2012
PLANSPONSOR
RETIREMENT
PLAN ADVISER YEAR
FINALIST
OF
THE
Henry Yoshida
The Maresh Yoshida 401k Group
Austin, Texas
Henry Yoshida is a firm believer in the importance of basic savings. When he advises
plan sponsor clients and participants,
he stresses the importance of basic
savings throughout a sustained
time period.
There are three pillars to a
successful retirement plan, he says:
1) the money the client contributes;
2) the time the client invests, and;
3) portfolio diversification. “If you
matic enrollment and automatic
escalation because, he says, the hope
is that participants will stop noticing
when the money comes out of their
paychecks. He says retirement savings
should be thought of as a way of
life for participants, similar to how
most people now accept cell phone
payments as a necessary expense.
After a 10-year affiliation with
Merrill Lynch/Bank of America
Merrill Lynch, in 2010, Yoshida and
a decision not to accept any project-
based work, because he wants to
guide his clients through the entire
investment process, rather than just
with “bits and pieces.”
“It was important for us that
each client has the same experience,”
he says.
There are three pillars to a successful retirement plan,
he says: 1) the money the client contributes; 2) the time
the client invests, and; 3) portfolio diversification.
aren’t willing to do the first two, it
doesn’t matter what your return is,”
Yoshida stresses.
When potential clients are
searching for a retirement plan
adviser and ask him what investments
he can offer, Yoshida tells them he
can probably offer the same as anyone
else. What sets him apart, however,
is the education he can provide about
basic savings. In 30 years, the participants may not remember him, but it is
nice to know he might have a positive impact on their financial future
through retirement savings education,
he says.
“What’s really neat about it is
that you’re in a position to affect
people positively,” he says. “What I’ve
communicated for years is focusing
on what I think the average American
person needs.”
Yoshida is a proponent of auto-
his partner, Mike Maresh, broke away
and formed The Maresh Yoshida 401k
Group (MY 401k Group), focusing
on defined contribution (DC) plan
design, analysis and investment
selection. In less than a year and a
half, the company rebuilt their 401(k)
book of business and now has 17 DC
plan clients with about $470 million
total in assets under advisement. His
target market is plans between $10
million and $250 million.
