I worked for 8 years for a very successful TPA in the West that was spun off from a large regional CPA firm. The CPA firm recognized that it needed a reasonable number of retirement plan experts to make a go of the business and it needed to devote significant resources to that business. The spin off also allowed the TPA to go after plans whose plan sponsors had relationships with other CPAs, which the business couldn't do while it was part of the CPA firm. The CPA firm later acquired several other CPA firms that did TPA work as an additional service for their clients and, not to be mean but, when those plans were transferred to the TPA I worked for, they often had significant issues that needed fixing. I say all this to support the notion of the others that you really need to align yourself with retirement plan experts to learn this business and do a decent job. Whether you do that through hiring qualified folks, acquiring a TPA firm or partnering with a TPA firm is up to you, but you need to do one of those or you likely will inadvertently cause your clients no end of headaches. I have been in this business for over 35 years, I'm an attorney and I still learn something new every day.
