PLANADVISER - March/April 2019 - 36

PLANSPONSOR
Retirement Plan Adviser
of the Year Finalists Small Team
D'Aiutolo, Malcolm & Associates Investment
Consulting Group at UBS Financial Services Inc.
LHD Retirement
T
he D'Aiutolo Malcolm & Associates
Investment Consulting
Group,
in Rochester, New York,
manages $3 billion of assets.
" But we always look at those
assets as representing individuals
and their families, " says Paul
D'Aiutolo, senior vice president,
investments, at the firm, a financial
services team of UBS. Not
surprisingly, the firm considers its employees and plan sponsor
clients and their participants as family.
According to the team, D'Aiutolo Malcolm & Associates
BUSINESS AT A GLANCE*
PLAN ASSETS UNDER ADVISEMENT:
$3 billion
MEDIAN PLAN SIZE, IN ASSETS:
$45 million
PLANS UNDER ADMINISTRATION: 100
PARTICIPANTS: 40,000
took a " major turn for the better " seven years ago when it
hired Alicia Malcolm to help D'Aiutolo-who had launched
the firm as a sole practitioner-enhance client deliverables
and the overall business. The team also added Kaitlyn Stagnitta,
Marc Brondon, Amanda Marshall and Donna George.
The team says the changes also have provided a " unique
way to compete, " resulting in significant growth since they
were made. During the team expansion, D'Aiutolo Malcolm
& Associates also made a point to hire a diverse, multigenerational
group. On the 401(k) side of the business, the
average employee age is 35, and there are equal numbers
of men and women.
" We wanted to build a team that mirrored what we were
seeing on our committees, " D'Aiutolo says. Further, with
the hiring of younger professionals, clients feel secure
knowing they could count on the same service team for
decades, D'Aiutolo explains.
The consulting group adheres to a four-step process
in which participant engagement is paramount. First, the
group helps participants enroll and understand the difference
between Roth and traditional contributions. Next, it
helps them decide on an age-appropriate asset allocation.
Third, it checks whether they are on track to replace their
income in retirement. And fourth, it provides guidance on
overall financial planning and wellness. -Corie Hengst
O
ver the past 12 months,
LHD Retirement,
napolis, has been on a mission
to help non-savers address the
financial concerns of today
that keep them from saving
for tomorrow. LHD identified a
in Indiagroup
of employees who needed
to save more in their company's
retirement plan-they were
typically lower-income with little confidence in financial
matters. Rather than discussing retirement savings, LHD's
campaign focused on more pressing issues for these workers
such as budgeting, debt reduction and building an
emergency savings account.
BUSINESS AT A GLANCE*
PLAN ASSETS UNDER ADVISEMENT:
$650 million
MEDIAN PLAN SIZE, IN ASSETS:
$10 million
PLANS UNDER ADMINISTRATION: 105
PARTICIPANTS: 11,000
" For this group, retirement planning was so far removed
from the everyday that the most effective strategy was to
help them first build a solid foundation so they could start
to plan for the future, " says John Ludwig, a partner in the
firm and its founder.
" Just because a group may not be in a position to immediately
start saving for retirement does not mean that it's
unworthy of our help, " Ludwig says.
By engaging participants, the LHD team says it can gain
insight into their thought processes and use this information
to help shape committee decisions and build strategies
that can improve the plan. Although plan design and
investment selection play a big role as to retirement readiness,
nothing beats financial wellness, he says.
One of LHD's biggest pieces of advice to clients is to
empower their participants to create their own retirement
outcomes. The LHD team members say this approach also
informs their own work; at LHD, each employee takes ownership
of his responsibilities and makes it his duty to lead
plans and participants to successful retirement outcomes.
" A plan sponsor can have the perfect retirement plan, but
if participants are not utilizing it correctly or effectively,
it's a wasted investment, " Ludwig says. -Corie Hengst
*As of December 31, 2018
36 | planadviser.com March-April 2019
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PLANADVISER - March/April 2019

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