GuidelineReviews of guideline.com

Limited investment choices. No option to limit rebalance of a portfolio for future investments only. Tone deaf management ignores customer requests for better rebalancing options.

I transitioned our existing 401(k) to Guideline in 2019. Originally, things were great. The transition was smooth, the employees were helpful, and the flat monthly fee per participant was competitive. All that changed in 2021 when the company went against their own values/advertising and began charging a monthly fee based on Assets Under Management (AUM). The company claims the decision was in response to customer feedback because it eliminated fees for one-off services, however, my company had never paid a single one of those fees. The new pricing model did nothing but take money away from my employee's retirement and felt like a huge bait-and-switch by Guideline. I have also experienced a decline in customer service. When I first switched to Guideline I could call and speak directly to a customer service representative. Over the course of the last two years that has dropped off and now when I call customer service all I get is a voicemail where I am asked to leave a message. Sometimes they call back... but not quickly. When I moved our 401(k) the decision came down to Guideline vs. Vanguard. Guideline offered access to the Vanguard funds, but with a lower cost for administration so I made the move to Guideline. However, with the new pricing structure based on AUM there is almost no cost difference between Guideline and going directly with Vanguard. I would recommend anyone considering the same choice I had to set up with Vanguard so you don't make the same mistake I did.

Easy onboarding and easy to read reports.

Easy to use and great integration in our payroll system (gusto)

Everything has been smooth and easy to understand. Any questions have been answered quickly.

Guideline makes it easy to start up a 401k for my employees. They handle all the details and work seamlessly with my existing payroll system.

In boarding failed to disclose a key change in my plan due to Guideline's limited template capabilities. I was then told my plan would be honored, months later I was told it would not be honored. Your system could not properly calculate my PSP contribution because I was a mid-year transfer. Finally, a manual calculation was performed. Your system shows that I have a compliance issue based on my PSP contribution. It is wrong and no one has fixed your system I have requested it be fixed numerous times; as well as, the compliance update process does not reconcile to the version of my agreement. I have requested numerous times for a reconciliation with no response other than with the first request... "we'll research". At my previous provider I was able to make my PSP contribution in February, but this year I could not until March because Guideline was "not ready" until late February and did not figure out how to properly calculate the PSP amount until just before the corporate tax deadline. Guideline recommended I use one of their integrated payroll companies. I switched to Gusto. This created all kinds of bad information being sent to me from Gusto driven by info they got from Guideline. With Gusto, it now takes me 5-10 times longer to complete my payroll and retirement plan bookkeeping entries.

Guideline is smooth, transparent, proactive, and gets the job done simply, directly and cost-effectively so the organization can focus on its priority, it’s mission, knowing that staff retirement investments are advancing with fidelity.