R. Scott Nicholls

Client Executive, Oswald Financial

Business at a Glance as of 12/31/24

• Location: Cleveland, Ohio
• How many retirement plan assets do you have under advisement? $550M
• What is your median plan size (in assets)? $9M
• How many plans do you have under administration? 68
• How many participants in total do you serve? 10,000
• Parent firm: Not applicable

PLANADVISER: How is your team unique in the marketplace? How do you differentiate yourself from others?

Nicholls: Oswald Financial is a division under Oswald Companies, which is a risk advisory firm. With the resources under this larger organization, we can offer other services in employee benefits, life insurance, property/casualty, Medicare and health savings. Having a holistic approach and offering has resonated with clients like never before. Having been in the retirement business for 27 years and nine years with Oswald, having the ability to address risk in all areas has been an absolute game-changer when consulting with clients.

Our client-centric approach is distinguished by several key strengths:

• Rigorous investment due diligence: Our in-house investment committee, in collaboration with portfolio managers and analysts from LPL and GRP, develop best-in-class, low-cost investment lineups through our proprietary 12-point scoring system. Our IPS has been reviewed and approved by Brad Campbell, a partner in Faegre Drinker.
• Strategic HR partnership: We function as a seamless extension of our clients’ HR team, providing expert guidance and support to manage clients’ fiduciary obligations effectively.
• Customized, independent solutions: Our independence empowers us to deliver tailored solutions that directly address our clients’ objectives. Our pooled employer plan is a prime example, offering comprehensive outsourcing of administrative and fiduciary responsibilities.
• Holistic financial wellness: We offer personalized money coaching, providing employees at all career stages—from early career to pre-retirement and executive planning—with the tools and guidance they need to achieve financial security. Our integrated approach encompasses both financial and overall wellbeing.

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

Nicholls: The retirement industry faces several significant challenges, many of which impact both individuals planning for retirement and the broader industry itself. As financial advisers, we have a crucial role in addressing these challenges and confronting them head-on is essential to helping clients achieve their retirement goals.

• Access to retirement plans: Not all employees have access to employer-sponsored retirement plans, especially in smaller companies. This leaves many people without an automatic savings mechanism.
  • Role of advisers: Advisers can help clients find alternative ways to save for retirement, such as individual retirement accounts or self-employed retirement plans (SEP IRAs, Solo 401(k)s). Advisers can also advocate for better retirement savings options at the workplace, helping smaller organizations leverage tax credits or other strategic ways to offer retirement plan options for their employees.

• Inadequate savings: Many individuals are not saving enough for retirement. This is due to factors like living paycheck-to-paycheck, a lack of financial literacy or simply underestimating how much money will be needed in retirement.
  • Role of advisers: Advisers can help by educating clients about the importance of saving early and consistently. Planning tools, such as retirement calculators, can illustrate how much clients need to save to meet their retirement goals. Advisers can also encourage clients to start saving as early as possible, review and optimize retirement plans regularly, and help them set realistic savings goals.

PLANADVISER: What type of plan sponsor is your typical client (location, size, industry, design elements, etc.)? Please describe your average service model and deliverables.

Nicholls: Our typical clients:

• Come from the Midwest region, but also—due to our private equity offering—from across the country;
• Include all plans, from startups to those worth more than $1 billion; our niche space is from $10 million to $50 million;
• Represent multiple industries, including manufacturing, nonprofits, health care and various private equity companies in all industries; and
• Hire us for roles such as 3(38), automatic everything, pooled employer plans.

The service model entails quarterly meetings, bi-monthly newsletters, six annual live participant financial wellness/retirement webinars, semi-annual participant education (virtually or in-person) and picking up the phone when they call! Topics include meeting minute review, open forum for partner feedback, plan health metrics, participant education summary, legislative updates, fiduciary hot topic review, market/economic commentary, investment oversight, fee benchmarking and an insight topic for each review. The insight topic may be health savings accounts, executive compensation plans, employee benefit integration, PEP plans and will prep services.

PLANADVISER: What are three of the most important issues your plan sponsor clients face with their company retirement plans? What actions do you take to assist them in overcoming those issues?

Nicholls: The three issues are:

1. We see many plans under $15 million that have been neglected for years. They are still under a revenue-sharing model/platform, they don’t have auto-enrollment features, and they don’t offer Roth, just to name a few of the challenges and shortcomings.
2. Lack of responsiveness from their partners in all areas of employee benefits. Clients only call when they have an urgent issue, and very few providers actual answer the phone anymore. I can’t tell you how many times over the last five years clients/participants were shocked when we answered the phone and didn’t let it go to voicemail. Then when you solve or assist them with their problem … that’s how you gain their trust and force them to really assess your value when another adviser comes knocking on their door.
3. Their decision to allow someone else to take on many of their fiduciary responsibilities. This is where our 3(38) or PEP options really resonate with many of these plans under $50 million. Let us take the wheel. This is what we do better than almost anyone else in the industry, at least in our region. Once we check this box, we can then focus on our most important responsibility as an advisor: educating participants!

As soon as we are engaged with these new clients, we immediately benchmark the plan and start analyzing if it is with the correct providers, on the right platform/service model, and whether it is a candidate for a PEP. Should the plan have a 3(21) or 3(38)? Should it be bundled or unbundled? Every client is different, with different demographics, so we are solving a unique puzzle every time, and this is where we can make the biggest impact—next to educating participants.

PLANADVISER: What’s your favorite book or podcast?

Nicholls: “Serve to Lead: 21st Century Leaders Manual,” by James Strock.

Serving others and volunteering has been in my and the firm’s DNA, going back over 25 years, whether it’s serving as a youth leader, coaching youth sports, contributing to hurricane relief, working at a food bank or visiting homeless camps delivering food. This is the foundation for my life, family and career, as it all starts here. I think it’s imperative that we are all involved with something that is bigger than ourselves. With one-third of our book of business being nonprofit, this aligns perfectly with our personal/firm passions, for me and for the team in general. It allows us all to make a positive impact, strengthen our community, enhance our well-being and, most importantly, it promotes a sense of gratitude and allows us to appreciate all that we have.

Clients don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care, and this starts with serving others. We believe this is at our core as a firm.