“I think a lot of business owners are intimidated about taking that step forward, but everybody wins when you do it.” —Kelli Bagby, Owner at Truly Bookkeeping
Kelli Bagby, Owner at Truly Bookkeeping: My name is Kelli Bagby and I am the owner of Truly Bookkeeping. I started it in January 2021, and just realized through Covid that everything can be virtual and I could make a shift and kind of follow a dream that I always wanted to do which was work for myself and work with multiple small businesses and nonprofits and do bookkeeping which is what I had always done. And also wanted to have a business that really was able to support employees kind of holistically, especially in regards to future finances and so that's where the 401(k) was a really big deal for me.
Brooke from Carbon Collective: I totally understand how looking at employees and their needs and giving them the benefits that will make them successful from a financial standpoint and as an employee is important. Were there any other reasons why you wanted to start a 401(k) plan a year ago?
Kelli: Yeah I wanted to start it as quickly as I could because I felt like my family, my husband and I, were already behind so we didn't have any kind of retirement for like the first 20 years of our working lives, and I wish that an employer had just been like “we have this like just put 1% away like just do something,” and that there was like a mechanism in place for us to be able to do that, to just start squirreling some stuff away and having time on our side. And that wasn't in place and I wish that it was, and so I just wanted to create the mechanism as quickly as I could for me and my employees to start to do that to just put money away and to think about the future.
And I think it just communicates to my employees too that like I don't care about just the Here and Now with them, I care about them as a whole and their families as a whole, I care about their futures. I want to provide, I want to be a company that does care about that and helps provide for that. And so I felt like a 401(k) really communicates that, and I have heard this from my staff. They're very thankful to have that in place and that I took the time and initiative to get it in place, that I'm willing to do a match, like all that stuff. It's really great, especially you know when you're— I work with moms mainly, and so our full time (some are part time), but often that isn't the priority, it's like the paycheck is going to whatever the most immediate needs, and so to be able to plan for the future was just really important and valuable I think.
Brooke: Absolutely. That's really incredible that you were able to look back and say this is something that I wish that I had when I was an employee, and create that for your employees. Awesome, can you tell me a little bit about just that process from realizing oh we need a 401(k) plan to running that first payroll with 401(k) contributions—what did that look like?
Kelli: Yeah I had heard about Vestwell, like you know, a couple of years before at a job and I loved how easy it was to use. I knew I was going to go with them. And so I reached out to them and it was easy to get onboarded, and just figured out through this process, you know, how does this work, and doesn't work with my payroll provider. We use Gusto so that was really great and really easy to integrate. Wasn't like all of these extra steps every month that I had to do to get the money to the right place. And then as I was talking with them about like okay well then how will this be invested, like what does that look like because you also hear about people putting money away into a retirement fund and it's just sitting there in cash, or it's like it's not actually invested. And so I'm like I want to be on top of all of it, I want to make sure it's like getting to the right place, and then just realized like oh what do I care about investing in, which then you know eventually led me to to who I chose for the investments as well.
Brooke: So having that fiduciary advisor as part of your 401(k) team to say “hey this is on the right track” and kind of be that advisor on the plan for you and your employees, and then the second piece sounds like having sustainable portfolio options was something that was pretty important for you to offer.
Kelli: For sure yeah it felt like the responsible thing to do, you know, felt like this whole process was like this is the responsible thing to do, and I want to be a responsible person. And then as I was thinking about well we're going to have this money sitting there you know doing something like you know we can choose where we want to put it, and so I want to give like the most options, and I don't want to just be pigeon-holed into something which I feel like a lot of times 401(k) plans are like that.
And so what I really loved about Carbon Collective is that there was just so much you know there's so much variety in what you can choose, and that they're not just saying like you have to go this sustainability route for everything if you don't want to, like you can do just the regular index funds. I didn't want to choose somebody that was like they only do this. I wanted to use somebody who could appeal to the most variety of people that could be working with me in the future, regardless of where they are at and what they care about.
Brooke: Yeah absolutely, having something that was at least value-aligned for the employees. I find that a lot of folks expect to go into the 401(k) search and onboarding process feeling very overwhelmed and confused, but it sounds like your process was pretty smooth. Were there any challenges that you ran into and maybe you can share how you overcame those?
Kelli: Yeah it was pretty smooth. I mean, Vestwell was really great, Carbon Collective was really great, you know I've been working with Tavis for this whole time and he’s been really fantastic.
And it is confusing, and even like someone who is an accountant like myself, even though we're in like the numbers world doesn't mean that you necessarily understand everything, especially as the employer, there is a lot of complexity. And so I think just being able to ask a lot of questions, feeling like there's not a dumb question, that you can just say like I really need you to walk me through like how does this work, how do I even get money to you, or like you know like anything. Like let me just explain how it all works and I think you know everybody in the industry gets that like it's this whole process and not everybody understands kind of the back end of it or what's happening behind the scenes and so yeah everyone has just been really great and like walking through how that works and answering questions.
Brooke: That's fantastic because I hear from other people who have a 401(k) plan, and they don't have a go-to person. Every time they have a question it's like they're getting a support email from somebody different.
Kelli: Yeah I have a couple of contacts at Vestwell, but I do feel like the support email works great with them. But it is really nice with Carbon Collective to have Tavis.
Brooke: Great and what's been some of the feedback from your employees or maybe like the result on their own lives, their own career?
Kelli: They've been very thankful that it is an option, like I said, and that there is the mechanism not only for them to be able to save, but that I'm willing to match it as well. I think it communicates to them that they matter, more than just being an employee which I think is important because we are humans and we are valuable and not just for the work that we do. And so I think they feel that and yeah I mean they've been able to save way more than they thought that they would. And that you know the total compensation that they're getting from Truly just feels very holistic, that it's not just the paycheck, but it's like the future as well.
So it's been really great and I feel like especially in this industry, being in the finance industry, to me it feels like a no-brainer. I don't know why you wouldn't be making this a priority like we're supposed to be like experts and finance and everybody knows this is very important to families and individuals into society that were like putting money away for the future and so if you're not you know giving people the way to do that like that is part of an employer's responsibility, and I think you're doing a disservice to your employees if you don't do it, so you know, I think just modeling how I think other it should go you know is important not just as an idea but as actual practice.
Brooke: The points you just shared are really important, and I feel like answer this last question, but is there anything else that you would share with someone who is considering working with Carbon Collective?
Kelli: Yeah I mean we haven't even talked about the tax benefits. I've been talking with a client of mine, and she has this—what her CPA is telling her—is going to be a huge tax bill at the end of the year, and she's like how can we not have this huge tax bill? And her CPA really isn't giving her any suggestions. I'm like hey how about a 401(k)? Why is no one talking about this?
You are the owner, you care about your staff, it's your money. Why wouldn't you rather have it for yourself in the future rather than giving it to the government? So like you know I just think it's a huge win, but I think a lot of business owners are intimidated about taking that step forward, but everybody wins when you do it, so it's very important to do it.