System and methods for designing group retirement plans

A new method for designing group retirement plans that is driven, at least in part, by the business objectives or goals of a plan sponsor, the method comprising:

• collecting information about a prospective plan sponsor from a Web site hosted by at least one computer in communication with a computer network accessible to the prospective plan sponsor;
• defining a set of eligibility rules for plan sponsors using the Web site for retirement plan design;
• determining whether the plan sponsor is eligible to apply for a group retirement plan using the Web site based upon the collected information about the employer and the set of eligibility rules;
• if the prospective plan sponsor is eligible for a group retirement plan design using the Web site, then performing the following:
• collecting information from the plan sponsor relating to the business objectives of the plan sponsor;
• defining a set of plan design rules correlating business objectives with retirement plan design,
• evaluating the information relating to the business objectives of the plan sponsor using the plan design rules,
• generating a plurality of retirement plan rules appropriate to the business objectives of the plan sponsor, and
• presenting the retirement plan rules to the plan sponsor using the Web site.

A first ever Web site system for designing group retirement plans for prospective plan sponsors over a computer network, the Web site system comprising:

• a computer in communication with the computer network;
• a Web page accessible over the computer network for receiving information about the plan sponsor, the information including one or more business objectives of the plan sponsor;
• and
• software executing on the computer for determining retirement plan rules based, at least in part, upon the one or more business objectives of the plan sponsor.

A new method for designing group retirement plans for prospective plan sponsors, the method comprising:

• providing at least one computer in communication with a computer network;
• collecting information from the plan sponsor over the computer network, the information relating to one or more of the plan sponsor's goals for a retirement plan;
• providing software on the computer for merging the plan sponsor's one or more goals with retirement plan design;
• analyzing the information collected from the plan sponsor using the software;
• and
• generating a group retirement plan with plan rules consistent with the plan sponsor's one or more goals.