Deals & People March 16, 2022

SageView Names Wealth Management Head in Sign of Evolving Industry

The appointment of Jim Dario as head of wealth management comes as SageView increases its focus on this strategic area of its business—mirroring the actions of other national retirement plan advisory shops.

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SageView Advisory Group this morning announced the addition of Jim Dario as its first head of wealth management.

The leadership at SageVeiw says Dario’s hiring to this key new role underscores the firm’s commitment to accelerating growth as a provider of comprehensive wealth management solutions for individuals and families across the country. Alongside other national registered investment adviser shops, SageView has been actively acquiring firms with a concentration in wealth management over the past several years, complementing its longstanding retirement plan consulting business.

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According to SageView Founder and CEO Randy Long, the firm’s wealth management business has grown to more than $4 billion via organic strategies and acquisitions, with plans for “further robust expansion throughout 2022 and beyond.”

Reflecting on the pace and future of retirement industry M&A activity, Long says there is a lot of runway left to go. His personal perspective is that retirement adviser-focused deals will likely continue at the current pace for at least several years. On the wealth management side, he says he sees potentially another decade of accelerated dealmaking. In this context, it is no surprise the firm has taken the step of bringing Dario on board.

“In terms of the signals it sends to the marketplace and to our clients, it is very meaningful and special to have this new title of head of wealth management, and to be bringing Jim into the role,” Long tells PLANADVISER. “We have not had anyone with this title before. He is coming to the table really understanding the technology and the product development that have been reshaping the wealth management industry.”

Dario previously served as head of product management and strategy at TD Ameritrade Institutional, where he focused on supporting business growth and client experience objectives. At SageView, he is charged with reimagining the firm’s overall wealth management strategy and managing the development and implementation of a full-service advisory platform—including design, product development, pricing, promotion and training.

According to the firm’s hiring announcement, with Dario’s support, SageView will seek to make additional acquisitions of successful independent wealth management firms. The firm aims to be in a position to support individual plan participants who are interested in attaining a higher degree of financial wellness and desire a financial planning solution. The firm will also work to support the growth of its existing financial advisers with improved technology, tools and talent.

“Our firm’s well-established leadership in supporting qualified retirement plans by driving individual financial wellness for plan participants uniquely positions us for considerable future success,” Long says. “Qualified retirement plan assets represent the single greatest financial asset for most individuals and families. As older generations advance toward retirement in ever-larger numbers, SageView’s capabilities and expertise as a wealth management solutions provider, with its historical focus on financial wellness, will be increasingly in demand.”

For his part, Dario tells PLANADVISER that he looks forward to leveraging the experience he has gained while partnering with “countless RIAs” over his multiple decades of experience working with large custody platforms.

“SageView’s business model and wealth management growth strategy stand out as both distinctive and actionable,” Dario says.

Prior to joining TD Ameritrade Institutional, Dario was head of business development and relationship management for Pershing Advisor Solutions. Before that, he served in senior roles in the institutional wealth business of Fidelity Investments.

“The firm’s expansion potential is especially bright given its tremendous growth momentum to date, combined with the significant backing the firm enjoys through Aquiline, which has emerged as a top private equity investor in the wealth management industry,” Dario says. “I’m excited to join SageView, and I look forward to working with Randy and his incredibly talented leadership team to create a truly differentiated wealth management offering for the firm’s advisers and clients.”

Long says other key hires made in the past year will also be supporting this mission. These include Jeremy Holly, hired last year as chief development and integration officer. Additionally, SageView in early 2022 welcomed Amy Barber as vice president of legal, regulation and compliance.

“When you think about the evolution of this marketplace, it is significant,” Dario concludes. “The place of employment is becoming the natural center for peoples’ financial lives. Success is about building trusted relationships with employers and participants alike, by focusing on each and every clients’ pre- and post-retirement needs. The other crucial piece of the puzzle is bringing a fiduciary approach to the table on the wealth management side, which SageView does so well.”

Data & Research March 15, 2022

Why Employees Quit in 2021

Survey data from the Pew Research Center sheds light on why employees quit and what they have come to expect from their employers.

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New research from the Pew Research Center sheds light on the top reasons why U.S. workers left their jobs in what has come to be known as the “Great Resignation,” leading to a 20-year high “quit rate” in November.

The survey, based on 6,627 non-retired U.S. adults who quit a job in 2021, found that low pay (63%), a lack of opportunities for advancement (63%) and feeling disrespected at work (57%) were the top three reasons Americans quit their jobs last year. The survey also shows that those who quit and are now employed elsewhere are more likely than not to say their current job has better pay, more opportunities for advancement and more work-life balance and flexibility.

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Other top reasons the survey identifies are childcare issues (cited by 48% of those with a child younger than 18), a lack of flexibility to choose when they put in their hours (cited by 45%) or not having good benefits such as health insurance and paid time off (cited by 43%).

A majority of those who quit in 2021 and are not retired say they are now employed, either full-time (55%) or part-time (23%), the survey shows. In this group, 61% say it was at least somewhat easy for them to find their current job, with 33% saying it was very easy and one in five saying it was very or somewhat difficult.

The pandemic has changed the way people contemplate their health and life. After going through such a major life event, people are naturally going to rethink their priorities, says Sina Chehrazi, co-founder and CEO of Nayya, an insurance benefits experience and health care management platform. Workers want to receive the same satisfaction from their jobs that they want from their life.

“Employees want to feel, ultimately, like they have a voice—that their company cares about their personal advancements as much as it does about company success. They want to see that the company will invest resources in them,” Chehrazi says. “That means not only getting traditional pay, but also fringe benefits and other types of solutions. People want to feel a sense of mutual respect and alignment between what their company is trying to accomplish and what they are trying to accomplish.”

Most workers who quit last year see their new employer and work situation as an improvement over their most recent job. According to the survey, at least half of these workers say that, compared with their last job, they are now earning more money (56%), have more opportunities for advancement (53%), have an easier time balancing work and family responsibilities (53%) and have more flexibility to choose when they put in their work hours (50%).

It is not just Pew research showing how demand for people is going up, and that more people are quitting for jobs that treat and pay them better, Chehrazi says. While challenging in the short term, this dynamic helps to create not only better workers, but also better companies.

“As a company, you really have to make a choice. Are you going to be people-first, or not? And it is actually a binary choice,” Chehrazi says. “The ways that you become people-first is by treating people like adults, showing them opportunities for advancement, giving them the flexibility to work in an office and outside of an office. It’s about giving them flexibility to integrate work in and around their life as opposed to just punching in and punching out like the Industrial Revolution.”

The Pew survey shows there are some people who changed jobs and who say things are either worse or unchanged compared to their last jobs. Notably, fewer than half of workers who quit a job last year (42%) say they now have better benefits, such as health insurance and paid time off. A similar share (36%) says their benefits outlook is about the same, while about one-in-five (22%) now say their current benefits are worse than at their last job.

Overall, the survey suggests that about one in five non-retired U.S. adults—including similar shares of men and women—say they quit a job at some point in 2021, meaning they left by choice and not because they were fired, laid off or because a temporary job had ended.

The survey notes that adults younger than 30 were more likely than older adults to have voluntarily left their job last year. Some 37% of young adults say they did this, compared with 17% of those ages 30 to 49, 9% of those ages 50 to 64, and 5% of those ages 65 and older.

Experiences also vary by income, education, race and ethnicity. The survey shows that about a quarter of adults with lower incomes (24%) say they quit a job in 2021, compared with 18% of middle-income adults and 11% of those with upper incomes.

Across educational attainment, the survey shows that those with a postgraduate degree are the least likely to say they quit a job at some point in 2021. Some 13% say this, compared with 17% of those with a bachelor’s degree, 20% of those with some college and 22% of those with a high school diploma or less education.

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