In my opinion, Awful customer service — couldn’t transfer my money for over 1 month
They are my previous company’s 401K benefits provider
Overview
What is Guideline?
Guideline headquartered in San Mateo offers a cloud-based 401k management software for businesses priced on a per employee basis.
Recent Reviews
Reviewer Pros & Cons
Pricing
N/A
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What is Guideline?
Guideline headquartered in San Mateo offers a cloud-based 401k management software for businesses priced on a per employee basis.
Entry-level set up fee?
- No setup fee
For the latest information on pricing, visithttps://www.guideline.com/pricing
Offerings
- Free Trial
- Free/Freemium Version
- Premium Consulting/Integration Services
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Alternatives Pricing
What is Human Interest?
Human Interest headquartered in San Francisco offers their cloud-based 401k administation platform for employers featuring flexible plan design and a dedicated account manager.
Product Details
- About
- Competitors
- Tech Details
- FAQs
What is Guideline?
Guideline offers aims to offer a simple, affordable way to save for retirement, by providing plans presented as low cost and highly automated. This helps companies to offer a valuable benefit, and it helps companies' people to invest in their financial future with confidence.
Guideline Features
401(k) Features
- Supported: Administration and Recordkeeping
- Supported: Payroll Integration
- Supported: Compliance Maintenance
- Supported: Plan Flexibility
- Supported: Filings and Disclosures
- Supported: Ease of Enrollment
Guideline Competitors
Guideline Technical Details
| Deployment Types | Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based |
|---|---|
| Operating Systems | Unspecified |
| Mobile Application | No |
Frequently Asked Questions
Guideline headquartered in San Mateo offers a cloud-based 401k management software for businesses priced on a per employee basis.
Reviewers rate Ease of Enrollment highest, with a score of 7.
The most common users of Guideline are from Mid-sized Companies (51-1,000 employees).
Comparisons
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Reviews and Ratings
(24)
Community Insights
TrustRadius Insights are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, 3rd-party data sources. Have feedback on this content? Let us know!
- Business Problems Solved
- Pros
- Cons
- Recommendations
Guideline serves as a valuable retirement program solution for businesses looking to offer comprehensive benefits to their full-time employees. Users appreciate the range of low-cost index ETF funds available through Guideline for their 401K options, providing a diverse range of investment opportunities. The super easy-to-use interface has been specifically mentioned by users, making it simple and efficient for employees to enroll and manage their retirement savings. The real-time calculation of contribution limits is also highly valued, providing peace of mind when making changes to contributions. Guideline's seamless integration with Gusto payroll further enhances its convenience, streamlining the administrative process for employers. The continuous safe harbor analysis offered by Guideline is also appreciated by administrators, helping them meet compliance requirements effortlessly. With Guideline as the company-wide 401K platform, businesses can eliminate the manual aspects of maintaining and processing employee retirement contributions, freeing up time for the executive team. Additionally, Guideline's quarterly reports allow users to track the progress of their portfolio and fine-tune their long-term financial strategy. The responsive support team provides timely assistance through email and phone, ensuring a seamless experience for customers. Overall, Guideline's user-friendly features, cost-effectiveness, and comprehensive services make it an efficient tool for businesses of all sizes.
Low-cost investment options: Several users have mentioned that Guideline offers low-cost investment options, which has been a positive aspect for them. They appreciate the affordability of the platform and feel that it allows them to invest their money without incurring high fees or expenses.
Excellent customer support: Reviewers have consistently praised Guideline's customer support, noting their commitment to helping users. The prompt and helpful assistance provided by the support team has contributed to a positive experience for many customers.
Easy-to-use interface: Many users have found Guideline's software to be easy to use and navigate. They appreciate its intuitive design, visually appealing interface, and user-friendly features. The seamless integration with payroll vendors also adds convenience for users.
Terrible Customer Service and Lack of Investment Options: Users have expressed dissatisfaction with Guideline's customer service, noting a lack of investment options. Some users have stated that the customer service provided by Guideline has been subpar, while others have mentioned that there are limited investment options available.
Lack of Integration and Synchronization Frequency: Some users have found the integration and synchronization feature of Guideline to be lacking in terms of frequency. They feel that the synchronization only occurring once per day is not sufficient and suggest that it should be more frequent for real-time updates.
Limited Customization and Absence of Mobile App: The simplicity of Guideline has been criticized by some users who feel it lacks customization options, which may be problematic for businesses with more sophisticated plans. Additionally, the absence of a mobile app for tracking progress on devices like phones and iPads has been seen as a drawback by users who believe having this feature would enhance ease of use.
Based on user reviews, here are the most common recommendations for Guideline:
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Guideline is highly recommended for small nonprofits as a good solution for retirement benefits. Users have found it to be an efficient and cost-effective option.
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Businesses that use Gusto are advised to consider Guideline for their 401(k) plan administration. Users have found it to be a compatible and seamless integration with Gusto.
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Many users recommend Guideline for businesses seeking easy 401(k) plan administration. They appreciate its user-friendly interface and hassle-free management of retirement benefits.
Attribute Ratings
Reviews
(1-4 of 4)Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
February 28, 2024
In my opinion, Awful customer service — couldn’t transfer my money for over 1 month
They are my previous company’s 401K benefits provider
- Good online platform
- Customer service
16.666666666666668%
1.7
Yes
They needed my job end date and I gave it to them (confirmed with my HR) and they said it was incorrect. This disallowed me for getting access to my account for one of my many customer service calls. Frustrating that I didn’t have access because of their incorrect info.
In my opinion, the first conversation seemed promising. Their response time was quick and the guy made it seem simple, but since then nothing has happened and, in my experience, it’s been difficult to get my money after a month of trying with 4 different support agents (including an escalation).
January 09, 2024
Guideline Review from a Senior Staff Researcher Point of view
Guideline helps us to easily administrate our 401(k).
It is not easy to have visibility on the total retirement savings that each individual has accumulated and in total.
It also helps to understand the amount contributed before and after taxes.
This is specially helpful to understand if an emergency withdrawal would be taxed or not taxed.
For example, at the start of the year, the software projects the total contributed per year before and after taxes.
It is not easy to have visibility on the total retirement savings that each individual has accumulated and in total.
It also helps to understand the amount contributed before and after taxes.
This is specially helpful to understand if an emergency withdrawal would be taxed or not taxed.
For example, at the start of the year, the software projects the total contributed per year before and after taxes.
- Administrate individual 401(k)
- Understand the contributions accumulated in total and per year
- Understand the percentage of salary being contributed per pay period.
- It is not clear how to deal with the IRA accounts
- In the IRA plan, it is no clear what are the risks (if any?) vs the benefits (or are all of them benefits?)
- The explanations of the Portfolio should be easier to understand.
85%
8.5
- It saves H.R. resources.
- It saves employees time to be researching information by themselves.
- It keeps track of employee retirements.
Guideline is useful to keep track of employee retirement portfolios and keep the information visible instantly for the employees.
It handles contributions towards the retirement account.
Rippling is good at the everyday management of employees, this is, keep track of the monthly salary, time-off, Health related accounts and W2 tax documentation.
It handles contributions towards health accounts and taxes
It handles contributions towards the retirement account.
Rippling is good at the everyday management of employees, this is, keep track of the monthly salary, time-off, Health related accounts and W2 tax documentation.
It handles contributions towards health accounts and taxes
November 10, 2021
Not recommended at all - Terrible customer service
Guideline was mainly used because it connected with the company's prior payroll vendor Gusto. All employees at the company used Guideline for 401(k) services. We were looking to expand our benefits as a small employer at the time, and Guideline matched well at the time for the number of employees that we had.
- Ease of use
- Connection with payroll vendor
- Cost
- Terrible customer service
- Lack of investment options
- No resources for employees to help with financial needs
- Connection with payroll vendor
- Cost
- Ease of use
- Allow small employees to enhance benefit package
- Great recruitment tool for new employees
- Connection with payroll vendor allowed for less manual work
Not listed, but I have used ADP Retirement services and we switched vendors to Empower. Both vendors have much more robust employee tools to calculate dollars needed at retirement and how percentage changes in the 401(k) allow for changes later in life at retirement. In addition, both services answer my emails, unlike Guideline which goes to a generic email box where more often than not, your email is simply ignored.
January 18, 2020
Great 401(k) solution for startups and small businesses
We utilize Guideline as our 401(k) provider. We added this benefit in 2019 and made the decision primarily because Guideline gave us an easy and efficient vehicle to offer the benefit due to online admin, not having to deal with a broker and integration with Gusto, our payroll system. As a small business, It has been a very efficient and easy tool for our team to enroll and manage their 401(k)s.
- Integration with the payroll system.
- Handles all of the regulatory requirements for 401(k) like top heavy testing.
- For a small business with very minimal 401(k) needs, Guideline is sufficient for us. If you have a more sophisticated plan, you may run into some limitations.
- Expanding benefits to include 401(k) has been a helpful tool to compete in recruiting talent.
- There's very little administrative burden on our accounting staff
We didn't find any viable competitive option for Gusto that had the trifecta of low fees, Gusto integration and that handled all the plan management. There were plenty of other companies like Sharebuilder, Fidelity or Vanguard (to name a few) that do have low cost 401(k) options, but the integration and completely taking the administrative burden off of us clinched the deal.