Frequently Asked Questions
General
Yes, your plan will be migrated to the Ascensus recordkeeping platform. You'll continue to have access to key features of your current experience. We will do everything we can to make this change as smooth as possible. Here are some important details to be aware of:
- You'll be asked to eSign a service agreement, trust and/or custodial agreement and plan document (if applicable). Your relationship manager will guide you through the process this summer.
- Your plan fees will stay the same after migration.
- Your plan will migrate data over a weekend. Plan assets will transfer in-kind during migration weekend.
- A new website for both plan sponsors and participants will be provided with instructions for first time log in, closer to migration.
- Participants do not need to re-enroll for the plan, just to log in with new credentials.
As a plan sponsor, you can look forward to continuous innovation with benefits that include:
- Flexible payroll processing options—and payroll integration with over 500 payroll providers
- New website with an enhanced plan sponsor dashboard and a comprehensive retirement plans view
- E-Delivery of all Notices including Annual Notices (participant email addresses must be on file)
- Broader reporting capabilities
- Enhanced on-demand executive reviews
- Quarterly funds monitoring reports
Participants will have an enhanced website experience, and access to ongoing enhancements to the program that include:
- Access to the Ascensus READYSAVE retirement plan mobile app, which allows for deferral and investment changes, loans and withdrawals, and beneficiary information to be completed in the app
- Extended Call Center Hours
- Online beneficiary maintenance via the Participant website or the READYSAVE app
After completing comprehensive due diligence on several third party recordkeepers, Ascensus was selected for three primary reasons:
- Their extensive experience with similar partnerships.
- No proprietary investment requirements.
- No competing financial planning solutions for business owners and/or plan participants.
Cetera Retire went live in February of 2025.
All customer service and call center team members are based in the U.S.
Available after migration, the READYSAVE mobile app offers a simple, streamlined, and supportive experience that is driven by data and backed by behavioral science to help participants make more informed decisions throughout their journey to retirement readiness. The app also has a Spanish language option. Participants will receive more information about downloading and using the app as soon as migration is complete.
Yes. There will be a brief blackout period when some activities will be suspended, allowing for your plan’s secure migration to Ascensus recordkeeping platform. Specific dates and cut-off times for processing transactions will be shared well ahead of migration.
Action Items
- You will be asked to eSign a Fidelity Transfer of Assets letter, which will be sent by Cetera. This will allow us to transfer your assets from Fidelity to Ascensus Trust Company.
- In a separate email, you will be asked to eSign a service agreement, trust and/or custodial agreement and plan document (if applicable) bundle, which will be prepopulated with your current pricing and plan provisions for ease of execution.
- Review the interactive videos on common topics such as payroll contributions that are located on your migration microsite as you get closer October 19. Additional training is available upon request, through your Cetera Relationship Manager.
Yes, you will receive a pre-populated service agreement, trust and/or custodial agreement and plan document (if applicable) bundle to execute. You will simply eSign the bundle and we will do all the heavy lifting behind the scenes.
- The service agreement will be prepopulated with your existing pricing.
- The plan document, if applicable, will be prepopulated with your plan provisions.
Yes, you will be restated on to the Ascensus plan document at no charge. Our team will continue to be responsible for all plan design consulting.
Migration Details
Yes, there will be a brief quiet period, known as a "blackout period", when some activities will be suspended to allow for the plan’s secure migration to the Ascensus recordkeeping platform. A blackout notice will be sent to ensure we have sufficient time to complete all necessary transfer of records and reconciliation of data. Specific dates and cut-off times for processing transactions will be shared well ahead of migration.
Yes, the week of October 19 plan sponsors and participants will establish new login credentials and begin viewing their accounts on the new Cetera Retire website. Participants will also be able to access their accounts via the READYSAVE mobile app.
Service
- Cetera Retire was built to mirror the RPS program and experience with added capacity and scale.
- You will continue to work with your existing relationship management contacts.
- We will continue to provide 3(16) and administrative fiduciary support and 3(38) Investment Management.
- Our team will continue to be responsible for all plan design consulting as well as all year-end compliance work and 5500’s unless you are working with a third-party administrator.
- Ascensus will be providing back-office recordkeeping services, instead of Relius, the recordkeeping technology used by RPS today.
- You will continue to work with your existing RPS Relationship Manager.
- There will also be a new Ascensus Client Account Manager assigned to assist with operational items (payroll setup and remittance transaction processing, website).
Yes, you will still receive an Annual Executive Review. There is no change to the services provided by your Relationship Manager.
Cetera will continue to act as the 3(38) Investment Manager over the core investment menu and models.
Plan participants will have access to the Participant Service Center Monday-Friday 8am-8pm ET.
Yes. Data from January 2024 forward will be securely carried over to the Ascensus recordkeeping platform.
As a result of SECURE 2.0 legislation, hardship requests can be self-certified via online. If your plan allows for hardship distributions, participants can self-certify that their financial need qualifies as a hardship under the plan, and they will retain the supporting documentation to substantiate the reason for the hardship.
After migration, a plan that offers loans will be set up so that a participant will be able to request a loan directly online or via the READYSAVE mobile app. Loans initiated online will be displayed under pending transactions on the plan website for your review and/or approval. If participants prefer to request a loan with a form, they can model the loan online and print the form for plan sponsor approval. If a participant does not have online access to their retirement account, they can reach out to Participant Services for assistance.
- Yes, self-direct brokerage accounts are available. The accounts will be established with Schwab, instead of Fidelity, going forward.
- Existing self-directed brokerage accounts will be transferred in-kind to Schwab.
Post-migration fees will no longer be pulled directly from SDBAs. It will be the participant’s responsibility to have enough invested in the plan’s core funds to cover SDBA fees and any distributions. Participants will see two funds in the plan lineup for their SDBA: The “cash” fund is used for investment elections as well as transfers to and from the core funds. The “invest” fund shows the market value of all securities within the brokerage account. New contributions will post directly into SDBA “cash.”
After migration, terminated participants have options on how to change their address:
- They can update it online
- They may also change their address at the time of a distribution by submitting the Contact Change form with the Separation from Service distribution form
Note: There is a 14-day hold on distributions whenever an address change occurs.
Participants can designate beneficiaries both using the Online Beneficiary Designation function on the employee website or on the READYSAVE mobile app, which will be available to all plans at the time of migration. Ascensus is taking this opportunity to help participants make sure their information is accurate. Ascensus has a robust online beneficiary user experience that captures additional beneficiary election information. Following migration, participants will be prompted to confirm their online beneficiary elections.
Payroll
Yes, plan sponsors will remit their contributions via the Cetera Retire Plan Sponsor website. We will provide instructions on how to do so prior to the enhanced platform going live.
The last day you can submit payroll contributions for processing on the current RPS platform is Oct. 9 by 1 p.m. ET for the Oct. 9 payrolls.
Payrolls dated after Oct. 9 can’t be processed and should be submitted after the plan migration to the Cetera Retire platform. We’ll let you know when the plan move is complete the week of Oct. 19, so you can submit payrolls dated after Oct. 9 at that time.
Cetera Retire offers payroll integration with more than 500 payroll companies. Once the enhanced platform goes live in October, you will have an opportunity to explore payroll integration based on your desire and availability.
Ascensus offers a wide array of payroll integrations with external vendors, with both 180 and 360 options. See a complete list here.
Payroll and contribution changes will be coming to this site along with payroll tutorials/videos and user guides. A broader service support “flyer” with all your designated “go-to” teams before, during, and after the process will be available in the coming months.
After migration, you can continue to submit payroll contributions as you do today—whether through a vendor, file upload via the plan website, or manual contributions. Your experience may be slightly different, but we’re taking great care to keep the process simple and streamlined. “How-to” guides for manual entry and file upload will be available on your dedicated Resource page in the coming months.
Similar to today's process, payrolls with varying frequencies or payroll dates must be submitted as a separate file per frequency or payroll date. If you have multiple frequencies, it is recommended that unique payroll files be set up before the transition to help ensure the first payroll goes smoothly.
Fees and Invoices
No, there is no change to fees.
Yes. As part of the transition to Ascensus, you should expect additional communications related to invoicing and payments. For the Q3 billing cycle, invoices are expected to be delivered later than the typical schedule, as the billing administration transitions to Ascensus, with invoices currently expected in late November. To help you prepare, Ascensus plans to provide more detailed billing and payment communication in late October outlining invoice timing, delivery methods, payment options, and available support resources.
Continuity and Enhancements
Ascensus is committed to providing as much continuity as possible in your service model and maintaining the same high level of responsiveness and support you expect. Your Relationship Manager will continue to provide you support as they do today. An Ascensus Client Service Manager will also be assigned to support you.
A new URL, login, and navigation tutorials will be provided as we get closer to migration.
Participants won't have any action to take prior to the migration as their current investment options will be automatically mapped to the Ascensus platform.
After the migration, participants can make any additional changes to their investment options on the new Cetera Retire platform or via the READYSAVE app.
Participants have access to the participant migration website which includes helpful information, timeline milestones, and FAQs. Although the URL for the employee retirement plan website will change, the website experience will be enhanced. We are committed to making it easy for you to share what’s happening with your employees and answer any questions they may have.
On Aug. 25 all participants were mailed a packet of important migration information which included key deadlines for the migration, the blackout notice, and a flyer about what will happen if they have fractional deferrals or investment elections. We sent you a preview email of the packet information on Aug. 20, with a subject line of "Updates for Avantax Retirement Plan Services plan participants".
No, participants will receive their new information for accessing their accounts on the new platform closer to migration.
Available after migration, the READYSAVE mobile app offers a simple, streamlined, and supportive experience that is driven by data and backed by behavioral science to help participants make more informed decisions throughout their journey to retirement readiness. The app also has a Spanish language option. Participants will receive more information about downloading and using the app as soon as migration is complete.
In addition to the READYSAVE mobile app, participants will find Spanish and alternative language capabilities:
- Through the call center – Spanish-speaking representatives and additional licensed and bonded language translation services are available.
- On forms – all standard distribution forms are available in Spanish and posted to all plan websites.
As we get closer to migration, the plan sponsor microsite and participant microsite will continue to add more content related to this question and many other questions. The Ascensus web experience does provide an interactive tour/walk through for the participant for these types of requests.
Last updated July 27, 2026
Additional questions?
Your relationship manager is here to support you every step of the way. Feel free to reach out with any questions.