Knowing what
your competitors
are doing lets you
know how your
business model
compares
Reflecting on
Your Practice
If lIfe were a big card game, being an adviser would be more a game of poker than blackjack; it’s not enough to beat the dealer; you have to beat the other players. In order to do so,
you have to know what the other players are holding, much as you have to know what other
advisers are offering to compete in the retirement plan space, whether for clients, or new
staff members, or center-of-influence relationships. Otherwise, how can you ever differentiate your practice or services?
A recent survey by PLANADVISER of advisers who work with employer-sponsored
retirement programs found them to be well tenured in the area, even though some were
not committed exclusively to this area. For example, while more than half (59.8%) of those
surveyed have been an adviser to employer-sponsored retirement plans for a decade or longer,
more than a quarter of those ( 28.1%) say that 50% or less of their assets under advisement
represent retirement plans.
When it comes to managing their practices, most (69.1%) are operating with a written
business plan and nearly as many are revisiting or revising it on a regular basis (63.9% of
advisers are doing so annually, semiannually, or even as frequently as quarterly).
Advisers are optimistic about the future. Over the next two years, 55.2% of advisers say
their practice will grow in the number of support staff, while 49.1% expect it to grow in the
number of advisers. Only 1.2% anticipate a decline in advisers, while more than a quarter
( 28.8%) expect their practice size to stay the same.
