Better Together 401(k).
Give your team the gift of an amazing 401(k)

We help your employees, your HR admins, and your executives finally feel like they have a real, human guide for their 401(k). (we do 403(b)'s too!)

Welcome, we’re so glad you’re here.

Investment Choices

Your diversified employees deserve diversified investment options. That's our specialty.

We believe different employees have different investment philosophies with different risk/reward appetites. Rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, we want to give each member of your team the ability to choose which philosophy is best for them. Every plan we serve has three target date funds series as well as underlying funds for the following investment philosophies:

Passive

Passive funds are built to simply track overall stock and bond markets. They're the most common investment philosophy in 401(k) plans. We include a full series of low-fee index funds as well as a complete passive target date fund in all of our plan lineups. Our goal is to expand investment options, not take them away.

ESG

ESG funds emerged as a way to enable investors to diversify away some "off-balance sheet" types of risks specifically related to Environmental, Social, and Governance of a given company. While the rhetoric of ESG has shifted away from this initial goal of diversification, we believe taking these risks into account is a distinct investment philosophy with a clear rationale for why it could deliver longterm alpha.

Climate

Climate funds are for investors who believe the overall stock and bond markets are not properly accounting for the realities of climate change and the energy transition. We include our ClimateSmart target date funds in most of our plans as well as climate-focused funds for some asset classes where funds exist that meet our criteria.

But our Better Together 401(k) program does way more than diversified investments.

Jargon-Free financial ed

Your HR team aren't 401(k) experts. That's our job. From our live onboarding session, to our quarterly finance 101 webinars and market review newsletters, our goal is for your team to feel in control of their savings.

Dedicated HR support

Get the 401(k) partner you've been looking for. From advocating on your behalf, to getting on the phone, to creative problem solving, you will have a guide, translating 401k-jargon into plain english for you.

Fiduciary 2.0 software

It can feel daunting to run a 401k program. But the key is documentation. We make it easy by assigning one simple compliance task per quarter and keeping the results audit-ready in your compliance vault.

Recordkeeper Options

We can work with any open architecture recordkeeper.

Testimonials

These testimonials were all provided by real, current clients with their explicit permission. Nobody was paid or compensated in any way for providing their testimonial. Nor do any have a conflict of interest in providing this testimonial that we are aware of. Testimonials are not a guarantee of future performance or success and may not be representative of the experience of other clients.

Why 100+ employers have chosen Better Together 401(k)

PrevNext

“Carbon Collective is a breath of fresh air in the 401k advisory space. At a time when we questioned whether there are any truly good options for investing in financial markets, Zach and his team were able to answer the hard question and provide us the most sustainable path. They’re committed to the mission but also ensuring we’re offering a compliant plan and meeting all our responsibilities. On top of that, the plan administration support that’s offered both to me and employees is unparalleled.”

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Maleea Meden

HR Director at World Centric

“Carbon Collective has been a win-win for us. Employees have more socially and environmentally responsible choices and get quality, accessible advice in making their retirement investment decisions. While as administrators, we get responsive and friendly support, including helping us with our recordkeeper, for a lower price!”

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Rachel Katz

Financed Director at California Pan-Ethnic Health Network

“As a climate startup it is critical that we offer high-quality benefits that align with our team's values. Carbon Collective has made it easy to provide a mission-aligned 401k option that is at or above market returns.”

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Sanchali Pal

Founder/CEO at Commons

“Another thing that sets Carbon Collective apart is its excellent communication and leadership. Among the three major parties (financial advisor, TPA and Recordkeeper), they always 'manage to manage' the communication with the other two vendors. This saves me time chasing 3 different external vendors when I already have some internal teams to manage...”

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Katherine Wong-Velasco

Senior Director, PeopleOps at Mast Reforestation

“What's impressed me most about Carbon Collective is one how responsive they have been to us, how thoughtful they have been in constructing the portfolios.”

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Anshuman Bapna

Founder/CEO at Terra.Do

“And what I really loved about Carbon Collective is that there was just 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, you can do just the regular index funds.”

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Kelli Bagby

Owner at Truly Bookkeeping

“Working with Carbon Collective for our 401(k) plan has been such a positive move for our company. Their investment options just make sense - they align with our values while still delivering solid performance. Our team loves having choices that let them invest in the future they actually want to retire into, without paying extra fees. Since switching to Carbon Collective, we've noticed more employees getting excited about their retirement savings. It's been super easy to offer a benefit that genuinely reflects what our company stands for, and that feels really good.”

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Kenny Lee

Co-Founder at Aigen

“We had been searching for a 401k provider that aligned with our mission. Carbon Collective is way ahead of most 401k providers who only offer basic ESG funds. Carbon Collective is the answer to anyone wanting to truly invest in solutions for climate change. The Carbon Collective team is constantly looking for new opportunities for the funds as well. It has been a pleasure working with Tavis and Zach.”

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Deborah Laframboise

Director of Finance and Grants at Growald Climate Fund

“Choosing Carbon Collective for our employee retirement benefits was an easy decision. The team has been a pleasure to work with, and we're proud to be investing in a more sustainable future together.”

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Zuleyma Bebell

COO & Co-Founder at IMPACT ALPHA

“Carbon Collective's approach to climate-friendly investing is rare in that it satisfies the climate experts on our team, but what's arguably even more valuable is their client support. They are excellent communicators, always responsive, super knowledgeable, and a pleasure to work with.”

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Jesse Ladner

Director of Operations at OneEarth

“Carbon Collective has been a fantastic partner. Their customer service is top-notch: friendly, responsive, and always ready to offer hands on support. We also deeply appreciate how their mission aligns with ours; their commitment to sustainability makes working with them not just easy, but meaningful. It's rare to find a team that delivers both exceptional service and shared values.”

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Kyleigh Brown

Controller at Cleobella

“It’s a rare and powerful thing to find a retirement provider that actually walks the talk.”

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Amy Gray

Associate Director of Climate Finance at Stand.Earth

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

How much does it cost to work with Carbon Collective as a 401k advisor?

We're pretty competitive. If you have an advisor already, our fee will be 10% less than what you're paying them. If you don't have one, come chat with us for a quote.

We also often can uncover big savings by switching recordkeepers. Our best to date was a combined 72% reduction in 401k fees.

What's the difference between a recordkeeper and an advisor?

A recordkeeper is the software portal for their 401k. Your team can change contribution rates and their portfolios. HR gets access to necessary reports and a good one will help file your form 5500 each year. We can work with any open-architecture recordkeeper that allows us to build our customized fund lineups (most do).

An advisor builds and maintains your fund lineup. But a good advisor is like a Yoda for your 401k. They will troubleshoot issues with you, educate your team, and proactively communicate in times of market instability. (Hint: we're a good advisor).

How many clients do we work with in our 401k program?

As of 2025, we proudly serve over 140 businesses and nonprofits as their advisor.

Why do we include our Fiduciary 2.0 Software for free?

Because when you hire us, we become a fiduciary too in your plan. If the plan is a mess, and documentation is poor, that's not just bad for you. It's bad for us too.

So we built our Fiduciary 2.0 software to make it easy, and honestly pretty fast, to built and maintain immutable records that we not only are doing regular investment reviews, but that you are regularly reviewing the plan's health and its service providers. In the event of an audit, no scrambling to collect docs. Export all records with the click of a button.

What is our investment review process?

Many advisors force their clients to sit through long investment review meetings as often as quarterly.

We, and our ERISA attorneys, think such reviews are not only boring, but a waste of time. As the plan sponsor, it's your job to hire an advisor like us, and then to document that you are undergoing sufficient oversight of that advisor. You don't need to spend 90 minutes every 90 days with your advisor to achieve that.

We have a standardized fund lineup, that is universal across our plans. For every fund we include, we track 3-5 alternates. We publish a quarterly report, including our watch list, that gets saved into your plan's compliance vault. We also publish a quarterly performance review for your team. Then, at the end of each year, we clear the watch list, make any changes to the fund lineup, and document our rationale. You get assigned a task to review.

This not only makes things easy for you, but if you have over 100 employees and a plan auditor, they'll love it too. All of their necessary end of year compliance docs are just a download away.

Our difference

01.

We're clear eyed.

We think financial security and climate health are directly linked.

02.

We're independent.

We're not owned by a big bank or Wall Street firm.

03.

We're real people.

You'll feel it the moment you meet us.