Hopefully this is a dumb question that has an easy answer. My SO/DW/whatever abrev is trending, just got a new job at a smaller college. The college offers a SIMPLE IRA rather than a 401k, which is fine, but in setting everything up, things seemed to get a little hairy. Basically, SO/DW/etc was told to just call up her own financial institution and set up the SIMPLE IRA account, then give the account number to HR so they can ensure the deposits + employer match get direct deposited.
My own quick research into IRS.gov and various financial institutions (Fidelity, Vanguard, etc) seems to imply that the employer should be setting up a plan for employees to contribute to. Alot of the forms and FAQ's seem to come from an employer perspective rather than an employee/contributor/participant perspective.
Is this really legit? Should my SO/DW/etc just call up Vanguard and say, "Yeap, I work for whoever now and I need a SIMPLE IRA, kthx!"
Or do we need to poke around in the college more and try to figure out who (if anyone) is administering the plan?
Or am I thinking too hard about this?
Also, I'm getting info 3rd hand through SO/DW/etc, who is terrible about details of this variety. What types of pointed questions should I be asking her, (or telling her to ask of others)?
Thanks fellas!