What a Form 5500 tells you before the first meeting

Most employer retirement plans file a Form 5500 each year, and the filings are public. Ten minutes with one can change the first meeting.

What is in it

• Plan assets and participant counts at the start and end of the year.
• Employer and employee contributions.
• Service providers and, for larger plans, what they were paid.

What is not

Small plans file a short form with less detail, and every filing describes a year that has already ended. Treat it as background and say so.

5500 Scorecard turns the filing into a single page you can bring to the meeting.