PLANADVISER - March/April 2022 - 22

growing your practice / cover story
integrating with the recordkeepers and going beyond the
basics of what they do. Recordkeepers are really good at basic
financial literacy and at responding to questions about a
participant's retirement plan. But when it comes to financial
advice, you should get [that] from a financial adviser. If you
need heart surgery, you don't go to a knee surgeon. "
CAPTRUST has seen the impact of individualized
financial coaching and continues to put substantial
emphasis on working with an adviser, Delage says. " We've
found that, when you give people general education about
what they should be doing, they make changes they need to
make about 20% of the time. When participants work one
on one with one of our advisers and need to make a change,
they'll do that 70% of the time, on the spot, " Delage says,
referring to steps such as changing a deferral rate or an
investment allocation.
Delage has observed that many of CAPTRUST's financial
wellness program competitors, such as recordkeepers or
specialist providers, want people to use their digital tools
as much as possible. " We're the opposite: We want people
to call us to get help, " he says. " There are many financial
wellness providers out there, and they're often driving much
of this to online tools or robo-type interactions, so people
don't really get that personal engagement. We want to have
personal conversations with folks, so we can understand
what they're trying to do and how they're trying to do it. "
Intellicents encourages use of its app; however, unlike
the typical recordkeeper digital resources, Arends says, that
technology accesses individualized 3(21) fiduciary advice.
Asked how he contrasts Intellicents' digital tools, he says,
" No. 1, this actually offers fiduciary advice to participants,
not just education, from the advisers we have attached to
the app. It's fiduciary advice where we say, 'This is how
we recommend you think about this issue,' and then the
participants have to give the thumbs-up, and we execute on
their decision. " -Judy Ward
Connectivity
A
Retirement plan specialists are
acquiring wealth management firms
ccording to Joe DeNoyior, national president of Hub
Retirement and Private Wealth, in Chicago, the pace
of merger and acquisition deals between retirement
plan specialist firms and wealth management firms will
intensify.
" We're in the early stages, particularly of wealth-centric
and retirement-centric firms coming together. It's been
happening slowly, and I think it's going to pick up for the
next few years, " says DeNoyior, who adds that Hub is actively
looking for wealth management practice acquisitions that
make strategic sense. " Many retirement plan-centric firms
are focusing more on bringing in wealth management
advisers. And many wealth management advisers are
opening up more to joining a bigger firm to enhance their
services. "
The Deal Drivers
The acquisition trend runs two ways, says Brandon Kawal,
a principal in Advisor Growth Strategies, a Phoenix firm
that consults with advisers on M&A and other strategic
issues. " We're seeing it pick up on both sides: retirement
plan advisory firms acquiring wealth management firms
and wealth management firms acquiring retirement plan
advisory firms, " he says. " In the marketplace, there's a
trend toward one-stop shopping that we're starting to see
take hold. "
The trend of mergers and acquisitions involving
retirement planning and wealth management firms " has
been heating up over the past few years and appears to be
only strengthening, " says Daniel Seivert, CEO and managing
partner at Echelon Partners, a boutique investment bank
focused on M&A and succession planning for the wealth
and investment management industries, in Manhattan
Beach, California. Asked why a wealth management firm
might want to be acquired by a retirement plan specialist or
vice versa, he says, " First and foremost is the opportunity for
cross-selling and the multitude of 'warm' relationships that
retirement planning firms can offer to wealth managers. "
The desire for growth drives both buyers and sellers in
these deals, Kawal says. " There's the intrigue of the idea
of creating growth channels from the retirement plan
business that eventually convert into wealth management
business in the long haul, " he says. " There's more crosspollination
happening and an intriguing opportunity for
22 | planadviser.com March-April 2022
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PLANADVISER - March/April 2022

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