2017 RPAY – 401k Advisors Intermountain

PLANADVISER: What is your mission statement?

401k Advisors Intermountain: We feel that the highest form of recognition an employer can offer a valued employee is a way for them to retire comfortably. We help employers deliver on this. We have a clear passion to help as many people as possible retire with dignity and it is manifest in everything we do. 

 

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PA: Describe any particularly initiatives you have led with your customer base in the past 12 months (investment or education or plan design or communication).

401(k): Our team is evolving to meet what we consider to be the most important change in our industry in 20 years. That is a focused push to educate the masses on financial health. To be brief, we are fortunate to have had several of our larger clients allow us to use them to beta test various methods of education.

From those, we have come up with a great solution that helps employees and their families learn to live within their means. We help them focus first on getting out of debt, save for emergencies and, finally, appreciate the contribution from their employer towards their eventual retirement. Stress levels go down, production comes up and overall job satisfaction is improved.

This ultimately helps them gain a greater appreciation for their employer-sponsored retirement plan. This also completes the circle for the employer and helps them achieve the goal of reducing financial stress and creating happy employees. We are able to track increased savings, debt reduction and other wellness factors. This allows us to show the client real outcomes and validate the power of the program.

We have even marketed this solution to companies that are not our clients with success. One of the companies decided to hire us as their advisor, after seeing the impact and level of service we provide. We are certain this trend will continue.

The other by-product of this success story is the easy difference noticeable when we are stacked up against the competition.

As a part of another successful initiative we have been working on, we recently co-hosted an event with The Financial Services Roundtable recognizing employers in the Intermountain West who were deemed “Save10” companies. This distinguishes companies committed to helping their employees save 10% or more for retirement; 28 companies were awarded in the Intermountain West, with 21 of those being our clients. Our client OC Tanner (previous PLANSPONSOR of the Year and FORTUNE 100 Best Employer) hosted the event in partnership with Sen. Orrin Hatch, chairman of the US Senate Finance Committee.



PA: As a retirement plan adviser, what do you take the most pride in?

401k: We are fortunate to have clients that are like family. We are very proud of the many successes we have achieved with our family of clients. So many have built successful plans and helped their employees retire on their terms.

We are also very proud of the thousands of employees who have learned how to live within their means and pay off debt because of our financial wellness programs. We love hearing stories from participants in all stages of their lives tell us how they were able to turn their financial situation around, and now know they will be able to live a comfortable retirement. This drives us to keep pushing forward and continues to challenge our team to make sure we are always progressing forward.



PA: What is your most significant area of needed improvement?

401k:
We have been slow to grow into the not-for profit side of the retirement plan industry. We have a few plans, but feel like we really need to step it up as there is a lot of opportunity in this space. After all, many of our clients are on boards or committees of not-for-profits and we feel confident we could be a great help to them. Our plan is to prospect through our current client base and centers of influence to grow our presence. We are prepared for the differences in what they need to be successful, along with resources and support.



PA: How do you react to clients or prospects who don’t share your goals for their retirement plan?  

401k: Because we wear our passion on our sleeve about the importance of preparing employees for retirement, sometimes we overwhelm prospects and we don’t get hired. But, as we educate clients or prospects on the retirement savings crisis in our country, things change. We believe it is our job as advisers to help the employers understand why they need to play an integral role in helping people save.

Many committees do not jump on the bandwagon immediately; it takes several different approaches to find the one that resonates best and motivates them to employ the right tactics to move folks towards a successful path. As a team, we have learned to not give up coaching them on the right steps to take, even If they reject plan design and financial wellness the first time. It is our mission to help Americans retire and we must continue to find ways to get employers on board as partners.

We have countless success stories of helping plans move the needle in a big way. It’s not always the same strategy with each employer, and it requires persistence and passion for successful outcomes. When the committee sees your passion, they are more likely to get on board.

As a team, we never want to become content with the current state of things. Progression is necessary in business and personal affairs. As the industry ages and regulatory changes occur, we must continue to innovate in ways that keep us in business, but most importantly benefit our clients. We try and instill this same belief into clients/prospects. With this approach, we have been able to change the minds of many plan sponsors from just “check the box” clients into believers and promotors of 401(k) plans.

PA: How do you grow your business? What changes to your practice or service model are you planning for 2017 and beyond?

401k: When it comes to growing our business, we are truly reaping the benefits of having happy clients. They tend to be our best cheerleaders and we have found a way to harness that enthusiasm to help us grow. Our clients have a vested interest in our continued success and are happy to share their experiences and confidence in us with their friends through introductions to other professionals in their circle of influence.

Clients have invited us to speak to groups they are affiliated with like SHRM, CACPA and various associations. This has identified us as trusted experts, then we follow up with each attendee, inviting them to take advantage of a no-cost plan review. Many times, they ask us to help them as soon as possible.

Another method for growing our family of clients that has always been successful for us is partnering with CPAs, attorneys and benefits/P&C brokers. We are constantly reminding them of the great things we do to make the clients they referred us to happy. They are always glad they stuck their neck out for us. Each compliment or nice comment we receive we are sure to pass along to reinforce their decision to recommend us. It is amazing how effective that has been.

As our business, has grown and matured it has become clear to us that a specialized, team service model provides the best experience and outcomes for our clients. I vividly remember the days when it was just a couple of us, we had great relationships, but as the industry has evolved, I look back with great pride seeing how far we have come. Growth and opportunity has been the catalyst in our business to create the team and deploy the resources to every client efficiently and effectively.

We now employ a team approach with every client. We have a team leader to oversee every client relationship experience who is tasked with a 100% client reference and retention rate. We have significant resources available to our clients with the team service model. The team leader coordinates all of these resources to ensure an experience that meets the expectations we set for a client during the discovery phase.

Each client is assigned a lead adviser, CRM, financial wellness director, investment specialist and ERISA specialist.

I am delighted to share that 2016 was a record year for our business. We experienced record growth while adding significantly to our resources and team, and are looking at adding additional resources to our team in 2017 as well.

Lastly, by attending industry conferences, being a part of advisory councils with service providers, and sharing best practices with some of the most respected advisers in the business, we help move the industry forward. We are surrounded by some talented retirement plan teams across the country and we only hope our peers see us the same as we see many of them. ROCKSTARS! 

BUSINESS AT A GLANCE:

Plan assets under advisement: $2.4 billion

Median plan size (in assets: $11 million

Total plans under administration: 169

Total participants served: 53,000

2017 RPAY – Washington Financial Group

PLANADVISER: Tell us about your practice and how you and your team members got into advising retirement plans.

Washington Financial Group:
Since 1983, when our firm was founded, businesses and organizations of all sizes and across industry sectors have trusted us with their retirement plan needs. As an independent advisory firm, we are both vendor and investment neutral, helping to ensure transparency across all aspects of our clients’ plans as we strive to help improve desired plan and participant outcomes. We are a member firm of Global Retirement Partners, enabling us to serve as ERISA fiduciary advisers as we seek to improve retirement readiness for employees and enhance the overall effectiveness of our plans.

WFG is a founding member firm of Global Retirement Partners (GRP), a Registered Investment Adviser. GRP brings together experienced retirement plan advisers from across the country to help plan sponsors manage their obligations and provide unbiased advice. WFG and GRP have thoughtfully and strategically chosen an affiliation with LPL Financial as their broker-dealer because of their resources and presence as one of the largest national networks of elite retirement plan-focused advisers.

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Our organization has deep roots in the qualified plan business; our founder’s father was involved in the establishment of ERISA as a subject-matter expert during the formation of regulations impacting qualified plans.

Our firm’s passion to increase savings rates of Americans can be traced to 1991, when Joe DeNoyior read an article about the great retirement crisis on the horizon. One statement hit his core and set him on a mission to make an impact: America is the one of the wealthiest nations while working, but too many people retire at near poverty levels. From that day forward, everything WFG does in the retirement plan space is focused toward enhancing the retirement benefits of our clients’ employees.

If those of us in the 401(k) business would start helping our clients look at their retirement plan for what their true purpose is, helping people save in order to replace their paycheck during their longest period of unemployment (otherwise known as retirement), we may have much better results.

We are determined to stay laser focused on the real issue at hand – getting people (participants) to save (more).



PA: What is your mission statement?

WFG:
Increase the likelihood of success for each participant we are fortunate enough to serve.

We treat each of our clients’ plans as if it were our own. We work to achieve this mission by utilizing our retirement plan expertise to help plan sponsors meet key goals for themselves and their employees. For plan sponsors, we strive to reduce employer fiduciary liability and reduce overall plan costs. For employees, we seek to increase participation and deferral rates and provide meaningful financial education. We seek to make retirement planning satisfying and even fun for participants, while keeping the process streamlined and problem-free for employers.

 

PA: What areas of service are customized for each client? What are the same across your book?

WFG: WFG customizes the employee engagement plan for each client. We base the plan on several factors, including current plan demographics and key measurements (participation, savings rates and retirement readiness scores), as well as behavioral finance and plan design. Our goal is to make the retirement plan an experience for our clients’ employees in order to drive higher engagement and therefore higher savings rates. For many of our clients, we leverage one of two financial wellness programs to enhance the experience.

What is the same across our client base: we strive to deliver a consistent unsurpassed level of proactive service.

We have a written annual service plan and fiduciary calendar for each committee we serve. The WFG service model involves a very high-touch team approach that leverages the expertise that each team member provides to the client relationship. We conduct in-person committee meetings and offer group education and one-on-one meetings. Our desire is to partner with our clients and act as a true extension of their team, providing solutions and expertise regarding every aspect of their plan.



PA: What do you need to be successful? From your team? From your clients?

WFG: Our definition of a successful consulting relationship begins with our belief that “We treat your plan as if it were our own.”

The why behind everything we do for our clients is …

• We believe the most valuable asset for each of our clients is their employees

• We believe that when employees have financial stress it impacts the organization

• We know that we can reduce financial stress through innovative education

• We understand the long-term cost to employers of employees that can’t retire

• We know our clients rely on us to provide fiduciary peace of mind.

Success is measured by our effectiveness of delivering value to our clients, earning their trust, and helping participants reach their retirement goals.

Each member of our team owns the client relationship and we share the same passion to create positive outcomes for our clients.


PA: Describe any particularly initiatives you have led with your customer base in the past 12 months (investment or education or plan design or communication).

WFG: Our approach and focus on education results in increased participation and deferral rates for many of our clients.

Here is an example of how WFG positively impacted a client’s plan in this regard:

• By applying behavioral finance concepts and employee education, we were successful in increasing a 360-person firm’s participation rate from 71% to 94% over a two-year period.

• During that time, the plan also experienced an increase in the average deferral rate from 6.00% to 9.41%.

• This resulted in an increase in employees’ retirement readiness/income replacement from 41% to over 58%.

• Plan design techniques incorporated auto features (auto enroll, auto escalate) along with match optimization to drive results.

• The plan also utilized re-enrollment to drive investment selection.

• Education focused on retirement readiness further fueled the increase in deferral rates.

WFG is very diligent and takes a watchdog approach to plan pricing. If we believe fees are excessive or not in line with the services being provided, we will initiate discussions with the service provider for concessions and/or increased services that would add value to the plan and participants.

A few positive outcomes are highlighted below:

• We were hired for a fee benchmarking project for a $36M plan. At that time, we were able to negotiate a decrease in the Stable Value expenses by 25bps which resulted in participant savings of over $13,500 per year in investment expenses.

• We negotiated a reduction in the required revenue allocated towards recordkeeping, which resulted in a move to lower investment expense ratios – saving the participants an additional $54,000 per year.

• We eliminated $8,000 in billed fees that the client was able to allocate towards a comprehensive financial wellness program.

Since it is common practice for plan expenses, such as recordkeeping and advisory, to be included in the overall investment expense, we also examine how investment revenue sharing arrangements can potentially favor participants in certain investments over others in the plan. We educate plan sponsors on the concept of “fee equalization” and assist with implementation, when possible.



PA: As a retirement plan adviser, what do you take the most pride in?

WFG: We believe that getting employees “retirement ready” requires more than just providing a good retirement plan and a range of investments. We believe driving participant’s behavior through plan design and employee education are key deliverables in making a difference. We want to be known for helping people replace their paycheck during their longest period of unemployment (retirement) while delivering an unsurpassed level of proactive service to our clients.

While all qualified advisers will conduct committee meetings, provide education for employees, and monitor investments, a great adviser will take each of these services and make them an experience. WFG prides itself on excellence. We measure each plan’s retirement readiness score and continue to drive results.



PA: What benchmarks do you use to measure plan and client success?

WFG: We utilize the PlanSuccess Audit to score a plan’s behavioral health in three areas: Participation Health, Deferral Health and Investment Menu Health. The scores are based on both process and actual outcomes.

This process allows us to establish goals for the retirement plan committee (and the plan itself). We can then create and implement an employee engagement plan with true measurements on the success of the program. This allows us to make adjustments along the way with participants’ success as a primary driver.

Another key component of our process focuses specifically on plan costs, service, and investment opportunities. In order to properly assess the Plan, we undertake a detailed benchmarking and review process covering six major areas:

  • Investment Management
  • Recordkeeping
  • Total Plan Costs
  • Compliance Services
  • Technology/Participant Access
  • Employee Communications

Our review identifies and evaluates fees, expenses and revenue arrangements affecting the plan as well as a full range of services and offerings including investment opportunities, using a “prudent expert standard.” 

Best Practice for plan fiduciaries is generally considered conducting a comprehensive cost, services and investment platform review every three to five years. Our two-stage process begins with a comprehensive benchmarking analysis. Both ERISA and the Department of Labor make clear that plan sponsors must make sure that plan fees are “reasonable.” However, while fees are important, they are not everything.

The fees must be appropriate and reasonable for the quantity and quality of services being provided. WFG provides fee benchmarking on an annual basis to determine fee reasonableness. There are three fee benchmarking tools which we utilize:

• Expense Analyzer – Details a plan’s fee structure so that plan sponsors clearly understand both the expense and the revenue that is often a part of the investment. Transparency and full disclosure is critical to the role of a Fiduciary.

• Fee Comparison & Analysis – Uses current plan data to create a benchmarking of plan fees and how they compare to your peer group. This report benchmarks the following plan fees: investment management fees, recordkeeping fees, adviser/consultant fees and total plan fees. In addition to fee benchmarking, the report also benchmarks plan features such as eligibility requirements, employee and employer contributions, investments, distributions and automatic plan features such as auto enrollment.

• Fiduciary Benchmarks – An independent and comprehensive suite of benchmarking reports that looks at fee reasonableness for a plan. These reports look at the quality of the provider, cost drivers and the value received evaluated against the fees that are being paid.


PA: How do you react to clients or prospects who don’t share your goals for their retirement plan?

WFG: We do not take the prospect on as a client. It would not align with our service model and values.



PA: How do you grow your business? What changes to your practice or service model are you planning for 2017 and beyond?


WFG: First and foremost, our firm grows through referrals and introductions from our clients and center of influences. We have created a network of likeminded professionals that serve the retirement community.

An additional avenue for growing our business is The Plan Sponsor University (TPSU), an affiliate of TRAU, The Retirement Advisor University, which offers the most comprehensive combination of online and in-person workplace retirement plan certification program for business owners, benefits specialists or other employer fiduciaries.

TPSU offers employers who are charged with the responsibility of company retirement plan oversight the opportunity to increase their knowledge base in areas such as retirement plan design, operation, comprehension of fiduciary obligations, and improving outcomes.

In addition to TPSU, we developed our Fiduciary Training Series as we believe it is crucial that plan sponsors who are charged with the responsibility of company retirement plan oversight have the opportunity to increase their knowledge base in areas such as retirement plan design, operation, comprehension of fiduciary obligations, and improving outcomes.

Our Fiduciary Training Series workshops are designed for small groups, which allows for the best environment to promote discussion among the participants and presenters. We conduct the workshops in our new WFG Learning Center that is designed to optimize adult learning.

We have also added a new stand-alone service: retirement plan committee assessment that assists organizations in establishing committee governance and effectiveness. This service is designed for companies that are not current clients of our firm. We market the service as The Retirement Committee of the Future.

 

 

BUSINESS AT A GLANCE:

Plan assets under advisement: $1.1 billion

Median plan size (in assets): $9.4 million

Total plans under administration: 116

Total participants served: 30,000

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