In Practice January 28, 2015

2015 PLANADVISER Top 100: Teams

The PLANADVISER Top 100 Advisers is an annual listing of the retirement plan advisers and adviser teams that stand out in the industry in terms of a series of quantitative measures. Here are those named to the 2015 PLANADVISER Top 100 Adviser list in the Team segment.
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Teams With $2.25B or More in AUA

$2.25B to $4B

Alliance Benefit Group Financial Services, Corp.
Albert Lea, Minnesota

Ascende Wealth Advisers, Inc., Ascende, Inc.
Houston, Texas

Cantor Fitzgerald Wealth Partners
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

ClearPoint Financial
Bellevue, Washington

Compass Financial Partners
Greensboro, North Carolina

Graystone Consulting – Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Office, Morgan Stanley
Potomac, Maryland

Graystone Consulting – Cincinnati, Morgan Stanley
Cincinnati, Ohio

Graystone Consulting – Middleton, Morgan Stanley
Middleton, Massachusetts

Graystone Consulting – Tampa, Morgan Stanley
Tampa, Florida

Heuer Wenzel & Associates, Merrill Lynch
Houston, Texas

Moneta Institutional Consulting – Clayton, Moneta Group Investment Advisors, LLC
Clayton, Missouri

PearlStreet Investment Management of Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.
Grand Rapids, Michigan

Pension Consultants, Inc.
Springfield, Missouri

Precept Advisory Group
Irvine, California

StoneStreet Advisor Group LLC
Pearl River, New York

The Brice Group, Graystone Consulting, Morgan Stanley
Birmingham, Michigan

$4B to $7B

Alliant Retirement, Alliant Insurance Services Inc.
New York, New York

Francis Investment Counsel LLC
Brookfield, Wisconsin

Graystone Consulting – The Parks Group
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

The Gsell Group, Merrill Lynch
Edison, New Jersey

Wile Consulting Group at UBS Financial Services Inc.
Atlanta, Georgia

More than $7B

Advanced Capital Group
Minneapolis, Minnesota

Benefit Funding Services Group
Irvine, California

Capital Strategies Investment Group
Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois

Global Corporate and Institutional Advisory Services, Merrill Lynch
Atlanta, Georgia

Lockton Retirement Services – Dallas, Lockton Investment Advisors
Dallas, Texas

Newport Capital Group
Red Bank, New Jersey

Strategic Retirement Group, Inc.
White Plains, New York

The FDG Group, UBS Financial Services Inc.
Stamford, Connecticut

Westminster Consulting
Rochester, New York


Teams With 145 or More Plans Under Advisement

145 to 200 Plans

Associated Investor Services
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

Channel Financial
Golden Valley, Minnesota

ClearPoint Financial
Bellevue, Washington

Everhart Advisors
Dublin, Ohio

Lockton Retirement Services – Dallas, Lockton Investment Advisors
Dallas, Texas

Moneta Institutional Consulting – Clayton, Moneta Group Investment Advisors, LLC
Clayton, Missouri

The Schwamb O’Day Group, Merrill Lynch
Garden City, New York

More than 200 Plans

Alliant Retirement, Alliant Insurance Services Inc.
New York, New York

Henderson Brothers Retirement Plan Services
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The J&R Group, Merrill Lynch
Chicago, Illinois

Oswald Financial, Inc.
Cleveland, Ohio

Siegel, Martin & Associates, Merrill Lynch
Washington, D.C.


Teams with 30% or More in Specialty Areas

30% or More In Defined Benefit Plans

Graystone Consulting – Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Office, Morgan Stanley
Potomac, Maryland

Graystone Consulting – Tampa, Morgan Stanley
Tampa, Florida

The Banas-Yu Wealth Management Group, UBS Financial Services
Chicago, Illinois

The Bell Broseker Team, Morgan Stanley
Baltimore, Maryland

The Brice Group, Graystone Consulting, Morgan Stanley
Birmingham, Michigan

The Willhite Institutional Consulting Group of UBS
The Woodlands, Texas

Wile Consulting Group at UBS Financial Services Inc.
Atlanta, Georgia

30% or More In 403(b) Plans

Cantor Fitzgerald Wealth Partners
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

ERISA Fiduciary Advisors, Inc.
Stuart, Florida

Graystone Consulting – Middleton, Morgan Stanley
Middleton, Massachusetts

Heffernan Retirement Services
San Francisco, California

Henderson Brothers Retirement Plan Services
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Millennium Advisory Services, Inc.
Glen Allen, Virginia

Oswald Financial, Inc.
Cleveland, Ohio

Phillips/McGinn, Retirement Resources
Peabody, Massachusetts

SilverStone Asset Management, SilverStone Group
Omaha, Nebraska

The Napolitano Group, Morgan Stanley
Paramus, New Jersey

Vander Weele | Stewart Group of Raymond James
Grand Rapids, Michigan

30% or More In Nonqualified Plans

Emerald Coast Wealth Advisors of Raymond James and Associates
Destin, Florida

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Data & Research January 28, 2015

Debt Becoming a Persistent Problem for Older Americans

Many older Americans are taking on debt at a time when they should be focused on savings and retirement investments, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute.
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A new report from the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) finds more and more late-career Americans are carrying problematic debt payment levels towards retirement.

EBRI says that for American families with family heads age 55 or older, the occurrence of debt has increased from 63.4% in 2010 to 65.4% in 2013, the latest year for which data is available. Compared with the1992 level of 53.8%, the 2013 level is up more than 10 points, EBRI observes.  

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Even more troubling, EBRI says, is the increased percentage of older families with monthly debt payments greater than 40% of income—a traditional threshold measure of debt load trouble. The occurrence of problem debt loads increased in 2013 to 9.2% for Americans age 55 and older, EBRI finds, up from 8.5% in 2010.

The primary cause of rising debt loads seems to be Americans’ home purchases.

“Housing debt drove the change in the level of debt payments in 2013, while the non-housing (consumer) debt-payment share of income held stable from 2010,” notes Craig Copeland, EBRI senior research associate and author of the report. “Housing debt was the major component of debt for families headed by individuals ages 55 or older.”

Copeland adds that the increasing debt levels among those with housing debt have “obvious and serious implications for the future retirement security of these Americans.” EBRI suggests some families included in the report’s survey sample are at serious risk of losing what is probably their most important asset—their home—at the time retirement wealth should be approaching its peak. 

EBRI says it also found some positive news in that certain other debt measures improved in 2013 for older Americans.

For example, total debt payments as a percentage of income decreased from 11.4% in 2010 to 10.0 % in 2013, and average debt decreased from $80,465 in 2010 to $73,211. Further, debt as a percentage of assets decreased from 8.5% in 2010 to 8.1% in 2013.

Another positive, EBRI says American families with the oldest family heads remain the least likely to have debt. In 2013, for example, 78.5% of families with heads ages 55 to 64 held some debt, compared with 41.3% of those with heads ages 75 or older.

However, the percentage with debt increased from 2010 to 2013 for families headed by individuals in each age group studied. For those families with heads ages 55 to 64, EBRI says the percentage with debt increased from 77.6% in 2010 to 78.5% in 2013. Among those families with heads ages 65 to 74, the percentage with debt increased from 65.0% to 66.4%. For families with heads ages 75 or older, the increase was from 38.5% to 41.3%.

The full EBRI Notes report, “Debt of the Elderly and Near Elderly, 1992–2013,” is available online here.

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