Deals & People November 1, 2024

Stout Joins Prime Capital as National Retirement Practice Leader

Prominent plan adviser Jania Stout has left OneDigital to head Prime Capital’s retirement plan practice and financial wellness divisions.

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Jania Stout

Retirement plan adviser Jania Stout joined Prime Capital Financial Friday to lead its retirement and financial wellness divisions.

Stout is now president of Prime Capital Retirement, recently rebranded from Qualified Plan Advisors, and Prime Capital Wellness, formerly Financial Fitness for Life. Stout will oversee the firm’s national retirement plan advisory services and plan participation.

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To take the job, Stout left insurance and benefits provider OneDigital, where she was senior vice president of retirement and wealth at the Atlanta-based firm. She is prominent in the plan adviser sector, having won numerous adviser of the year awards, and is a current PLANADVISER Top Retirement Plan Adviser.

Before joining OneDigital in 2021, Stout co-founded and ran Fiduciary Plan Advisors, and she worked at Fidelity Investments and ADP earlier in her career. She also served as president of the National Association of Plan Advisors and has testified before the U.S. Congress and worked with the Department of Labor to guide fiduciary regulations.

“Prime Capital Financial understands what is at stake for retirees and has built out an incredible team in its retirement practice,” Stout said in a statement. “We have the skills and support we need to guide plan participants toward the lives they want to live, and share our initiatives and solutions on a national stage.”

Stout will now be working with Scott Colangelo, chairman and managing partner of Overland Park, Kansas-based Prime Capital Financial, and the founder of its retirement division.

“Twenty years ago, I founded the retirement practice to bridge the gaps in education and resources for retirement savers. Jania is precisely the kind of visionary leader we need to carry that mission forward,” Colangelo said in a statement. “Her unparalleled dedication and wealth of experience align seamlessly with our values, and I am confident she will guide us to even greater success in the future.”

Prime Capital Financial has 70 locations in the U.S. and oversees $30 billion in client assets, including workplace retirement plans and individual clients.

Products October 31, 2024

Product & Service Launches – 10/31/24

Principal launches TDFs with ARS in-plan annuity option; Capital Group, KKR debut public-private fixed-income funds; North American and AMS introduce annuity series; and more.

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Principal Announces TDF Suite With ARS’s Lifetime Income Builder

Principal Financial Group Inc. is launching a target-date-fund suite embedded with Advantage Retirement Solutions LLC’s in-plan annuity option for participants to set up guaranteed distributions in retirement, according to an announcement.

ARS’ proprietary Lifetime Income Builder functions like an investment for plan participants while being backed by a group fixed-indexed annuity with a guaranteed lifetime withdrawal benefit.

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Starting next year, Principal will offer target-date series that include both active and passive investment options for plan sponsors using its recordkeeping services.

The recordkeeper and asset manager will also encourage plan sponsors to use the TDF as the qualified default investment alternative or the default investment option to “help remove difficult participant-level decisions that often lead to confusion or inertia,” according to the announcement.

Capital Group, KKR File for 2 Public-Private Fixed-Income Funds


Capital Group Companies Inc. and KKR & Co. Inc. registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission two public-private fixed-income funds, Capital Group KKR Core Plus+ and Capital Group KKR Multi-Sector+. The firms expect the funds to launch in the first half of 2025, pending approval.

The filings follow the firms’ announcement that they would be creating a category of hybrid public-private investment funds with the goal of giving investors access to private markets in their portfolios. The funds will be offered via financial professionals in the U.S. wealth market, the firms noted.

“These strategies aim to solve the access gap that individual investors currently face when it comes to private investments, and we expect these two public-private strategies will be the first of many across asset classes and geographies,” Holly Framsted, head of global product strategy and development at Capital Group, said in a statement.

Capital Group is responsible for the overall fund strategies, with KKR leading on the private market offerings. The former manages more than $555 billion in public fixed-income assets, while KKR manages more than $100 billion in private credit.

North American and AMS Financial Services Group Announce Max Elite Annuities

Fixed-index-annuity provider North American Co. for Life and Health Insurance, a member company of Sammons Financial Group Inc., is partnering with AMS Financial Services Group on a new annuity product series.

The companies announced this week the Max Elite Accumulation FIA series and the Max Elite Guaranteed MYGA series, both of which will be wholesaled by AMS and sold through bank and broker/dealer channels. Each series will offer five-, seven- and 10-year surrender charge options.

“Right now, the U.S. annuities marketplace has broad client attraction as consumers see the value of guaranteed income,” Rob TeKolste, president of Sammons Independent Annuity Group, said in a statement. “We intend to lead the market by delivering a product that may help clients grow their nest egg.”

Candidly Unveils Onward, a Debt Optimization Solution for the Workplace

Candidly, an artificial intelligence-backed student debt and savings optimization platform, has launched a new consumer debt management program for retirement plan advisers, plan sponsors and recordkeepers to offer to participants.

Candidly’s Onward, which has been available as an application programming interface, will in 2025 have a full “front-end experience,” according to the firm. The new platform’s goal is to help consumers best allocate their money across debt, savings and investing to maximize interest-bearing deposits.

Onward can be used as a “plug-and-play” option in existing employer-sponsored benefits, including health care savings accounts, flexible savings accounts, brokerage accounts and retirement accounts.

“Lowering consumer cost of debt, and directing those dollars into first time deposits, savings, and retirement savings, transforms financial outcomes today and tomorrow,” Candidly CEO Laurel Taylor said in a statement.

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