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Guideline has been acquired by Gusto
- westurner 1y agoNotes about 401K backtesting and funds,: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42387927 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42387927
- isaacdl 1y agoI almost posted something this morning about this, because I received an email that really frustrated me. I have a 401k with Guideline from an old employer. The email was from Accrue <no-reply@accrue401k.com>, and said, in part: > Login: Please visit my.accrue401k.com to log in. You’ll find that the 401(k) dashboard and user experience remain familiar. If you’ve set up your account, your same login credentials will provide you access into the dashboard. (Please note, Accrue does not currently offer a mobile app). The my.accrue401k.com part was a hyperlink to that site. I've independently done some digging (and contacted my old employer to verify!) but this is precisely how a targeted phishing attack would work. Asking someone to enter their financial account credentials into a site they've never used or heard of, based entirely on an unsolicited email, is INSANE. This email was the first time I've heard of Gusto, of Guideline being acquired, or of Accrue 401k (which apparently is the company created to hold Guideline's 401k accounts that are NOT affiliated with Gusto). Nice.
- corbet 1y agoSomething broke down somewhere ... I got emails a while back about the acquisition and giving options about whether to go along with the move or not. Since Gusto is our payroll provider, I didn't see a reason not to do that... hopefully there will be less finger pointing the next time something goes screwy with the 401k transfers.
- isaacdl 1y agoMy guess is your different experience is precisely because you use Gusto as your payroll provider. My previous employer does not, or at least they did not when I was working there. This was truly the first and only email I've gotten about it, but I have always gotten regular transactional and notification emails from Guideline just fine, including yesterday with a confirmation that I'd changed my asset allocation!
- IncreasePosts 1y agoThis whole space is littered with bizarre security practices that make my hacker senses tingle. I know my 401k is provided by company ABC, but then they host all of their web content and ask you to log in to myretirementplan.com. and then they do a redesign and then ask you to log into yourretirementplan.com. and there's basically no communication from company ABC directly if these sites are legitimate or illegitimate
- cosmic_cheese 1y agoThis is common for mortages, too. Mine has been sold a handful of times (as are most peoples') and more than once I've had to triple-verify that the dashboard website the new servicer is telling me to go to is legit. They often have extremely dodgy URLs like "mymortgagedash.com" that have no obvious association with the loan servicer whatsoever.
- xp84 1y agoYes! It’s like half the companies we interact with are actively working to teach people to do all the no-nos that some of us are trying to educate against.
- raw_anon_1111 1y agoOn a completely unrelated note: I don’t understand why people keep money in prior companies’ 401K plans. I always role mine over to my Vanguard account.
- sgarman 1y agoWell they sold some retirement accounts to Ascensus which you have to have your own account and login for so maybe they will move your 401k too some day and you will be in the same boat as these guys.
- isaacdl 1y agoI'd love to move the account (especially after this!), but unfortunately I can't because of what is basically an annoying side-effect. My current employer doesn't offer a 401k plan, and the only option I have for contributing to a Roth IRA is via backdoor contributions. Such backdoor contributions (which are basically an IRS-sanctioned loophole) have to start in a Traditional IRA account, and you cannot have any other/pre-existing Traditional IRA funds at the time of the contribution. So, I have nowhere to move the 401k funds besides an IRA account, but I have to leave my traditional IRA accounts empty so that I can do a backdoor contribution. I wish the federal government would just get rid of the salary cap for direct contributions to a Roth IRA, since they basically already allow it via the obnoxious and convoluted path.
- raw_anon_1111 1y agoWhat the actual f%%%! I just looked it up. Not that I didn’t believe you. I just never looked into it. For reference for others… https://investor.vanguard.com/investor-resources-education/article/how-to-set-up-backdoor-ira https://investor.vanguard.com/investor-resources-education/a... I’m both under the limit to contribute to a Roth since I am married and my company offers an “after tax 401K” (different than a Roth 401k) and I’m over 50 so I can do catch up contributions. I’m a long way before I need to worry about backdoor contributions.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- pants2 1y agoI got an unsolicited call from Fidelity once and they asked for a bunch of financial info. I told them I'd call back on their official number and they said that's not possible, I had to answer right away. So I told them to pound sand. Afterward found out it was legit when they sent the same form by mail.
- SilverElfin 1y agoI wonder if this acquisition update today is caused by the recent lawsuit alleging Guideline was performing corporate espionage. Seems like weirdly coincidental timing? https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/27/new-corporate-espionage-claims-emerge-centered-on-two-highly-valued-401k-admin-startups/ https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/27/new-corporate-espionage-cl...
- tyre 1y agoInteresting this is being posted now when the acquisition was two months ago.[0] Has anything changed? My copium as a shareholder is that they’re beefing up their services to boost a valuation for IPO. One can dream! [0]: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/joshuareeves_better-together-guideline-gusto-activity-7366535558593990657-O1kP https://www.linkedin.com/posts/joshuareeves_better-together-...
- altairprime 1y agoBased on the above complaint, it sounds like they generated an email to account holders without mentioning the acquisition or linking to the FAQ. Perhaps they were flooded with questions and realized they have to discuss the terms of sale Or Else their corporate account admins start worrying (and evaluating alternatives).
- isaacdl 1y ago(Author of the comment you are talking about) To be clear, they DID link to the same FAQ, but hosted and branded on the new domain and name. I had to go digging to find the same info on the Guideline site I was already familiar with.
- altairprime 1y agoAh! Good to know, thanks.
- tshaddox 1y agoAlso, I can't find any mention of Accrue on any previous Gusto or Guideline communications or any of their online FAQs about the acquisition. "Accrue 401k" seems to barely exist outside of its own website and a few third-party posts from today about the confusing email.
- tyre 1y agoHuh, yeah that's not good. Trust is so important around financials like this. I'm surprised that no one thought through the branding and communications. Missing something like "hey, they've never heard of this company or domain" feels like a pretty easy catch.
- 0xWTF 1y agoMy wife tried using Gusto and hated it. She then happily went a different direction, picked up Guideline for her 401K provider, and now she's super unhappy she's getting pulled back into Gusto. /sigh
- joomla199 1y agoThey're both awful companies at heart. Birds of a feather flock together and all that.
- JumpCrisscross 1y agoGuideline has an FSA/HSA product which is a walking CMMS and IRS violation. I never bothered escalating my disputes, but simply said, their customer service agents have multiple times admitted in writing to their systems being designed to break federal and state law. I never thought it was worth pursuing. But Gusto has deep pockets…
- huerne 1y agoWhat specifically is violating policies?
- JumpCrisscross 1y ago> What specifically is violating policies? Guideline materially and repeatedly breached their fiduciary duties under ERISA. Their definition of when an expense is “incurred” varies materially from case to case and diverged substantially in almost all of them from IRS guidance. Multiple times, a customer service agent said—in writing—the last person I interacted with misrepresented something material that I had subsequently acted on. Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer. I am describing my personal experiences. Don’t cite this comment if you decide to pursue these fuckwits.
- ihattendorf 1y agoDo you have a concrete example of when their definition was different from IRS guidance?
- fragmede 1y ago(Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services)
- deadbabe 1y agoCould you elaborate
- lotsofpulp 1y agoNot using Fidelity for HSA and Vanguard/Fidelity for 401k is a sign of bad leadership. I have to assume management is getting paid off some way to subject themselves to an inferior and more expensive custodian.
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- add-sub-mul-div 1y agoSlorp is now Bonto!
- dangus 1y agoOk we're transitioning to Salarya, but payroll is still in Bullfrog—did you see my Noosecock post? Submit your timecard on Fireplayce then jizz me on Smackdog. Do NOT upload to Crackerz without Yammer approval (Source: https://x.com/gossipbabies/status/1487161069143576576?lang=en https://x.com/gossipbabies/status/1487161069143576576?lang=e...)
- mundav000 1y ago[flagged]
- mundav000 1y ago[flagged]
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- dudeWithAMood 1y agoEvery job I've had with Gusto has managed to screw up payroll at some point. The support from Gusto is very poor, even a supervisor that's offshore when you call em won't be able to understand your basic questions.
- mgkimsal 1y agoMy brother had an issue with Gusto, but I've not yet, after having used them for... probably at least 10 years now. Maybe longer. I was a refuge from quickbooks payroll which managed to screw up state filings such that I had 2 years of bad filings with the state where they were charging me late fees for things QP screwed up. Huge hassle, cost me days of time and a drive to the state capital to turn in paperwork in person. I swore off quickbooks payroll and have been happy with gusto ever since. But... I'm a single person who occasionally does payments to subcontractors, not dealing with payroll for dozens/hundreds.
- dqv 1y agolol they use LLMs to respond to support requests now and they don't seem to read what they're sending. I got an email from them where the LLM assumed I was the Gusto support representative: > This was concerning to us, as we rely on Gusto to handle these automated compliance filings. This was concerning to Gusto, as Gusto relies on Gusto to handle these automated compliance filings.
- FL410 1y agoTheir support is a literal train wreck
- mjcl 1y agoFun Guideline story: I worked for a company that went bankrupt and used guideline for 401k. The first day the website allowed me I withdrew the balance for rollover. Apparently this should not have been possible before the bankruptcy was finalized. I found from court filings that the bankruptcy trustee kept telling Guideline they need to freeze withdrawals until the bankruptcy was finalized, and Guideline kept dragging their feet and acting like they didn't understand. The trustee ended up having to go to court and get a temporary restraining order to prevent more employees from withdrawing their balances before the bankruptcy was finalized. Un-fun bankruptcy fact: All employee names & mailing addresses are part of the public record and accessible on PACER because they're potential creditors in the bankruptcy.
- cortesoft 1y agoWait, how are 401ks part of a bankruptcy? I guess the matching portion? Edit: from my quick research, it appears 401ks are completely protected in a bankruptcy. The only thing would be if the company had not yet sent your contribution to the servicer, then that payment would be considered another creditor. But if the money is in your 401k account at your servicer, the money is protected from any bankruptcy.
- thehours 1y agoI worked for a company that went bankrupt. They ended up taking several thousand dollars out of my account to cover IIRC unpaid fees to the provider.
- unit149 1y ago[dead]
- boarderboy03 1y agoI had my account with Guideline also. No way was I going to allow them to role it into a holding account. I rolled everything into my Human Interest 401(k) plan. Very similar to Guideline, but a few added features that I like now.
- sanskarix 1y ago[dead]
- bdcravens 1y agoInteresting to hear the negative experiences with Gusto here. Our small company has used them for several years (12 I think) with no incident.
- ZebusJesus 1y agoThe company I work for uses both and so far it has been ok, the gusto app has been able to show you your guideline 401k balance and some people seem to like how easy it is for them. I don't get to choose I just take the match and have my own accounts elsewhere.
- nikolay 1y agoGuideline is the worst financial company in existence. Gusto may be is #2, so the worst together!
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