GlacierWealth · About
Fee-only fiduciary counsel, since 2001.
GlacierWealth, Inc. is an independent investment counsel firm based in Whitefish, Montana. We work with owner-led companies of 10–50 employees and $1–5M in 401(k) plan assets — the size where the owner signs the Form 5500, pays a disproportionate share of the fees, and is usually the named fiduciary under ERISA.
Edward G. Rainford, AIF®
Investment counsel and founder. Accredited Investment Fiduciary®. Fee-only since the firm's founding.
What we do
- Form 5500-SF review for owners who want to know what their filing actually says.
- Fee analysis against the 408(b)(2) disclosure and Schedule C.
- Fiduciary review of provider arrangements, brokerage windows, and ERISA §402(a) exposure.
- Direct, discretionary investment management for plans that include a self-directed brokerage window.
Questions? We answer plan-review requests within two business days.
Office
GlacierWealth, Inc.643 Denver St., Ste. 100
Whitefish, MT 59937
800/416-1063
edward@glacierwealth.com
Monday–Friday, 9:00–5:00 Mountain time. Office visits by appointment only.
Latest thinking
20 August 2026 · 4 min read
Why owner-led plans in the Flathead get neglectedIt is rarely indifference. It is that the plan was installed once, by someone who has not been back, and nobody in the building was ever given a reason to look.
19 August 2026 · 5 min read
Who is really paying your plan's feesIf no invoice ever crosses your desk, the plan's costs are not free. They are coming out of participant accounts — and yours is usually the largest.
18 August 2026 · 4 min read
What a brokerage window actually means for your planCode 2R tells you a self-directed brokerage window is available. It does not tell you whether anyone is using it, or whether the preset menu is still doing the work.
17 August 2026 · 5 min read
Read your own Form 5500 in ten minutesYou do not need a consultant to find the three entries that matter most on your plan's annual filing. You need ten minutes and the right lines.
Further reading
- The plan review, described plainly
What an independent read of your plan covers, what it costs, and what you get back.
- What your own Form 5500 reveals
The public filing every plan makes, and the three entries worth your fifteen minutes.
- How to read your Form 5500 in seven steps
The numbered walkthrough: where the filing lives, which lines to check, and in what order.
- Fiduciary counsel in Whitefish and the Flathead Valley
Local, fee-only, and independent: who we work with across northwest Montana.
- The Uncomfortable Truth
The long argument behind the review: why most small plans are built for the provider, not the owner.