It's a small 12 person business with only $400k in the fund currently. I'll try and get through to the small business line at that link. cheers.
I started doing this for my boss for a 3-person company when I found out that her plan had huge-ass expense ratios PLUS 2.5-5% front end sales loads!!! What?!!
Here's what I found out: Vanguard doesn't actually want super-small businesses in their 401ks. The administrative fees were WAY too much for us. I'd start looking at Online 401k or Employee Fiduciary (but feel free to get quotes from all the regular financial companies).
Here's a list of questions I learned to ask each company's sales rep:
ADMIN FEES
What are the annual administrative costs?
What are the additional administrative fees (such as participant fees)?
What percentage does your company take off the top of our total 401k assets (meaning, the $400k)?
What's the set up fee?
What's the transfer fee (for transferring from our current plan)?
Are there any other one time (or possible one time per year) costs, such as filling out Form 5500?
Are participants charged any extra expenses or percentages on top of the company's fees?
The question you ask every financial services person or company: Where do you make money? What part of this offers you a profit?INVESTMENT OPTIONS
How many options are there for participants to choose from? Ask for a list/description.
Ask self: Are the options varied enough?What's the average expense ratio?
Does the the provider of the 401k add on additional percentage fees on top of the fund's expense ratio?
Are there front end sales loads?
Is there a money market fund that is FDIC or SIPC insured?
I'm pretty sure the answer to this question is always no.Ask self: Are the investment options easy to look up on websites like Yahoo Finance or Marketwatch?Ask self: Are the investment options displayed easily so an idiot can look at the options and choose?OTHER
Can we decide how long an employee has to work at the company before they have the option of joining the 401k plan?
Usually, our employees have to work for us for a year.In my company's case, I had to ask: Do you offer a safe harbor 401k plan?
Do participants have the option to choose a Roth 401k? Does adding a Roth 401K option require more administrative or upkeep work on your part?
Can we decide to have employees vested 100% immediately?
Are part-time workers included on the plan?
Are there any other potential costs I need to know about?
NOTE TO OP: I worked for a financial planner for 7 months and gained a fair amount of knowledge about how to judge if a 401k's mutual fund offerings are good or varied enough, plus how to look up any fund on Yahoo Finance, so feel free to PM me if you want additional tips.