Pooled Investment Trust We have developed a unique 401k product to meet the needs of small business. The truly innovative aspect of the Starboard Solution is that it brings personalized and professional pension style investment management to your defined contribution 401k plan. We accomplish this through a “pooled” investment approach in which all employee contributions are combined in a master trust and then managed by Starboard Asset Management. Plan participants will all receive statements from our Third Party Administrator that reflect their individual account value within the trust. Better Performance In addition to helping asset growth through to greatly reduced plan costs, the Starboard Combined Contribution 401k takes the burden of investment decisions out of amateur hands (your employees) and put it into professional hands (Starboard). A Watson Wyatt Worldwide study showed that from 2000-2002 traditional pension plans run by professional money managers outperformed employee managed 401k’s by an average of 3.86 percentage points per year. This provides solid evidence that volatile markets are better navigated by professional managers. Lower Cost and Long-term Focus We recommend that small businesses adopt a quarterly or annual balance forward administrative reporting structure to employees because it is far more cost effective (please see cost table for exact costs). This accounting approach stands in contrast to most of today’s insurance and mutual fund company platforms that promote the more expensive daily valuation model. While this may be adequate for larger plans that are able to spread the cost over a much greater base, it isn’t a necessary cost for a small business or its employees to incur. In addition, we believe focus should be on long-term performance not daily market fluctuations, so quarterly or annual reporting is more than sufficient. Happier Employees with less Fiduciary Risk for Trustees Hewitt & Associates indicated in recent studies that 80% of surveyed 401k participants made no changes to their accounts between 2001-2003. Why pay the extra cost of a daily valuation plan if employees are simply afraid or unwilling to make investment decisions themselves. Bottom line: In our opinion, the current 401k structure is not the recipe for creating a workforce that is content with their retirement savings plan. As a co-fiduciary, we are on your team when it comes to acting in the best interest of the plan. Our independence allows us to do what’s best for your employees and avoids the conflict of interest that is so prevalent in the investment industry today. We work with you to develop an Investment Policy Statement and help make sure you have the appropriate fiduciary insurance in place to protect the plan in the event of a lawsuit. Prudent Risk Management to Protect and Grow Assets How will we invest your plan assets? • Strategic risk management- Market risk dictates the strategic allocation of funds, not an age based lifestyle fund or “cookie-cutter” asset allocation model. The higher the risk level in the market as indicated by our proprietary technical models, the more conservative the investment allocation. This discipline strives for preservation of capital in periods of elevated market risk. Conversely, we will position the portfolio for growth when our models indicate lower risk levels. • Relative Strength Analysis- When investing your plan assets, we will diversify within areas of the market that are exhibiting positive relative strength. The goal of this style is to keep assets in outperforming sectors, not in lagging groups or predetermined asset allocation models. • Low Fee Funds- We do not invest in individual stocks in 401k portfolios. Instead, we invest in low cost Exchange Traded Funds (ETF’s) and Index Funds. This greatly reduces plan investment fees and leaves more money for your employee’s retirement. In addition, these funds will provide needed diversification of plan assets.