Deals & People March 18, 2008

Chernoff Diamond Joins M Financial Group Member Firms

M Financial Group announced that Garden City, New York-based Chernoff Diamond&Co., LLC, has become a Provisional Member Firm.
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Founded in 1976, Chernoff Diamond is a benefits consulting firm of approximately 100 professionals that provides clients with advice and administrative support in the areas of group health and welfare, qualified retirement plan services, estate and sophisticated life insurance planning, executive compensation, and risk management.

“M Financial Group is a true leader in the financial services industry. Their core values–innovation, collaboration, advocacy–align with those that have guided our firm for decades. As a Member Firm of M Financial we have the opportunity to expand our estate planning business with access to differentiated solutions that we can tailor to our clients’ needs, while continuing to grow our benefits business. We look forward to enhancing the value we deliver to clients and building a mutually beneficial relationship with M Financial,” said Managing Partner Alex Chernoff, in an company announcement.

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M Financial Group’s network of independent insurance, investment, and executive benefit firms includes more than 115 member firms located across 36 states. For more information about M Financial Group, please visit www.mfin.com.

Products March 18, 2008

401kDIRECT and EPIC Advisors Team up to Offer CIFs

401kDIRECT, founder of the CIF Marketplace, and EPIC Advisors, Inc. have introduced an expanded service offering combining back office administration with the ability to access multiple collective investment funds (CIFs).
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The offering will help banks recapture retirement plan market share lost to large mutual fund companies and insurance firms. CIFs are transparent in pricing and have lower net costs, are priced and traded in a daily environment, and are not subject to many of the restrictions of mutual funds, a press release said.

“CIFs are a natural evolution of regional bank movement to open architecture in the retirement plan area. Many of the institutional managers that they are using with high net worth clients can now be accessed in their corporate clients’ 401ks,” said Lance Roberts, Senior Vice President of 401kDIRECT, in the release.

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The CIF Marketplace includes collective investment funds from major national trust companies and consulting firms, as well as “under-the-radar sub-advisors with unique investment talents.” Funds that are actively managed, that are directly invested in passive index strategies, and that combine both strategies are represented.

For additional information on administration or for a list of CIFs available, contact Lance M. Roberts at 740.927.3553, lroberts@401kDIRECT.com, or George Curry with EPIC Advisors, Inc. at 402.614.4113, gcurry@epic1st.com.

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