PLANADVISER - March/April 2019 - 24

PLANSPONSOR
Retirement
Plan Adviser
of the Year
Ellen Lander
Renaissance Benefit Advisors Group
E
llen Lander, principal and
founder of Renaissance Benefit
Advisors Group (RBA) in Atlanta,
has dedicated her entire career to
working with qualified retirement
plan sponsors and participants. A
self-described workaholic, she runs a
practice that cuts across 401(k) plans,
403(b) plans, nonqualified deferred
compensation (NQDC) plans and
defined benefit (DB) plans.
extremely closely
" Over the past 30 years, I've worked
as a fiduciary
partner with all of our clients, even
before this became a common practice
in our industry, " Lander says. " I have
worked tirelessly to design, structure,
monitor
and support
a
retirement
system that helps employees to not
only understand the benefits they've
been provided, but to use those to the
fullest extent possible. "
According to Lander, it is a privilege
to work in a job that puts her in
front of the many employees and
participants who need help in their
financial lives. So, her firm's mission
statement is unequivocal about participant
outcomes:
" to help retirement
plan sponsors meet and manage their
fiduciary responsibilities under ERISA
[Employee Retirement Income Security
Act] and, in doing so, provide the foundation
for their employees to become
financially prepared for retirement. "
Lander's firm has no marketing
professionals or sales support staff,
growing the practice exclusively
through referrals.
" I started the firm to serve solely
in the consulting role, not
to focus
on growing the practice and handing
off clients to support staff or other
advisers, " Lander explains. " As a result,
asset-allocation solution. Additionally,
the firm aims to ensure participants
defer at least 6% of their salary to
the retirement plan annually, which,
combined with the employer match,
should get them close to, if not above,
a 10% savings rate.
Because RBA was built on referrals,
" All of RBA's clients know that we are
available at all times and for whatever
question or concern they might have.
They never deal directly with the
recordkeeper, other than on payroll
remittance issues. "
all of my clients are extremely wellengaged
with their plans and participant
outcomes, without exception. "
Evidence
of
this
engagement
can be seen in the fact that 100% of
Lander's plan sponsor clients offer
an asset-allocation solution, whether
a target-date fund (TDF) or managed
account, and 100% have designated a
default investment.
In terms of client plan performance
goals, Lander says, the firm targets
participation rates of 90% and up, with
80% or more participants utilizing an
" our clients tend to be within specific
industries, " Lander says. Many clients
are owned by non-U.S. companies, and
many are in the investment business.
" Their plans tend to be very generous,
and, given the engagement, they allow
us to push the envelope on plan design
and features, " she says.
Lander observes that
it
typically
takes only about two years of ongoing
client engagement to get new plans
near the success targets noted above-
and, of course, there are nuances
to consider across any given group
24 | planadviser.com March-April 2019
Photography by James Rajotte
http://www.planadviserdigital.com/planadviser/march_april_2019/TrackLink.action?pageName=24&exitLink=http%3A%2F%2Fplanadviser.com
PLANADVISER - March/April 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of PLANADVISER - March/April 2019
