Ken and Brian Catanella and The Catanella Institutional Consulting Team, UBS

Business at a Glance as of 12/31/22

• Plan assets under advisement: $4 billion
• Median plan size (in assets): $73.6 million
• Plans under administration: 31
• Total participants served: 48,041

PLANADVISER: How is your team/process/structure unique? How has it evolved? Where will you be in five years?

The Catanella Institutional Consulting Team: As a team, one of the things we know is that we are constantly having to evolve for our clients. Over the past decades, we have seen significant shifts in legislation, Department of Labor guidance and plan sponsor and participant needs, so we are never “standing still.”

As you’ll note in the answers below, the way we serve our clients begins with how much we care about them. When you care about someone, you want to deliver the utmost best-in-class service possible.

In the retirement plan world, it would be impossible to provide that without looking ahead to what is coming or what might be possible and being nimble enough to adapt with your client through that.

Through the pandemic and the release of additional language surrounding cybersecurity responsibilities of plan sponsors, for example, we were proactive in reaching out to our clients and their recordkeepers to review and record the policies and procedures in place for their plans to best protect them. Much like our industry, cybersecurity is ever-evolving, and we will need to continue to enhance our efforts to stay ahead of bad actors.

Additionally, we saw a greater need for financial coaching services to help our clients’ employees have the financial stability necessary to then take advantage of the great benefits being provided to them. With our remarkable clients, we are beginning to build greater interest in helping their participants achieve true financial health and success.

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

Catanella: As mentioned above, we take pride in going above and beyond in serving our clients because we truly care about them. When you care, you are willing to go the extra mile in ensuring you are providing best-in-class service.

One way our team does this is by being independent thinkers who sit on the clients’ side of the table. There is never a time when we do not have their absolute best interest in mind.

When you care only about delivering success for the client, it frees you up to think creatively about how to best assist them in achieving their goals. Many of our clients are too busy day-to-day with other jobs to spend as much time as they would like on their 401(k) plans, but they trust that we are there with them helping to steer the ship toward the best destination possible.

PLANADVISER: How do you grow your business? What changes to your practice or service model are you planning for 2023 or 2024?

Catanella: Generally speaking, we grow by word of mouth and referrals 99% of the time. We believe that if you work with integrity and deliver top-notch service, people will want to tell others they know about you, and our clients and colleagues have certainly done so over the years.

We are looking at two ways to continue growing our practice based on the needs of our clients and the plan sponsor community as a whole. The first is by enhancing our financial coaching and wellness offering to provide custom individual coaching access to our clients’ employees. We believe with the right coaching, every one of the participants we touch will have financially healthier and happier lives and be able to contribute more toward their future success in retirement.

The second is by helping smaller plans who are looking to tap into our expertise but are less likely to need the full level of customization we provide to our larger-scale clients. In many cases, these smaller plans lack any fiduciary structure or governance and are looking to outsource that, as they don’t have the capacity to handle the important tasks associated with their retirement plans. We are exploring ways to grow in this space and to provide the greatly needed support to get these plans on the right track and their employees moving in the right direction toward financial success.

PLANADVISER: What challenges do you think the retirement plan industry faces and what role do you have in addressing and confronting those challenges?

Catanella: I think one of the greatest challenges we face is that many of the participants we are trying to get to start saving or to bump up their 401(k) deferrals are lacking the financial stability to do so.

We are finding more and more employees are carrying large levels of student and other debt and don’t know how to best address this with a plan of action.

Part of our financial coaching and wellness approach is to meet each participant where they are. If they are paying off student debt, we want to suggest they start taking steps to lower their interest rate or take advantage of programs they have yet to utilize. When possible, we want to work with the employer to find ways to provide incentives for employees to earn company matching if that’s an option and get them on the pathway to be debt-free. Why? Because once they have a plan and are on a path to financial wellness, they are able to begin saving more and can move from surviving to thriving in the future.

PLANADVISER: Why do you feel it is important to work with plan sponsors and companies offering retirement benefits to their people?

Catanella: First and foremost, because we believe that with the right coaching and process, that participants can successfully navigate their way to financial success in retirement. That, in and of itself, is a truly noble endeavor.

We are so fortunate to work with tremendous clients who really care about their employees. They are constantly looking for ways to provide access to the right tools and coaches to get them on track for success, not only in retirement, but in life in general. We view our role as the guide to help enable them to provide a best-in-class experience for those employees and the resources they need to cross the threshold to thriving in retirement.

PLANADVISER: What are the most important issues that your plan sponsor clients face with their company retirement plans, and what particularly effective or unique actions do you take to assist them in overcoming those issues?

Catanella: As mentioned earlier in the general questions section, we believe the retirement plan landscape is perpetually changing and evolving. We view this as less of an issue and more as an opportunity. If you want your company to stand out, what better way than to provide best-in-class benefits and resources that will enhance your clients’ overall livelihood?

As stewards of their employees’ future financial success, we don’t take this role or responsibility lightly. Working with each plan sponsor, we identify the key areas of need for their plan and participants and provide detailed research on where they excel and are lacking among their key peers.

We think the more plan sponsors become open to providing individualized financial coaching and wellness to their whole employee group (rather than the old method of just catering to their top echelon alone), the more they will reap the benefits with a healthier and more productive workforce across the board.

Getting to play a role in guiding our clients toward these enhancements is truly a thrill, and we are starting to see a new era of customized financial support and acumen take shape with several employee groups that will only help them to reach new heights going forward!