Market Salary of an entry level 401(k) administrator in the Boston area

[Guest willwork4shoes]

I am trying to pin down what the market value of an entry level position as an Administrator in a 401(k) TPA Consulting firm is going for in the Boston area? Can anyone comment? Better yet, is there any website such as Salary.com that would give me a good idea if what we are paying is in the ballpark of my competitors?

[GBurns]

What is an "Administrator" in a TPA consulting firm?

What is a "401(k) TPA consulting firm"? Do you provide services to 401(k) TPA's? Or do you consult on 401(k) plans to plan sponsors? Or are you a Plan Administrator, which begs the question of what does an administrator do for an administrator? Is this like your Office Manager?

[No Name]

Rent times 3

[GBurns]

That is too cheap.

They might like being able to say that they pay top $$.

[stevena]

I know what you mean. Our TPA firm consults on plan design, and helps the client fill out the adoption agreements for the attorneys we work with (we do it better than them as far as knowing the clients needs). We assist the broker with setting up the plan (we know which fund groups will work best with the kind of plan they are setting up). We also do preliminary testing, the year end testing, 5500, 1099's etc, annual trust reports, and all of the daily stuff for the plans (payouts and loans and RMDs & the like). If that position is what you mean...

I am a consultant at a TPA firm in southernmost NH. If you are talking about smaller pension administration firms, not big warehouse ones, the salaries (at my firm) for beginners run around 35-40k. However, I make 70k after 5 years at my firm and a QKA from ASPA (and with bonuses can make more if I want to work more). Honestly we dont pay much to start because its really hard to find good people. Most of what we get is people from fund companies, but they don't transition very well into administration. Mostly because the administrators in my firm handle everything for their caseload, from running tests to the tax returns to plan document issues, and people from fund groups are not used to not having "departments" that handle this stuff.

I assume Boston is a bit higher, although we pay better than most in NH, (and would pay more for someone who knows something!) so I dont suspect significantly higer.

Let me know if you need any more info. Be happy to help.

If anyone has any ideas on the same question but in the Charlotte, NC area, I would appreciate it! I am really trying to relocate, I can't stand these winters anymore!

[WDIK]

I am trying to pin down what the market value of an entry level position as an Administrator in a 401(k) TPA Consulting firm is going for in the Boston area?

Would you prefer the market value expressed in terms of wingtips, loafers or hightops?

[stevena]

I'd go for BrunoMagli wingtips (if I were a guy, that is).

[could be me maybe not]

I'm interested in this discussion, but am not getting the jokes. I have no doubt it is me.

stevena, the figures you are discussing sound quite high to me, although I don't know what market figures are. But your comments about "fund company people" are right on target.

Anybody able to give a range of market db administrator salaries?

[Guest quinn the car fixer]

could be..

check the original poster's name

[stevena]

Which figures sound high...starting salaries of 35? or my salary of 70?

My salary may sound high, but I have 80 cases and do everything by hand. We have no system for testing, so I do everything on excel. So the job is pretty labor intensive. We also hand hold every single client and do absolutely everything for them, down to writing letters for them to fund groups for participant distributions and telling them when employees are eligible to be paid out, etc. It really is an unusual position, compared to the work I see other TPAs doing, at least locally here.

But, I do know that many area TPAs pay what we pay, if just a little less.

I am curious where you are located that the salaries sounded high? (to be sure I never move there!)

SOrry I cant help with the DB info...I am trying to wade through the ASPA DB book right now, and find it so boring I want to cry.

[could be me maybe not]

Thanks quinn. Still took me a minute. Duh. Pension humor. Nothing like it.

Actually, WDIK, kudos to you.

Now I'll finish my day by singing Tom P's pension songs. Lock me up then.

Stevena, both sets of figures seem high, yours more so. I do not doubt that you are worth your pay in a particular niche. Finding it is the key.

Exploitation of the worker is the basis of our economic system after all. And automation may do you ill, not well, until you gain more experience and broader knowledge. I just think that 5 years with a QKA asking for starting pay in the 70s is asking to be shown the door real quick by most employers. I sincerely hope

I'm wrong.

ASPA sold a pay survey a few years ago. I meant to buy it. Never did. Never saw it. Can anybody quote from it?

[stevena]

Well, I dont have 5 years, I have 10 years. Granted, 5 years of my experience wasn't at the best TPA in the world. However, no one's experience is all good.

I can't imagine these days paying anyone who has a college degree anything less than at least 35 to 40, and I havent heard of anyone who would. And in Boston, thats a pretty low salary, really entry level.

My salary is up there, however, I have been doing this for awhile, and the fact that I went from 35 to 70 in 5 years at my current employer means I must be doing something right.

I do think that the fact that I do everything by hand is a disadvantage in a way, because I dont know anyone's software program. The last thing I used was Pentabs and Quantech...how far back does that go?? However, I am hoping that having to teach me a software program (what would that take, a few weeks?) will be a small thing, and that the fact that I know what the system is doing behind all those churning sounds coming from the computer will be a big plus in my favor. I can't tell you how frustrating it is to talk testing with the person who keeps saying over and over "my system says...my system says..."

I would love to see that ASPA publication.