Austin Krise

PLANADVISER: Tell us about your role at your firm and how you contribute to its growth and progress. How did you end up there?

Krise: My role at Henderson Brothers Financial Partners is a retirement plan consultant. I service our clients for their retirement plan(s) and maintain a healthy partnership with the plan sponsors by being their trusted retirement contact. My main goal is to make running their retirement plan as easy as possible through taking on fiduciary responsibilities and alleviating additional administrative workload that could otherwise decrease efficiency within their company. I monitor the client’s investment lineup, have discussions surrounding plan provisions and stay up to date on prevalent retirement legislation, as well as analyzing their plan health metrics to promote healthy plan retirement outcomes. I look to contribute to HBFP’s growth by alleviating client issues and proactively looking to help with new solutions that will provide them with an overall value such as emergency savings accounts, de minimis force out IRA solution, etc.

I started out working for a retail bank and then transitioned over to a third-party administrator working with participants regarding distributions from their plans. From there, I found a lack of understanding from participants surrounding their retirement, which created my desire for robust participant education and financial wellness.

PLANADVISER: What steps do you think will help improve the retirement industry and participant outcomes in the future (particularly ways in which your firm can help with that progress)?

Krise: I believe that taking an active, hands-on approach in plan sponsor and participant education is going to be the most prominent asset in bettering retirement outcomes for all. I take an active approach during client meetings to review their plan’s health and try to provide value in a variety of ways to increase their plan’s health. This could be adding an automatic enrollment and escalation provision; discussing emergency savings accounts if their participants are looking to take assets out of the plan; making sure their target-date-fund series is reflective of the best fit for their participant behavior; and being transparent with full fee benchmarking to make sure they aren’t being overcharged in any area. From a participant’s perspective, HBFP offers a true partnership through a team approach. We take participant education very seriously, and we proactively meet in group or one-on-one meetings so participants can get the help and resources they need. We also offer our clients access to Venrollment as an additional value add. This allows participants to have a retirement plan access point with full access to their HBFP adviser, relevant market information and additional financial resources available to learn.

PLANADVISER: Have you had mentors or role models? Who are they and what lessons have you learned from them?

Krise: My father has been my role model ever since I was young. He’s put his family first and has given 100% whenever he commits to doing something. During the financial crisis in 2008, he lost his job with three kids still in school. Instead of being defeated, he decided to start his own business, which has since thrived. Getting a front-row seat at what he’s accomplished in the face of adversity is something I will always be able to emulate throughout any hardships I may face. I was able to learn so much from the examples that he set for me through his actions. He always preached to me about respect, discipline and hard work ethic, which I carry to this day. If you’re going to do something, you do it right the first time. There are always going to be setbacks in life; it’s how you adapt to what’s in front of you and how you respond to unfortunate events that will shape your life. I will always carry what’s been taught to me: to be the best I can be, not only as an employee, but to continuously grow as a person.