentives point toward the same outcome, a dignified retirement for your employees.