About the ABA Retirement Funds Program
Why choose the ABA Retirement Funds Program?
The ABA Retirement Funds Program (“Program”) offers an employer-sponsored retirement plan – built by lawyers, powered by pros. For over 60 years, the Program has been committed to providing the tools necessary to help all legal professionals achieve retirement security. Our structure allows your firm to focus on the success of the practice while we provide the highest level of fiduciary oversight allowable through ERISA, reducing your fiduciary risk. Through our purposeful innovation we provide an investment platform with options to allow for optimal choice and flexibility for your participants and a fully bundled service model, custom designed to meet the unique needs of your firm, so you and your plan participants can learn more, save more and worry less. And we offer all of this at a competitive price whether you are a solo practitioner or a large corporation. Through the unique culture created between the ABA Retirement Funds and our Program partners, we aspire to help every law firm, lawyer and legal professional secure their financial future.
PROGRAM OVERVIEW
We offer a different kind of retirement plan. Built by lawyers and powered by pros, the Program was built by lawyers who understand your needs.
In 1963 the American Bar Association created the Program because it recognized that the legal community could benefit from a unique type of retirement plan to meet its needs. In the past, partnerships did not have the same access to tax-deferred retirement plan benefits as they do today. The Program was created in part to allow, under a Collective Trust structure, partnerships and small law firms to access these benefits. Over time, the Program developed into a comprehensive retirement plan that, today, serves over 4,000 member law firm plans and nearly 38,000 participants (as of December 31, 2023).
The Program is powered by three leading financial innovators that deliver retirement plan experience.
Investment Fiduciary, Custodian, Trustee
• Maintains Investment Policy 1
• Designs the investment line-up
• One of the largest defined contribution investment consultants globally
1 Subject to acceptance by ABA Retirement Funds
Full-Service Recordkeeping and Administration
• A leading provider of financial products and services in the U.S.
• One of the largest defined contribution plan recordkeepers with over 54,000 plans ²
² Pensions and Investments Top DC Recordkeepers as of December 31, 2023 (based on September 30, 2023, data).
Personal Choice Retirement Account® (“PCRA”)
• For the investor selecting stocks, bonds or mutual funds
• Offers over 8,700 domestic and international mutual funds
1 Measured as a percentage of clients who remained with the Program from January 1, 2023, through December 31, 2023; includes only plan conversions to another provider.
²Average tenure calculated from total years of service for all dedicated Program employees from Voya, Mercer and Schwab.