401(k) Monitor

Bowman 401(k) Plan

Bowman Auto Group, Inc. · Clarkston, MI · EIN 812848097 · Plan 002 · Form 5500 for plan year 2024

What Bowman Auto Group put into the plan, per active participant

$1,279

Bowman Auto Group, Inc. put $1,279 into this plan for each of its 154 active participants in plan year 2024. That is the whole employer side, matching money, profit sharing, non-elective and safe-harbor contributions and reallocated forfeitures together, because the Form 5500 reports them on one line, so it is not the match rate.

0 · least per person100 · most per person

Bowman Auto Group put in more per active participant than 61% of plans with 100–499 participants at auto dealers. The middle plan in that group of 823 reported $1,025. Auto dealers comes from business code 441110, which Bowman Auto Group, Inc. entered on its own Form 5500. Sponsors pick that code themselves, so a code that does not describe what the employer does ranks the plan against the wrong companies.

What this figure cannot separate: how much Bowman Auto Group pays, and how much it puts in

This is dollars, not a rate. A Form 5500 carries no payroll, so the figure reflects both how much the employer puts in and how much the employer pays: two plans running the same formula report different amounts when one pays better. Crossing the peer group with industry holds most of that difference still, and none of it disappears.

This is one plan year, not an average. A true-up, a plan merger or a one-off contribution moves a single year on its own.

Source: Form 5500 filing for the plan year ended December 31, 2024, received by the DOL October 15, 2025 · DOL EFAST2

What the plan cost, per participant

$279.62

The plan paid $279.62 per participant in plan-paid administrative expenses in plan year 2024, more expensive than 77% of plans with 100–499 participants. The middle plan of that size paid $156.87.

Why a plan this big pays less per person before anything else

Bigger plans pay less per head by construction, because the same negotiated bill divides across more people. That is why this ranking sits inside the plan's own size cohort and is never taken across all plans.

Schedule H reports only what came out of plan assets. Fees the sponsor pays directly, and fees taken inside fund expense ratios, never appear here, so this is a floor and not the all-in cost.

401(k) Monitor Score

49 out of 100

Where this plan stands against plans of its size and industry on two amounts its Form 5500 reports: employer money in per active person, and plan-paid cost per person. It reads no match formula, no vesting schedule and no fund lineup, because a Form 5500 states none of them.

  • What the employer put in, per active participant: $1,279. Higher than 61% of plans with 100–499 participants at auto dealers.
  • What the plan cost, per participant: $280. Cheaper than 23% of plans with 100–499 participants.

How this score is built

On this page: where the match terms are stated · what to check next · every figure on the filing · fees itemised · the plans this one is ranked against · service providers

The match and vesting terms, from a Form 11-K

The match formula and the vesting schedule are stated in a Form 11-K, which is filed only by employers whose plan holds company stock. A Form 5500 reports neither.

What Bowman Auto Group puts in

Not in public filings for this employer

We have no SEC Form 11-K for this employer, and the Form 5500 this page is built from does not report match terms.

Two places state the terms in full: your plan’s Summary Plan Description, which your employer must provide on request, and your recordkeeper’s site, the one you log in to for your balance.

What you contribute to collect all of it

Not in public filings for this employer

The rate that collects the full match is part of the match formula, which a Form 5500 does not report.

Vesting score

Not scored

The vesting schedule is stated in a Form 11-K, and we have none for this employer.

A schedule this cannot read at whole-year anniversaries is left without a number rather than given a middle one.

The formula, the six-year window and a worked example

What the plan costs, against plans of its size

77th percentile

$279.62 per participant in plan-paid administrative cost, more expensive than 77% of plans with 100–499 participants.

What to check next

  • What to ask about the fees

    This plan paid $279.62 per participant out of plan assets, more than 77% of plans with 100–499 participants, where the middle plan paid $156.87. The filing does not say what the difference buys. Two questions put that to a benefits or HR team: what the recordkeeping and administration contract costs, and how much of it comes out of participant accounts rather than being paid by Bowman Auto Group. The lines this total is made of are further down.

  • Your own numbers are not on this page

    Every figure here is the whole plan for plan year 2024, taken from one filing and divided by headcounts. Your own contribution rate, your balance and the fees taken from your account are on your recordkeeper’s site. What you may put in during a year is set by the IRS and not by the plan: this year’s limits ↗.

Key figures

From Schedule H of Form 5500 filing 20251015135751NAL0006327776001, plan year 2024.
Total plan assets, end of year$10,410,740
Net assets$10,410,740
Participants, beginning of year170
Of which active154
Plan typeMultiple employer
Size cohortThe peer group we rank fees against.100–499 participants
Employer share of the money that went in, plan year 2024The rest came from employees, who put in $680,683. The share falls when employees save more, so a plan whose staff contribute heavily reads lower here through no act of the employer. It is printed as a fact and it is not part of the score.22%

Plan-paid administrative expenses

The plan paid $47,535 in administrative expenses in plan year 2024, across 170 participants: $279.62 per participant.

Contract administrator feesnot reported in filing
Professional feesnot reported in filing
Investment management fees$14,613
Other administrative fees$540

These are plan-paid expenses from Schedule H only. Fees the sponsor pays directly, and fees embedded in fund expense ratios, never appear here. This figure is a floor, not the all-in cost, and a low number is not “free”.

The plans this one is ranked against

Fees on this page are ranked against the 100–499 participant cohort, where the median plan pays $156.87 per participant. The sponsor files from Michigan, one of 2,009 plans on file there, at a median of $134.92 per participant. Its business code places the plan at auto dealers, one of 1,543 on file, which run to a median of $146.54.

Plans of a similar size in Michigan

The plans nearest this one by participant count, out of 1,317 in its peer group. Cost per participant is each plan’s own Schedule H figure, and a filing that reported no administrative expenses says so instead of showing a zero.
PlanParticipantsCost per participant
Legacy, LLC 401(k) PlanLegacy, LLC170$242.16
Wilson Partners II, LLC Profit Sharing & 401(k) PlanWilson Partners II, LLC170$132.81
Esi-US Holdings 401(k) PlanEsi-US Holdings, Inc.168$314.97
Automotive Manufacturing Employees' 401(k) PlanAggressive Manufacturing Innovations, Inc.168$316.52

Service providers (Schedule C)

Recordkeeper: Sentinel Group (as filed: “SENTINEL BENEFITS GROUP, INC.”)

147 plans on file name Sentinel Group as their recordkeeper, at a median of $183.83 per participant.

Providers from Schedule C, Part 1, Item 2 of filing 20251015135751NAL0006327776001. Direct compensation is paid from plan assets. Amounts in USD.
ProviderService codesDirect comp. ($)Indirect comp. ($)
Sentinel Benefits Group, Inc.50, 37, 16, 38, 1528,369not reported
Captrust51, 2710,782not reported
Charles Schwab Trust Bank72, 62, 56, 18, 59, 174,5530

Source

DatasetDOL EFAST2 Form 5500 bulk data (FOIA)
Form year2024
Filing ACK_ID20251015135751NAL0006327776001
Dataset last refreshedJuly 28, 2026

Bulk dataset at askebsa.dol.gov ↗ · Look up the filing on EFAST2 ↗

Filings lag by design: a plan can file up to 9½ months after its year ends, so this is the newest data on file. Why filings lag

Cite this page

401(k) Monitor, "Bowman 401(k) Plan: Form 5500 facts", from DOL EFAST2 filing 20251015135751NAL0006327776001, plan year ended December 31, 2024. 401(k) Monitor Score 49 out of 100 (exact value 49.37).