Larry Witzel

President, Strategic Financial Solutions

Business at a Glance

PLANADVISER: What differentiates your team in a crowded advisory marketplace today? Please expand on what you do differently in practice, not philosophy.

Witzel: I believe our SFS team is differentiated in the marketplace by how we’ve combined the technical expertise, experience and aptitude of our personnel to craft and execute on a service model and service delivery structure that consistently addresses key plan sponsor concerns, combining responsiveness and a human approach that builds confidence for both sponsors and participants.

This is evidenced by the depth of expertise and experience of our relationship managers, as they are licensed and credentialed, serving as the primary point of contact for our plan sponsors. Our relationship managers average 24 years of industry experience and were each trained by major national recordkeepers, giving them fluency in areas such as compliance testing, Form 5500 reporting, regulations and plan design, allowing them to quickly diagnose and resolve issues while saving plan sponsors time.

Our relationship managers also support our SFS Retirement Helpline—a direct line on which participants and plan sponsors are greeted by an individual knowledgeable about their plan, capable of resolving most questions on the first call. When needed, our team seamlessly connects participants to an adviser for guidance or to a recordkeeper for resolution.

We also differentiate ourselves through our commitment to participant education and how we deliver it. For more than 30 years, nearly all education has been delivered by licensed, credentialed, experienced advisers. Today, our team includes nine advisers, seven of whom are Certified Financial Planner professionals, with others holding designations such as AIF, AIFA®, CPWA, CLU and CPA, in addition to multiple advisers who hold an MBA.

PLANADVISER: How are regulation, technology, or market volatility changing the way you advise plans and participants? What adjustments have you made in response?

Witzel: Over the past 35 years, the evolution of regulation, technology, and market dynamics has significantly transformed how we advise both plan sponsors and participants.

Early in my career, “innovation” meant introducing daily valuation, so participants no longer had to wait weeks to see their account balances, and education was delivered by shuffling three-foot-by-four-foot placards on an easel.

Fast forwarding to today, we’ve embraced plan design features such as automatic enrollment and automatic escalation, along with the use of well-constructed target-date portfolios, to help drive stronger participant outcomes. These tools have shifted the focus from simply offering a benefit to actively improving retirement readiness.

Technology has also fundamentally changed how we engage participants. We now deliver education through a range of digital formats—including virtual meetings, short-form videos and on-demand content through employer intranets—making it easier for participants to access information in ways that fit their schedules.

Most recently, we’ve invested in tools like Venrollment to enhance onboarding and engagement, allowing our advisers to spend more time providing personalized guidance. We’ve also expanded our reach through webinars, recorded content, blogs and even targeted programming such as a “radio show” designed for specific workforces.

Finally, the ability to leverage plan data has allowed us to be more proactive and precise—improving expense management, delivering targeted education and identifying potential risks such as missing beneficiaries, lost participants and compliance gaps.

PLANADVISER: Describe your core plan sponsor client and service model. What problems do sponsors typically hire you to solve?

Witzel: Our core plan sponsor client is typically entrepreneurial, closely held and deeply committed to caring for their employees—or employee-owners, as we work with a meaningful number of organizations that offer employee stock ownership plans. These firms are often large enough to have dedicated HR and finance teams, with approximately half operating within the manufacturing sector. While our clients range from small businesses to publicly traded companies, the majority are privately owned, with plan sizes generally between $10 million and $20 million.

As it relates to our service model, we place a strong emphasis on accountability. Our approach provides a clear framework for measuring and managing that accountability—both internally and externally. It has evolved to support plan sponsors in their fiduciary roles, reduce the time and stress placed on them, and allow us to operate as a true extension of both HR and finance departments while balancing their respective departmental priorities.

In many cases, sponsors hire us to address a breakdown in service or trust—whether due to a compliance issue, communication gap or participant dissatisfaction. We are often brought in to restore confidence, enhance employee engagement and ensure all elements of a sponsor’s fiduciary responsibilities are being addressed.

We also focus on improving outcomes—driving higher participation, increasing account balances and creating more efficient investment structures. The consistency of our service model—and the regularity with which it is delivered—help provide clarity and confidence, and ultimately support participants in retiring with dignity.

PLANADVISER: What are the three most pressing retirement plan challenges your sponsors face today? How have you helped sponsors address them in measurable ways?

Witzel: From our lens, three of the most pressing challenges retirement plan sponsors face today are time constraints, workforce retention and plan complexity/participant engagement.

While time is not a direct retirement plan challenge, it ultimately leads to one. Sponsors must manage fiduciary and regulatory responsibilities, participant education, benchmarking and day-to-day plan oversight—alongside their many other organizational priorities. Our SFS service model is built to proactively address those responsibilities while acting as an extension of their team, helping streamline their actions and giving them more time to address their priorities.

Secondly, workforce retention continues to be a top concern. We’ve observed that our plans that exhibit high participation, strong savings rates (at least 10%, including employer contributions) and consistent education delivery tend to support greater employee satisfaction and retention. I would never want to underestimate the importance of financial security and financial confidence: We believe that such security and confidence can lead to higher employee retention and a productive workforce.

Expanding and ongoing regulatory changes and evolving workforce needs can make it difficult for sponsors to maintain both compliance and engagement. We address this by consistently executing on our service model, incorporating automated plan design and enhancing participant communication strategies to meet them where they will be most receptive to messaging.

As a measurable example, 75% of our clients have adopted automatic enrollment—far greater than the 56.7% industry benchmark—and 77% of those plans include automatic escalation. These design features have helped drive higher participation and improved long-term outcomes for participants.

Larry Witzel offers securities and advisory services through Commonwealth Financial Network^®, Member FINRA/SIPC, a Registered Investment Adviser. Strategic Financial Solutions is located at 222 3rd Avenue SE, Suite 280, Cedar Rapids, IA 52401 and can be reached at 319.363.2509.