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Human Interest

Human Interest

Overview

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.

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Recent Reviews

TrustRadius Insights

Human Interest has proven to be a reliable and user-friendly platform for managing 401k plans and facilitating profit sharing. Users have …
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Honest Review

6 out of 10
July 11, 2023
Incentivized
To provide 401k benefits to employees as a benefit. As a small business, it is hard to administer such benefits on our own.
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No Regrets Review

9 out of 10
July 05, 2023
Incentivized
We utilize Human Interest to meet the requirement set by the state of California to offer 401K programs to our employees. Human Interest …
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Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Popular Features

View all 5 features
  • Ease of Enrollment (35)
    7.9
    79%
  • Filings and Disclosures (34)
    7.3
    73%
  • Plan Flexibility (34)
    7.2
    72%
  • Compliance Maintenance (35)
    7.2
    72%

Reviewer Pros & Cons

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Pricing

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Essentials

$120 + $4 per eligible employee

Cloud
per month

Complete

$150 + $6 per eligible employee

Cloud
per month

Concierge

$180 + $8 per eligible employee

Cloud
per month

Entry-level set up fee?

  • $499 one-time fee
    Required
For the latest information on pricing, visithttps://humaninterest.com/pricing/?utm_…

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Starting price (does not include set up fee)

  • $124 per month
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Features

401(k)

These are common and important features of 401(k) software. They pertain mostly to the administrative and recordkeeping aspects of a 401(k) provider

7.3
Avg 6.7
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Product Details

What is Human Interest?

Human Interest (“HI”)is a 401k provider boasting clear, transparent pricing. Human Interest, Inc. helps provide companies and their employees more options when it comes to crafting a retirement plan.

Testimonials are unique to the reviewer and may not be representative of others’ experiences. HI solicited clients for testimonials in exchange for nominal, non-cash compensation starting 2/28/23. Previously, from 8/23/22-12/31/22 Human Interest offered gift cards as an incentive for customers to complete reviews. An offer of non-cash compensation or a gift card and direct solicitation for a testimonial incentivizes reviewers to portray Human Interest favorably. Past success does not guarantee future results

What comes with a Human Interest, Inc. 401(k) plan?

  • Automated Administration

  • Compliance Monitoring

  • Dedicated Support Team

  • Investment Education

  • 3(16) Fiduciary Services Available

Their solution aims to make it possible for companies to offer high-quality 401(k)s as a part of a competitive benefits package without putting a huge administrative burden on HR. Employers can set up and administer a 401(k) plan entirely online, and make it easier for employees to manage their retirement benefits.

Human Interest 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

Additional Features

  • Supported: Zero transaction fees
  • Supported: Integration with 400+ payrolls
  • Supported: Onboarding and ongoing support

Human Interest Screenshots

Screenshot of Admin Portal - A summary page offers a snapshot of the plan.Screenshot of Admin Portal - Employee List: See employees at a glance and information such as contribution rate, participation, balance, risk setting, etc.Screenshot of Employee Dashboard - History View: Employees have the ability to view their YTD contribution amount and account related activity on this page.Screenshot of Employee Dashboard - History View: Employees have the ability to view their YTD contribution amount and account related activity on this page.

Human Interest Competitors

Human Interest Technical Details

Deployment TypesSoftware as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo

Frequently Asked Questions

Human Interest headquartered in San Francisco offers their cloud-based 401k administation platform for employers featuring flexible plan design and a dedicated account manager.

Human Interest starts at $124.

Guideline, ForUsAll, and Betterment are common alternatives for Human Interest.

Reviewers rate Ease of Enrollment highest, with a score of 7.9.

The most common users of Human Interest are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).
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Comparisons

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Reviews and Ratings

(222)

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!

Human Interest has proven to be a reliable and user-friendly platform for managing 401k plans and facilitating profit sharing. Users have praised the platform for its transparency regarding fees and updates, providing peace of mind for companies and employees alike. It has simplified the onboarding process for 401k programs, automating tasks that were previously time-consuming. The integration with existing payroll providers has also been seamless, streamlining the administration of 401k plans. Small businesses with limited HR staff have found Human Interest to be a valuable tool in simplifying 401k administration and meeting state requirements.

Additionally, Human Interest has been recommended by financial advisors for offering competitive costs and a user-friendly interface. The software provides a personal and daily window into 401k funds, allowing users to control their investment amount and strategies with ease. It also ensures that no contributions are forgotten through automatic 401k contributions. Despite some challenges faced by users in canceling the service or getting a prompt response from customer support, the platform's overall simplicity, ease of use, and integration capabilities have been highly appreciated by both businesses and employees. Human Interest enables small businesses to offer retirement accounts to their employees while benefiting from tax breaks and deductions. By taking on the fiduciary role, it reduces the workload for businesses by dealing with employee notifications and interactions. Overall, Human Interest's intuitive interface and ability to meet diverse business needs make it a valuable asset for companies of all sizes looking to provide retirement services to their employees.

Sales Process: Reviewers have praised the initial sales representatives for doing a great job of selling the product. They found their approach convincing and effective, resulting in successful conversions. Furthermore, having the presence of their manager during the sales process has been highly beneficial as it helped address any questions or concerns raised by executives.

Ease of Use: Users consistently commend the platform's ease of use. The interface is simple and intuitive, allowing employees to navigate through tasks quickly and efficiently. Whether it's completing paperwork or accessing important information, users appreciate how user-friendly the platform is.

Integration with Other Systems: A significant advantage highlighted by reviewers is the seamless integration of this platform with various systems such as HR, payroll, book management software QuickBooks, and enrollment/account changes software Rippling. This integration greatly simplifies processes for users by eliminating manual data entry and reducing administrative tasks. Users can seamlessly transfer information across different systems without encountering compatibility issues or additional steps.

Complications with the antiquated system: Some users have encountered complications with the outdated system, leading to issues with API integration between payroll and Human Interest. This has caused significant stress and uncertainty on payroll days.

Lack of communication from customer service: Users have expressed frustration over consistently unhelpful updates from customer service. There is a clear lack of communication and training during the rollout of solutions, leaving users feeling unsupported.

Higher administrative cost compared to previous plan administrators: Users have noticed that the administrative cost is higher compared to their previous plan administrators. They also wish for easier access to contact information directly on the dashboard.

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-13 of 13)
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Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We are a new, small business and were excited to set up our 401k. What a mistake we made going with Human Interest. At every possible turn, we have been disappointed. First, our salesperson lied to us. Once we signed the Agreement, we were moved to a manager who had no idea what he was doing and it took months for him to figure out that what we were sold wasn't actually possible. We were gifted 6 months free because of our issues, but we continued to be invoiced every now and then so I had to continuously fight to get refunded when we shouldn't have been invoiced. The end result was us having a 401k that we were never able to contribute to and we are happily in moving to a management service that is the opposite of Human Interest—our new team is honest and cares about us, not just building their own business fast. Stay as far away from Human Interest as you can if you want to actually invest and make money, not pay for zero services.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
WiConnect LLC started to offer a 401K plan to employees and chose Humant Interest as a provider
  • Dashboard to see current enrollment with % and $$
  • Automatic contributions through paycheck and integration with Gusto
  • Easy to change the contribution amount
  • Easy to withdraw the contributions
  • I like to contribute specific $ amount, not a % from my paycheck
  • I had a long period of waiting for the answers from Human Interest, I'd prefer it to be 1 business day
  • Lack the opportunity to talk to the support
I like the automation of Human Interest and the choice of funds and portfolios.
The costs for managing the portfolio were on the higher side compared with Bettermen.
We like to have Human Interest as our 401k provider and the only issue is the long waiting period to get the answer from the support.
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I was looking for a simple retirement plan for a small business when I found Human Interest.
  • Simplicity of fees and options
  • Responsive customer service that solves problems
  • Logical fund choices
  • Transaction dates --- transactions are made on random dates
  • Transparency on when transactions will occur
  • Cannot find dates of buy/sell
  • What is shown as allocation within account is incorrect - showed 100% cash as allocation, but actual allocation was 60/40 with only new funds in cash.
High cash flow businesses are looking to maximize tax savings without employing a fleet of accountants and attorneys. The sweet spot is companies with employees who can max out, but would pay too much in fees for a custom provider.
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I use Human Interest as a plan administrator of the company 401k.
  • Nothing
  • Basic data entry
  • Customer Service
  • Understanding customers' time zone
Two scenarios where Human Interest is less appropriate immediately come to mind. They are governed by ERISA guidelines, though from my experience it appears their employees are not aware of the gravity of their mistakes. More specifically, they deducted money from my company's bank account because money was debited from my paycheck, yet, the money did not make it to my account. This took 9 months to "resolve" and I am not confident it was. I escalated this situation to DOL who suggested we shop for a new plan provider. Additionally, $490 was deducted from an hourly employee's pay and company bank account, for a loan payment. However, that employee doesn't even have $500 in their 401k and the employee whose pay should have been deducted was not. Supposedly they are still "researching it", but I feel that is simply poor.
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use it for our 401K. It provides us with an easy-to-use registration for 401K, but their onboarding and current plan have caused more of a headache than it's worth.
  • Easy to use registration
  • Customer Service
  • Onboarding Process
  • Better trained employees that are knowledgeable about the company
  • Don't promise services you cannot provide
  • Get approval before you roll out things
  • Respond to emails and support tickets quicker or even at all
  • Don't leave company in the dark about the process
  • Better database that shows current employee contributions
  • Better training for company, rather than no training at all
  • Being aware of issues and proactively finding a solution, vs company having to reach out to correct issues that could have been prevented
  • Better monthly reporting
  • A system with less glitches
I have had some serious issues with Human Interest, and it doesn’t seem to matter who I talk to; I feel I’m either ignored entirely or the issues mentioned aren’t addressed. In my opinion, this has been the most difficult, frustrating, and unprofessional company I’ve ever worked with. I feel that I have been in the dark since I left the section with my initial onboarding specialist. In my experience, no one has kept me informed of anything. In my experience, things were rolled out without my knowledge and rolled out with incorrect info to my entire company - then I had to go behind and clean up the mess. I scheduled a meeting with one of our companies to help them sign up, and we started the process and in my experience, every single one of them is blocked and can’t proceed because they are commission-based pay, and it won't allow you to even sign up if a salary isn't listed. I feel that's something that they would have known and should have proactively addressed before they even rolled it out. So, I planned a meeting that wasted my time and their time, in my opinion. I emailed support for a fix and heard nothing for almost a week. In my experience, I was told one thing at signup, and then they would flip-flop and say we couldn't do something. We went back and forth for a month on the same issue, and ultimately, it was something they could do, and they even had paperwork to initiate it. In my experience, they have sent signup requests to employees that weren't eligible, charged me for a full month at the start when there were 3 days left, and didn't even inform me that they were rolling out the program or even get my approval. Because of another issue, we didn't even start deductions until the middle of the next month. They still made us pay. If I had known it was going to be this bad, I wouldn’t have ever chosen this company.
Score 3 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use it as an employee incentive to both attract and retain employees. The competitive market and tight unemployment numbers make this a top priority for our company. We have endeavored to have all employees enrolled and have been somewhat successful in that.
  • Investment options
  • Responding to queries and questions
  • Provides industry insights
  • Lacks promptness in pulling and posting employee deductions after each pay period
  • Poor in timeliness of generating quarterly reports. Most recent was posted on 11.8.
  • No ability to create custom statements. All other providers that we have used have had this ability to create custom statements based on date range at anytime.
  • Results of discrimination/highly comp testing not communicated and or not generated timely.
Right now, it is not meeting our needs. When queries are made to HI they are timely responded to but no improvement is made. As an example, my most recent query was "why is it taking so long to have employee contributions processed after a pay period end". The response was that it was a staffing issue on HI's end. This delay is the single most common employee complaint I have...including my own. When money is deducted from a payroll and it is not immediately invested, it is a problem. We use Netchex as our payroll provider. Other deductions, including FSA and HSA deductions are processed on the day of each payroll. I have inquired as to any changes we as the client need to make, but it all appears to be on HI's end. This same question about the timeliness of contributions has been asked and responded to many times in many different ways. The most recent was in regards to staffing issues. Other responses have included "it just got missed" or "it takes time to audit contributions". Additionally, I don't know where my company stands on discrimination testing. I don't want to be at year end and have a problem.
November 23, 2022

Human Interest Review

Score 2 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We implemented a 401(k) to help with Human Interest to help with staff recruitment and retention.
  • Web portal is easy to use
  • Our 401(k) contributions & match don't get funded in a timely manner which caused negative comments from our auditors on our mostly recently filed DOL report (5500)
  • There's no way for our higher paid folks to contribute a flat dollar amount, only % are allowed.
  • Response from support and account reps is extremely delayed if at all
  • Audit package is released too late in the year which caused us to file an extension of time to file our 5500.
  • There are weird adjustments to our employees 401(k) balance with no explanation.
  • The process for uploading the year end census was not easy and many of our employees were terminated in error.
Our 401(k) contributions & match don't get funded in a timely manner which caused negative comments from our auditors on our mostly recently filed DOL report (5500). In 2022 the average time from pay date to remittance date is 12.6 days with the highest variance at 35 days. There's no way for our higher paid folks to contribute a flat dollar amount, only % are allowed. This results in higher paid commission doctors missing out on employer match dollars in certain situations. Response from support and account reps is extremely delayed if at all. Year end audit package is released too late in the following year which caused us to file an extension of time to file our 5500. There are weird adjustments to our employees 401(k) balance with no explanation. The process for uploading the year end census was not easy and many of our employees were terminated in error.
Steven Stuckey | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Human Interest handles our Company's 401K Plan. They integrate well with our payroll provider, Heartland. It has become seamless for us, and all transactions are handled behind the scenes. No real-time requirement for our manager or staff.
  • 401K Plan design
  • Transactions with payroll provider, all digital
  • Timely reporting, documentation
  • Takes the guess work out for us owners
  • A bit of confusion up front on fees and credits for switching to them
Small business 401K plan design and implementation are great. We are very happy to have them as part of our benefits package for our employees. They operate very smoothly and all transactions are both seamless and painless.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
My company has been using Human Interest for about 100 days now. The onboarding process was super easy as their team walks you through every step with a quick zoom call. Human Interest provides our company with a 401k platform that is simple to navigate as an admin and employee.
  • Onboarding process
  • Customer support
  • Detailed options
  • Easy to navigate platform
  • Option to enter employees immediately instead of going through payroll platform
Human Interest is well suited for providing companies, small or large, with 401k options.
September 17, 2022

Piqued my Human Interest!

Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
My company had struggled with another 401k provider for the past two years so when I took over this position, one of my first orders of business was to find a way to streamline their options into one place and Human Interest has done that for us. My employees are very pleased with the ease of use on the website and the smooth transition between companies.
  • Website is easy to navigate through and understand
  • The fees make sense and are not astronomical like some other companies
  • Communicating with support is easy and you get to talk to a human versus an automated system like some other companies
  • We had a few billing issues that we're still ironing out with support but hopefully nothing that can't be addressed easily.
As stated previously, Human Interest has been excellent. There were a couple of hiccups during the implementation process but it was partly an issue of the company that we were leaving. I wish there were just a bit more communication during the process but it's not one I've ever done before so I wasn't exactly sure what to expect
Jose Penalba | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
401K plan & profit sharing
  • Still looking
  • A phony company promising to manage profit-sharing plans without having any knowledge about it.
Human interest looks good from the outside but apart from plugging in to get your money, they are unable to deliver what you contract them for. Absolutely no knowledge of profit-sharing management, terrible investment options, terrible customer service.
Score 1 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
We use Human Interest as our 401k provider as well as to facilitate profit sharing (until recently). It is used by all of our employees. We need a fiduciary consultant to provide advice to keep us in compliance while helping us execute on the delivery of the benefits we have offered employees.
  • Website interface is clean and easy to use.
  • They employ many customer service agents with no authority to make change.
  • They appear to employ a customer service company that services other companies, so they answer the phone with something other than Human Interest at times.
  • They regularly say they'll be in touch with an update, but the update is always that they can't resolve the issue yet.
  • There are lots of contacts, but no answers.
  • There are lots of customer service reps, but no answers.
We started with Captain 401k, which got acquired by Human Interest, and we were told by Captain that we'd have a dedicated customer service person. That stopped with Human Interest. We hired a new employee and were advised by Human Interest (after seeking advice) that we needed to pay to update our plan document, which we did. A year later when we try to execute profit sharing, we're told by Human Interest that we are not eligible to engage in profit sharing. We understand that we not only got erroneous advice from our 401k consultant, but we also paid for that bad advice. In February of this year, Human Interest deducted $3,600 in fees twice, and we have not been able to get them to correct that (it's August). We get frequent email updates that say they are expediting our case, but they don't have an answer yet. They blame it on their engineers.
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Human Interest (HI) is the first 401K platform we have implemented at our company. Prior to adding HI, we did not have a 401K plan at our organization and selected Human Interest after reviewing multiple different platforms and providers. We have implemented HI company-wide and it is available to every employee that works at our company. After careful consideration, we determined that HI met the needs of our business better than other vendors who provide a similar service. Our focus was on keeping costs low for our employees, an easy to use interface, and integration with our payroll provider.
  • Easy to use Interface: The platform is very easy to use both for administrators and Employees.
  • Integration with our payroll provider: When users make changes to their elections in HI, the changes automatically flow into our payroll platform simplifying our payroll process.
  • Automatic contributions: Contributions are automatically processed each pay period simplifying the process for our payroll team and reducing the potential for errors.
  • Low Cost: The fee structure is very transparent and we were able to craft a plan that kept fees low for our users which was a priority of our organization.
  • 3(38) fiduciary: We have a small team and it was important for our organization that our provider was a 3 (38) fiduciary as our team is unable to dedicate the time necessary to select the investments in our plan.
  • Enrollments are automatically processed when a new user is created in our payroll platform saving our HR team time creating new profiles.
  • There is zero paperwork.
  • Support: We identified an issue with our configuration that did not match our agreement signed with HI. The issue was limited to the vesting schedule in our platform and it took multiple emails to have the issue addressed by HI.
  • Contributions: We have had periodic issues where a duplicate contribution may be processed by HI. To their credit, they have always fixed these occasional occurrences immediately and proactively.
Human Interest is well suited for any company that is looking to quickly implement a 401K plan. The interface is better than any other platform I've used during my career and is very easy to use. Any company that has a small team will find Human Interest very useful and helpful in operating a 401K program. It is especially useful if your goal is to automate the payroll process as it fully integrates with our payroll provider.
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