2025 Top Retirement Plan Adviser: Nick Jahn

Nick Jahn

This year, PLANADVISER followed up with advisers on the 2025 Top Retirement Plan Advisers listing to get to know them better. These are the responses from Nick Jahn of SageView Advisory Group in Knoxville, Tennessee.

PLANADVISER: How do you balance the desire to grow with the need to keep clients happy?

Jahn: Clients come first. Relationships are more important than revenue. The greatest compliment I get from clients is that they feel like they are the only organization that I work with.

To some extent, growth takes care of itself if we are serving current clients well. I would estimate that two-thirds of my time is dedicated to a white-glove standard of care with current clients, while one-third of my time is allocated to networking and discussing SageView’s capabilities for addressing prospective clients’ concerns.

PLANADVISER: What are the most challenging aspects of the job? What are the most enjoyable?

Jahn: I’ll smile and take a breath as I respond to this one, because the answer to both questions can be summed up with “scope creep.”

My colleagues and I are always looking to solve our clients’ challenges, which oftentimes means going beyond investments, fees and fiduciary oversight. Said another way: We want to help even when it’s outside the scope of services as outlined in our contract (without nickel and diming) to provide the resources and insight that a client needs. This, of course, is a balancing act, as sometimes we do need to charge a fee for extra project work and the required time that our team spends on delivering a solution with value.

Either way, the enjoyment comes from the satisfaction of knowing we resolved an important issue.

PLANADVISER: For those plan sponsors looking for a new plan adviser, describe what makes your firm stand out.

Jahn: I’ll echo what my wonderful colleague and fellow Top Retirement Plan Adviser, Jon Chambers, stated.

SageView offers comprehensive support to manage a myriad of issues plan sponsors face at any given time, including investments, fiduciary governance, compliance, mergers and acquisitions, vendor management, fee benchmarking, plan design and financial wellness program management. The following is a summary of our key differentiators:

• Focus on Retirement Plan Consulting. SageView’s principal business is consulting on retirement plans. SageView is truly independent, with a business model structured to serve the distinct needs of retirement plan committees and plan participants.
• Size, Scale, and Industry Reputation. SageView is one of the most respected firms in the industry, with a distinguished team of consultants, investment advisers and analysts. Our 34 offices nationwide are staffed by seasoned professionals whose expertise drives measurable outcomes. Our scale allows us to secure favorable pricing for our clients.
• Technical Expertise. We collaborate with top policy and legal experts and are often invited to contribute to industry panels and publications on technical, legal, investment and educational matters.
• Commitment to Financial Wellness. SageView’s PersonalSAGE program provides meaningful and personal engagement to employees via a financial coach. The coach provides independent advice without any proprietary product push and is offered by the employer as an integrated service under the retirement benefit program.

Click to see the list of 2025 Top Retirement Plan Advisers

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