October 12, 2017

2014 RPAY – Dan Peluse

Reported by

PA: What is your mission statement?

Dan Peluse: We work to improve the lives of our clients and their participants through the implementation and use of thoughtful retirement benefit programs. While helping them navigate the ever-changing retirement landscape, we hope to achieve effective and efficient plan management to support our clients with their duties as plan sponsors and fiduciaries. Through this process, we strive to create a path to help plan participants achieve the ultimate goal of a sustainable and comfortable retirement.

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PA: How is your team/process/structure unique?

DP: I believe our team is unique in that we have found a way to marry the resources of a large broker/dealer (B/D) with the independence, flexibility and objectivity of an independent advisory firm. We have been able to build our service model to be client-centric and provide our plan sponsors with the most innovative and useful client solutions. Our ability to provide complete transparency, to be free of conflicts of interest and our “preferred provider” arrangements ensure that the best interests of our clients and participants are always paramount.

Our client service associates are specialists who understand the market and the needs of plan sponsors. We continue to be leaders in this industry and will continue to enhance our service offering to best assist our plan sponsor clients.

PA: What have you done in the past year to improve participants’ retirement readiness?

DP: We start by helping our clients and participants project what a comfortable retirement will look like for them personally. Do they want to travel, continue to work part-time, play lots of golf, spend time with their grandchildren, etc.? Based on their answers and important factors that could impact retirement savings, we provide a picture of what being “retirement ready” means to them. We use this as our road map and modify it as goals are achieved and life events occur.

Once we understand what being retirement ready means, how do we get there? We firmly believe that thoughtful and appropriate plan design is one of the most impactful ways to improve the retirement plan experience for all employees. While we are always cognizant of the potential impact to the employer’s plan cost, we strongly promote the use of “auto” features—i.e., automatic enrollment, re-enrollment, automatic escalation—when appropriate. We take a more progressive approach with respect to automatic enrollment and work closely with our clients to understand the benefits of establishing automatic enrollment or re-enrollment features at 6% or 7% as opposed to 3%, which has typically been utilized.

In addition, we also evaluate implementation of automatic escalation at 2% per year, compared with 1% per year traditionally. We adopt the 90/10/90 rule as a benchmark for our clients. We strive to attain 90% participation, 10% average deferral/savings rate and 90% utilization of asset-allocation investment options. We believe that reaching these goals greatly increases the chances of creating successful retirement plans, and we work tirelessly to obtain these goals through our approach to education, communication and appropriate plan design.

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

DP: At its core, our job is to provide participants with peace of mind. Retirement saving without fully understanding its impact on a participant’s life now and in the future cannot be successful. That being said, I take the most pride in creating a comfort level for our plan sponsors and, most importantly, their participants. As an industry, we continue to overcomplicate the process and products, causing more anxiety and confusion at both the plan sponsor and participant levels. While I see great value in the enhancements and innovations to plan design, investments and online tools, I believe that in order to be most effective, we need to first help our clients better understand their features and benefits. I truly believe in simplifying the process to develop, implement and manage successful retirement programs. My goal is always to create confident plan participants with a clear path to a sustainable and comfortable retirement.

BUSINESS AT A GLANCE

Plan assets under advisement: $685 million

Median plan size (in assets): $7 million

Total plans under advisement: 130

Total participants in plans served: 12,500
October 12, 2017

2014 RPAY – Bruce Lanser

Reported by

PA: What is your mission statement?

Bruce Lanser: Our mission is to serve our clients with passion and with purpose. We guide successful companies that are looking for fiduciary protection to help their participants become more retirement-ready and to responsibly manage their costs. Our commitment to our clients states:

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  • We will provide decisive leadership;
  • We will deliver superior quality of analysis and advice;
  • We have high expectations of ourselves and our colleagues; and
  • Lastly, let’s have fun together.

PA: How is your team/process/structure unique?

BL: Our process is unique in that I combine my extensive knowledge and expertise with innovative solutions that provide clients with maximum fiduciary protection while optimizing the retirement outcomes for plan participants. I believe in going well beyond the typical investment performance discussion with clients and am dedicated to providing the appropriate solutions that effectively address the challenges they and plan participants face on the road to retirement. I am constantly seeking to further my education and understanding of the financial complexities and solutions that plans and participants face, communicate with clients to ensure their understanding of the challenges ahead, and find the best ways to achieve successful outcomes.

PA: What have you done in the past year to improve participants’ retirement readiness?

BL: The single most important thing we can do to improve participant readiness is to get them to save more. This was accomplished through a number of techniques following extensive analysis and educational communications and events. To summarize results:

  • Clients have implemented automatic enrollment. Clients that had previously added an automatic enrollment feature expanded the coverage to include existing employees who had been overlooked. Several clients automatically enroll every employee every three years;
  • Default rates were raised to 6%;
  • Automatic contribution escalation programs have been implemented or enhanced. The annual percentage increase has gone from 1% to 2%; and
  • I studied participant investment returns to confirm that their results were consistent and in line with published research showing that participants who invested in professionally managed options experience better returns than participants who invest on their own.

Upon presenting these critical findings to clients, I offered a two-prong strategy that would encourage participants to select appropriate target-date funds (TDFs). Prong one launched with an educational thrust through group sessions, print and email campaigns. Prong two encompassed working closely with the recordkeeper to implement a re-enrollment campaign in which all participants would be redirected and “defaulted” to an age-appropriate fund. Approximately 90% of participants remained in the age-appropriate target-date fund.

In addition to increased long-term returns resulting in improved retirement outcomes for plan participants, fiduciaries also benefit from this approach through the safe-harbor provision of the Pension Protection Act (PPA) for assets defaulted into the qualified default investment alternative (QDIA).

PA: How have you been able to lower fees for clients?

BL: We have been successful in lowering fees by diligently monitoring costs for clients, benchmarking the retirement plan marketplace and being their advocate.

PA: Describe any particularly noteworthy investment initiatives you have led with your customer base in the past 12 months.

BL: I am a longtime proponent of and advocate for in-plan retirement income options: Several clients have adopted in-plan retirement income options; thus far, more than 20% of eligible assets are invested in that option. This clearly validates the need I had identified and the successful implementation of the appropriate solution.

BUSINESS AT A GLANCE

Plan assets under advisement: $345 million

Median plan size (in assets): $35 million

Total plans under advisement: 10

Total participants in plans served: 5,000

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