Our Origin Story

When my college-aged daughter landed her first internship, she texted me on her first day: "Mom, do I pick the Roth or the non-Roth?”
I was both astounded and elated that her employer offered a 401K benefit to interns (of course, I answered ROTH!). What a gift. But oddly enough, that same year, one of my departing employees pointed out her 401K account within my business had some fees that neither of us was aware of. It took some persistence, scanning the plan documents and navigating some offshore 800 numbers to find those answers.

So instead of staying frustrated, I got curious. After months of digging in, here's what I learned: over the next decade, I was on track to pay $100,000 in fees on my existing plan. My payroll and 401K systems couldn't talk to each other, requiring my business manager to manually upload contributions every month, leaving room for costly errors that were entirely my compliance responsibility.

I also discovered that the SECURE Act of 2022 allows unrelated businesses to pool into what's called a Multiple Employer Aggregated Plan (MEAP). So I asked around to a few friends who also own small businesses and realized I am not alone. We were all struggling with legacy systems, lack of transparency, high fees, and technology gaps that put us as employers at risk.

So what do founders do in these situations? They start things that are designed for them. That is Athena 401K, a plan designed for women-owned small businesses. Here's what makes it different: fees that scale down as your plan grows (not the industry's standard "set it and forget it"), real humans who know your plan, seamless payroll integration, and a community giveback: our "producer fee" for the plan goes to the Women's Fund of Central Ohio, or a women and girls focused non-profit of your choice if you're outside Columbus.

We decided on two service options within the plan. One for startups with 1-10 employees who need something very simple to get started, and a second one, designed for those more mature or larger businesses who have a plan already but who may require more complicated plan design, audit capabilities, fewer “set it and forget it” fees and a way to give back.

My curiosity sometimes can get the best of me. But this time, it’s opened up doors I didn’t know existed. I hope this inspires you to decide to improve your relationship with your long-term retirement savings plan - whether it’s to join us at Athena 401K or ask more questions of your plan. Don’t let a lack of transparency hinder you and your employees from maximizing your hard-earned pre-tax dollars.

And at the end of the day, make no mistake, this is all about finding freedom in our investments and lives, earlier.

Ruth Milligan
Founding Member