A nonprofit Pooled Employer Plan. One Form 5500 for all employers. Vanguard index funds at 0.03–0.15%. AI-powered administration. Zero TPA fees, zero advisor commissions, zero conflicts.
When you set up a retirement plan for your business, you're navigating a complex web of providers — each with their own fees, incentives, and relationships. The problem isn't any single provider. It's that the entire system is structured around their economics, not your employees' retirement outcomes.
Asset managers earn more when participants hold their higher-cost proprietary funds — so that's what gets recommended. Insurance companies wrap retirement accounts in annuity structures that add mortality & expense charges on top of already-high fund fees. Financial advisors earn ongoing commissions on assets under management, which creates pressure to keep participants in fee-generating products. Broker-dealers and their home offices collect revenue sharing from fund companies. TPAs charge per-service fees that add up invisibly. Platform providers like FIS and SS&C layer infrastructure costs throughout the chain. And payroll companies — increasingly bundling retirement into their platforms — offer seeming convenience while locking employers into ecosystems where switching becomes expensive and painful, and where real cost savings rarely get passed on to participants.
By the time a dollar reaches your employee's retirement account, it has passed through so many hands that 1–2% of their balance disappears every single year — silently, invisibly, compounding against them for decades.
As a nonprofit, we have no investors to return capital to, no proprietary products to push, no commissions to pay. We use Vanguard index funds because they outperform the vast majority of actively managed alternatives over time. We use AI to handle compliance and administration that TPAs once charged thousands to do manually. The savings aren't marginal — they're life-changing.
We're not the only option. Here's a transparent look at the landscape, including newer low-cost providers — and why our nonprofit structure creates a durable advantage none of them can match.
| Provider / Plan Type | Type | Est. Total Cost | Fiduciary? | Form 5500 | Fund Quality | Scalable Cost? | Why Employers Stay |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AIPEP401K Nonprofit PEP · ThinkNirvana |
Nonprofit PEP | 0.27%/yr | Yes — we carry it | We file one | Vanguard index only | Fees can only go down | Mission. Lowest cost. No conflicts. |
| Guideline For-profit PEP / 401(k) |
For-profit | ~0.50%/yr | Partial | Handled | Index + active mix | VC-backed — fees may rise | Good UX, easy setup |
| Vestwell For-profit recordkeeper / PEP |
For-profit | ~0.40–0.60%/yr | Partial | Handled | Advisor-selected | VC-backed — fees may rise | Advisor distribution model |
| Human Interest For-profit 401(k) |
For-profit | ~0.50%/yr + per-ppt | Partial | Handled | Mixed | Investor returns required | SMB-friendly onboarding |
| Ascensus Legacy recordkeeper |
Legacy / For-profit | 0.60–1.20%/yr | Employer holds liability | Employer files own | Revenue-sharing funds | Fees rarely decrease | Existing relationships |
| Payroll-Bundled 401(k) ADP, Gusto, Paychex retirement |
For-profit | 0.80–1.50%/yr | Limited | Employer files own | Proprietary / mixed | Bundled lock-in | Convenience of one bill |
| Insurance-Wrapped 401(k) Principal, Nationwide, Transamerica |
Insurance company | 1.20–2.50%/yr | Limited | Employer files own | Annuity + M&E charges | Fees rarely decrease | Existing agent relationship |
| State-Mandated IRA CalSavers, IL Secure Choice, etc. |
Government program | 0.25–0.95%/yr | Limited / unclear | No filing | Limited fund menu | $7K contribution limit | Mandatory compliance only |
Every for-profit PEP and recordkeeper — no matter how well-intentioned at launch — faces the same structural pressure: investors need returns. That means fees get raised, fund menus get monetized, and participants pay more over time.
As a nonprofit, ThinkNirvana has no investors to return capital to. Every efficiency gain goes back to participants. Our fee structure is governed by our mission charter — not by a board answering to venture capital.
This is the same reason Vanguard's fees have fallen every decade since 1975. Ownership structure determines long-term outcomes. We're structured to serve participants. Permanently.
This is what the industry doesn't want you to calculate. We put it right on the homepage.
That's how much more your employees keep at retirement by switching from a typical 401(k) to AIPEP401K. Not a rounding error. Not a footnote. That's a life-changing difference.
Adjust the sliders to see exactly what a plan costs your business — gross and net after SECURE 2.0 credits.
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The full picture. No marketing spin.
| Plan Type | 2024 Contribution Limit | Employer Required? | Form 5500? | Admin Burden | Tax Deduction | Talent Score | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AIPEP401K Our Plan Nonprofit Pooled Employer Plan · Vanguard index funds |
$23,000 + $7,500 catch-up | Optional (we recommend 3%) | We file ONE for all | Zero — AI handles it | Full + startup credits | ★★★★★ | Any size SMB |
Traditional 401(k) Single-employer plan |
$23,000 + $7,500 catch-up | Optional | You file your own | High — you hold liability | Full contribution | ★★★★☆ | 50+ employees |
SEP-IRA Simplified Employee Pension |
$69,000 (employer only) | Yes — same % for all | No filing required | Very low | Full contribution | ★★☆☆☆ | Solo / owner-only |
SIMPLE IRA Savings Incentive Match Plan |
$16,000 | Yes — 3% match required | No filing required | Low | Full contribution | ★★★☆☆ | ≤100 employees |
State-Mandated IRA CalSavers, IL Secure Choice, OregonSaves… |
$7,000 (IRA limit) | Employee-funded only | No filing required | Low — payroll deduction only | No employer deduction | ★☆☆☆☆ | Compliance only |
These aren't incremental improvements. They're structural advantages built into the PEP model.
In a traditional 401(k), every employer files their own Form 5500 annually. Over 100 participants? Mandatory audit — costing $8,000–$15,000 per employer, per year. In our PEP, we file ONE consolidated 5500 for the entire plan. Your employers file nothing.
As the Pooled Plan Provider, ThinkNirvana LLC assumes the 3(16) plan administrator role and overall fiduciary responsibility. Your employers are not plan fiduciaries. They don't pick investments. They don't face DOL audits alone. We carry that weight as a nonprofit — with no profit motive to cut corners.
Congress essentially subsidizes new retirement plans for small businesses. The SECURE Act 2.0 provides dollar-for-dollar tax credits that offset startup costs, auto-enrollment, and even employer matching contributions for the first 5 years.
Third-Party Administrators charge 10–30 basis points to do what our AI engine does automatically: nondiscrimination testing, eligibility tracking, vesting calculations, distribution processing, participant communications, and compliance monitoring. We pass those savings directly to participants.
No proprietary funds. No revenue sharing. No advisor-selected active managers. The cheapest, most diversified funds on the planet — selected by our Investment Policy Statement, monitored by AI quarterly.
Payroll providers are building their own PEPs and stealing recordkeeping clients. We built three ways to integrate that keep your data yours.
The biggest players in payroll — ADP, Gusto, Rippling — are all launching their own PEPs. If you connect your retirement plan directly to their platform, you are handing them your retirement client relationship.
Our architecture is payroll-neutral by design. We aggregate census data through a read-only connection. Your employees belong to you, not to your payroll provider.
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Try the ROI Calculator ↑The nonprofit behind AIPEP401K
501(c) NonprofitThinkNirvana.org was founded on a simple frustration: too much of what Americans set aside for retirement ends up enriching asset managers, insurance companies, and payroll providers — not funding retirements. As a nonprofit, we have no shareholders, no revenue-sharing agreements, no sales commissions to pay. Every efficiency we create flows back to participants as lower fees.
We are legally required to act in participants' best interests. No exceptions.
Every fee published. Every vendor disclosed. No hidden revenue sharing. Ever.
Technology eliminates the overhead that has historically justified high fees.
We're thinking in decades. This is a 30-year project to transform retirement.