PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - 21

Feature
NEED
TO SHOW
VALUE
How advisers can justify their fees and
help sponsors find other ways to cut costs
D
uring the pandemic, human resource teams were absorbed with COVID-19-related challenges.
Consequently, it was easy to put the organization's retirement plans on autopilot,
according to Chris Dall, senior vice president and managing director, defined contribution
retirement solutions with PNC Bank N.A. in Philadelphia.
But, more recently, Dall has seen plan sponsors pay increasing attention to understanding the
fees they pay for their defined contribution and defined benefit plans and asking how that cost
might be reduced. " They're looking at things such as proprietary funds and what distribution fees
go to the managers on their plan, " he says.
And they know that the adviser's fee is part of the equation. " Is the adviser making additional
compensation based on investments he puts in the investment menu, and is that influencing [his]
decision? " Dall continues.
Further, in light of the industry's consolidation, sponsors are evaluating recordkeeping fees.
Some clients ask PNC to perform a recordkeeper search, with the resulting savings of moving to a
new provider being up to 50%. Prospective clients also want greater fee disclosure than they did prepandemic,
Dall says. " Every request for proposals we've seen in the past year has included a question
regarding a breakdown of fees and compensation we'll receive related to servicing the plan. "
" Retirement Planscape, " a survey report released in June by market research firm Escalent,
supports Dall's observations when it comes to DC plans. " When we asked plan sponsors to rank the
three aspects of their organization's 401(k) plan that will receive the most focus during the coming
year, we found that overall cost reduction is a universal endeavor across every plan size, " says
Sonia Davis, the report's lead author and a senior product director at Escalent, in Livonia, Michigan.
In prior Escalent surveys, DC plans with less than $5 million in assets were the most apt to cite
cost reduction as a top goal, but now large plans share that concern. Fifty percent of large- and
mega-plan sponsors say addressing plan costs is a priority for the coming year, up from 35% in 2021.
According to Davis, plan cost reduction nets one-quarter of first-ranked mentions in the 2023 survey.
Art by Andrea D'Aquino
Practice Management | Fall 2023 | planadviser.com 21

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PLANADVISER - Fall 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of PLANADVISER - Fall 2023

At the Core
A Need to Show Value
The Talent Pipeline
Inside the Deal
Demand Performance
Are They Legally Binding?
The SEC on Cybersecurity
From Managing to Leading
Can You Predict Client Stress?
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - C1
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - FC1
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - FC2
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - C2
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - 1
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - 2
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - 3
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - 4
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - 5
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - 6
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - 7
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - 8
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - 9
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - 10
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - 11
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - 12
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - 13
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - 14
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - 15
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - At the Core
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - 17
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - 18
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - 19
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - A Need to Show Value
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - 21
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - 22
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - 23
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - 24
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - 25
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - The Talent Pipeline
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - 27
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - 28
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - 29
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - Inside the Deal
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - 31
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - Demand Performance
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - 33
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - Are They Legally Binding?
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - 35
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - The SEC on Cybersecurity
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - 37
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - From Managing to Leading
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - Can You Predict Client Stress?
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - 40
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - C3
PLANADVISER - Fall 2023 - C4
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