Products March 6, 2013

Jackson Launches Website, LinkedIn Group

Jackson National Life Insurance Company has unveiled a thought-leadership site and social media group to provide educational resources for advisers and investors.
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Jackson’s Center for Financial Insight (CFI) is a Web-based public thought leadership site for consumers, advisers and Jackson employees. The CFI microsite, located within the home page, www.Jackson.com, of Lansing, Michigan-based Jackson, offers educational content, ideas and commentary from leaders in the financial services industry, as well as proprietary research, informational videos, white papers, industry commentary and “Investor 101” materials.

Examples of the current content include a survey on “Social Media and Technology Adoption Among Advisors,” and videos about the history of variable annuities (“60 Years and Growing”) and on alternative investments (“Alternative Investments in Today’s Changing Environment”).

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Fresh content will be added frequently, according to Jackson.

The company also created the Alternative Investment Learning Center, which is billed as one of the first LinkedIn groups to offer dedicated alternative investment education to advisers. The group is designed to be a forum for advisers who hold at least a FINRA Series 6 or 7 registration to share ideas. The group will offer the chance for advisers to access educational materials and discuss alternative investment strategies, portfolio planning tools and best practices.

LinkedIn’s membership includes a quarter-million advisers, Jackson points out, and the company plans to first invite advisers from its affiliated broker/dealer network National Planning Holdings Inc., to join the group and will invite advisers from other broker/dealers to join as the company receives approval from their broker/dealer back offices.

More about the Center for Financial Insight is at www.jackson.com/thoughtleadership. Advisors can learn more about the Alternative Investment Learning Center by sending an email to altlearningcenter@jackson.com 

Deals & People March 6, 2013

PLANSPONSOR Announces 2013 Retirement Plan Adviser of the Year Finalists

PLANSPONSOR has announced the finalists for its annual Retirement Plan Adviser of the Year awards, in three categories.
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This year, the awards will be given in three categories: individual, team and multioffice. 

The finalists will be recognized at the annual PLANSPONSOR/PLANADVISER Awards for Excellence dinner March 27, 2012 in New York City. The winners will be named at the annual PLANADVISER National Conference in September in Orlando, Florida.

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The six finalists for the PLANSPONSOR Retirement Plan Adviser Team of the Year are:

  1. Capital Strategies Investment Group LLC in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois
  2. Everhart in Dublin, Ohio
  3. Graystone Consulting – Cincinnati in Cincinnati, Ohio
  4. Maresh Yoshida 401k Group in Austin, Texas
  5. Newport Capital Group in Red Bank, New Jersey
  6. The Willhite Institutional Consulting Group of UBS in The Woodlands, Texas
The team category is defined by the following: A group of two or more advisers in one office location who collectively serve one group of clients. Advisers share relationships and sales and utilize the same team to deliver support to clients.

The five finalists for the PLANSPONSOR Retirement Plan Adviser of the Year are:

  1. Gregg Andonian of Baystate Fiduciary Advisors, Inc. in Boston, Massachusetts
  2. Steven Glasgow of Avondale Partners, LLC in Nashville, Tennessee
  3. Jeb Graham of CapTrust Advisors, LLC in Tampa, Florida
  4. Timothy Pitney of Sapers & Wallack, Inc. in Newton, Massachusetts
  5. Mark D. Ray of Praxis Consulting in Sacramento, California

The individual category is defined by the following: A single adviser with one group of clients.

The three finalists for the PLANSPONSOR Retirement Plan Adviser Multioffice Team of the Year are:
 

  1. Alliance Benefit Group Financial Services, Corp., headquartered in Albert Lea, Minnesota
  2. Pensionmark Retirement Group, headquarters in Santa Barbara, California
  3. Sheridan Road Financial, headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois


The multioffice category is defined by the following: A group of two or more advisers across multiple office locations who share support staff and follow the same guidelines and procedures to serve clients.

 

Nominations for the Retirement Plan Adviser and Adviser Team of the Year awards were solicited online from retirement plan advisers, their employers and/or broker/dealers, and plan sponsors, as well as from working partners of these advisers, including investment vendors, accountants and attorneys, and pension administrators.  The finalists were selected by an expert panel of judges, including past winners of the awards and editorial staff.
 
The finalists were drawn from a pool of more than 400 nominations and approximately 175 resulting entries from that nomination pool. 
 
The 2013 PLANADVISER Top 100 Advisers, taken from award entries, can be found here.
Previous winners of the PLANSPONSOR Retirement Plan Adviser of the Year award are Stace Hilbrant, 401k Advisors Chicago in Wilmette, Illinois (2012); James L. Worrell, GPS Investment Advisors, LLC, Providence, Rhode Island (2011); Rick Wedge, of Northgate Benefits, in Novato, California (2010); Steven Dimitriou, of Mayflower Advisors, LLC, in Boston, Massachusetts (2009); John Barry with JMB Wealth Management in Torrance, California (2008); Chad Larsen with Moreton Financial Solutions in Denver, Colorado (2007); Dorann Cafaro of The Cafaro Group in Little Silver, New Jersey (2006); and John Mott of Smith Barney in Houston, Texas (2005).

Previous winners of the PLANSPONSOR Retirement Plan Adviser Team of the Year are Graystone Consulting - Danvers in Danvers, Massachusetts (2012); FDG Institutional Consulting Group at UBS in Stamford, Connecticut (2011); The Prince Group of Stifel Nicolaus in Indianapolis, Indiana (2010); Fiduciary Investment Advisors of Windsor, Connecticut (2009); FFoA in Pearl River, New York (2008); and the STAR Group with Merrill Lynch in Akron, Ohio (2007).
 

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