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Strive Announces 401(k) Offering for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses

By: via Business Wire

Strive to offer retirement investment options that focus solely on maximizing shareholder value over non-pecuniary social and political agendas

Today, Strive announced the launch of the Strive Pooled Employer Plan (Strive PEP) , which will enable small and medium-sized businesses to offer their employees a 401(k) plan seeking to focus on financial factors alone.

Currently, the 401(k) market is dominated by ESG-promoting asset managers that prioritize social, political and other non-pecuniary factors over financial return. Prior to Strive’s 401(k) Program, most business owners had little choice: They could offer their employees retirement plans via these ESG-advocating financial firms or none at all. .This was especially true for small and medium-sized businesses for whom a fully customized retirement benefits plan was out of reach.

Strive’s 401(k) program is challenging the status quo. It allows businesses to offer their employees a choice in how their 401(k) money will be invested and the ability to align their investment dollars with an asset manager that prioritizes excellence over politics. Strive is especially proud to be able to offer this option via cost efficient pooled employer plans (PEPs), which will allow small and medium business owners to participate.

PEPs are new pooled retirement vehicles introduced by the SECURE Act of 2019. They allow for multiple unrelated employers to band together under a common plan to achieve administrative, operational, and cost efficiencies. The first PEP launched in January 2021.

Strive’s announcement comes as the federal government is making it easier for Wall Street to use Americans’ retirement dollars to advance political and social goals over financial returns. Earlier this year, Congress voted to overturn a Department of Labor rule introduced by the Biden administration that makes it easier for ERISA fiduciaries to consider ESG factors in selecting investments and exercising shareholder rights in retirement plans. On March 20th, President Biden vetoed the measure against the will of the American people. Most troubling, 401(k) plan fiduciaries do NOT have to disclose that retirement funds are being used to advance political agendas with which participants may disagree. Strive’s 401(k) solves this problem by allowing employees to opt-out of the politicization of their retirement accounts by investing in one of Strive’s pro-excellence funds, should they so choose.

In response to President Biden's veto of bipartisan legislation that protects investors from political investing, Strive Asset Management's CEO Anson Frericks issued the following statement:

"Investors deserve better than the President's veto of a commonsense law that protects the hard-earned dollars of American workers. Asset managers and investment advisors should be focused on creating value for their investors, not political experimentation, and gambling on so-called ESG. Overturning the will of the people and bipartisan majorities in Congress is an odd position for President Biden to take; all the more so during a week when the shortcomings of political investing and imperiling the entire U.S. economy have become blindingly obvious,” said Anson Frericks, Strive Co-Founder and President

“The Strive PEP is a turnkey, affordable 401(k) solution for small and medium-sized businesses. Today, less than 10% of small businesses offer any retirement benefits at all. The Strive PEP will allow these employers to more easily provide their employees access to the exact same retirement investment options that are available to Strive employees. We designed the Strive PEP to give employees the opportunity to maximize their financial goals in retirement by removing subsidies for social and political agendas that those employees disagree with,” said Ben Pham, Strive Chief Operating Officer, “further, we believe that the employee educational series that will be offered with the Strive PEP will drive increased rates of employee adoption.

Employers and employees interested in learning more about Strive’s 401k offerings, and seeing if the Strive PEP is right for them, can visit www.strive.com/401k.

​​About Strive: Strive is a Registered Investment Adviser with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC”) whose mission is to restore the voices of everyday citizens in the American economy by leading companies to focus on excellence over politics. The company was co-founded by Vivek Ramaswamy and Anson Frericks in 2022. Learn more at www.strive.com.

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