Calendar-year 2025 Form 5500s were due July 31, 2026. The filing wave is landing in the public dataset right now, while incumbent prospecting databases run 6 to 18 months behind. 5500 Radar reads the fresh filings, scores every plan for red flags an advisor can fix, and hands you the reason to call, for $49 a month per metro instead of $3,900 a year.
How it works
Every 401(k) plan in America files a Form 5500. It is public, it is honest, and it names the problems the sponsor already knows about. Most advisors never read it. The radar reads all of them.
We pull every 401(k) filing in the metro from the Department of Labor's EFAST2 dataset the week it lands, small plans included, the segment the big databases undersell.
Each plan is scored on seven signals straight from its own filing: late employee deposits, refunded contributions from failed testing, high admin fees, weak participation, no auto-enrollment, shrinking assets, and a fidelity bond gap.
Every prospect comes with a plain-English opener and a printable scorecard you can hand the plan sponsor. Not "can I quote your 401(k)," but "your own filing says you refunded $18,000 to your partners last year."
The radar
Everything below comes from actual Form 5500-SF filings for plan year 2025 in the DOL's public dataset. Names, assets, fees, and red flags are as filed. Pick a metro and read who needs help.
Plan data: U.S. Department of Labor EFAST2 Form 5500-SF public dataset, plan year 2025 (dataset build July 26, 2026), captured August 8, 2026. This demo embeds the 150 highest-scoring prospects per metro out of the full scan shown in the counters; the product covers the complete universe with a weekly refresh as new filings land. Opportunity scores are 5500 Radar's own screening estimate computed from each plan's filed figures. Always verify against the filing at efast.dol.gov before contacting a sponsor.
Scoring
No black box. Every point on the scorecard maps to a line on the Form 5500-SF, and every flag maps to a conversation an advisor can actually have.
| Red flag | What the filing says | Weight | Your opener |
|---|---|---|---|
| Late employee deposits | Sponsor answered yes to failing to transmit participant contributions on time | 28 | A fiduciary breach the DOL tracks. The sponsor needs a payroll-to-plan process fix now. |
| Refunded contributions | Corrective or deemed distributions reported, usually from a failed ADP/ACP test | 22 | Owners and key staff got money back. A safe harbor redesign ends the annual refund. |
| High admin fees | Administrative service provider payments above 0.5% of plan assets | up to 18 | A written fee benchmark is the easiest first meeting in the business. |
| Low participation | Under 75% of participants carry an account balance | up to 15 | Employees are not using the benefit the sponsor pays for. Education and design fix this. |
| Fraud loss reported | Plan reported a loss from fraud or dishonesty during the year | 15 | Rare and serious. The sponsor needs help immediately. |
| Shrinking assets | Plan assets fell more than 10% year over year on an ongoing plan | 12 | Money is walking out the door. Ask why before a competitor does. |
| No auto-enrollment | No automatic enrollment feature code on the filing | 10 | SECURE 2.0 made this the default expectation. An easy modernization pitch. |
| Fidelity bond gap | Reported bond below the ERISA 10%-of-assets minimum | 8 | A compliance gap the sponsor can close in a week once someone points at it. |
| Sweet-spot size | 10 to 50 participants and $250K to $5M in assets | 5 | Big enough to matter, small enough that no enterprise advisor is calling. |
Weights sum above 100 by design; scores cap at 100. Flags are screening signals read from the filing, not compliance determinations.
Pricing
Judy Diamond's Retirement Plan Prospector is the standard, priced around $3,900 a year for national data that is 6 to 18 months old by the time it is searchable. Most advisors work one metro. 5500 Radar sells you that metro, fresh, for less than the incumbent charges per week.
Early access
One advisor cohort per metro so the openers stay fresh. Tell us where you prospect and we will build your radar, starting with a free scored prospect list for your metro from the current filing wave.