PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - 28
winners' circle //
Three Who Lead the Way
Past Retirement Plan Advisers of the Year discuss participant services
O
ver the past decade and a half, we have recognized
many exemplary individuals and advisory teams
with our PLANSPONSOR Retirement Plan Adviser of
the Year awards. In each issue this year, we have talked with
several past winners to gather their opinions about various
practice and industry topics. For this issue, we inquired about
participant services, asking how each retirement plan adviser
has evolved these services as part of his or her offerings and
getting their timely impressions of how education and advice
are changing in light of the coronavirus pandemic.
As is often the case when it comes to advisers determining
how to work with participants, the three advisers
interviewed for this article, Daniel Bryant of Sheridan Road,
Rita Fiumara of UBS and Rick Wedge of Pensionmark, show
there is no one-size-fits-all method, as they each approach
their work from a different angle. The following is an excerpt
of conversations, edited and abridged.
PLANADVISER: How has the pandemic changed participant-level
services for your clients?
Daniel Bryant: It feels like the understanding of priorities
28 | planadviser.com July-August 2020
Art by Claudi Kessels
has leapfrogged five years in the past five months, when it
comes to benefits and financial wellness programs. The first
thing we've seen is that this pandemic has tightened the link
between emotional, health and financial well-being. If anyone
had any doubt, the pandemic has thrown cold water in your
face and said, " Look, these things are completely connected. "
A health crisis has caused people to be furloughed, to lose
their jobs, and now we're in the middle of an economic crisis.
The pandemic has shone a light on that conundrum.
Second, clients have begun to prioritize things they
hadn't thought about from a financial wellness perspective-
for instance, the SECURE [Setting Every Community Up for
Retirement Enhancement] Act loan provisions and the taxdeductible
pretax repayment of student loan debt. These
have helped to provide liquidity and ease debt burdens.
And lastly, for perhaps the first time, senior management
and human resources [HR] are aligned in their desire to
provide financial solutions to their employees. For example,
if employees are nearing retirement, they need financial
and retirement income support. We recently helped a multinational
company in the New York City area with retirement
income planning for employees who'd been laid off-helping
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PLANADVISER - July/August 2020
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of PLANADVISER - July/August 2020
Investing Against COVID-19
2020 PLANADVISER Recordkeeper Services Survey
Three Who Lead the Way
Prospecting in Turbulent Times
Retirement Savings Optimization
DOL Gives Private-Equity Guidance
Investment Advice Revisited
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - C1
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - FC1
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - FC2
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - C2
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - 1
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - 2
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - 3
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - 4
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - 5
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - 6
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - 7
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - 8
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - 9
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - 10
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - 11
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - Investing Against COVID-19
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - 13
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - 14
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - 15
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - 2020 PLANADVISER Recordkeeper Services Survey
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - 17
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - 18
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - 19
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - 20
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - 21
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - 22
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - 23
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - 24
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - 25
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - 26
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - 27
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - Three Who Lead the Way
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - 29
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - 30
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - Prospecting in Turbulent Times
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - 32
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - 33
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - Retirement Savings Optimization
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - 35
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - 36
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - 37
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - DOL Gives Private-Equity Guidance
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - Investment Advice Revisited
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - 40
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - C3
PLANADVISER - July/August 2020 - C4
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