PLANADVISER - November/December 2020 - 27

winners' circle
sibilities. Traditionally, advisers concentrated on helping plan
sponsors deal with day-to-day issues-assisting with administration,
explaining investment reviews and making plan
recommendations to help them make the right decisions.
Today, clients prefer to engage with us-to outsource responsibilities-so
they can focus on their plan sponsor duties. The
most common, of course, is the 3(38) work we do. We've gone
from virtually nothing to approximately $14 billion in discretionary
assets in just the last five years.
Jania Stout: Basically, we've expanded services we already
had. For example, we've always produced monthly webinars
about topics to do with saving, investing, getting out of debt
and budgeting. We now conduct 18 a year, which include
health-related topics-both physical and mental health.
We recently did a " Happiness " webinar and had over 200
attendees. Because the families of the employees we serve
are most likely all at home, we launched a " Family Affair "
track so employees could invite their family members to our
webinars. The first was for younger adults and older children,
geared toward teaching them basics about money.
And we expanded upon helping our clients with their
overall wellness strategy, which became more integrated
into their entire benefit offering. This ultimately helps us
engage with their employees.
Domenic DiPiero: When Newport Capital Group was founded,
in 2004, our service model was based on recognizing that
clients needed a fiduciary partner with institutional investment
experience.
Since winning the award in 2016, our model has changed.
Our team has grown and refined the services we offer, while
continuing to bring an institutional investment approach.
We remain a large firm with a boutique mindset. The success
of our hands-on team approach with clients is evident in our
long-term client relationships.
We've added more oversight, and processes and procedures
to help our clients stay ahead of any pending regulatory
changes that could affect their plan. We collaborate with
our industry colleagues in the ERISA [Employee Retirement
Income Security Act] legal, plan-audit and recordkeeper space
to bring committee education to our clients. Our team's long
tenure at Newport Capital Group demonstrates our culture
and philosophy, and having a positive role in the lives of tens
of thousands of participants who comprise our client base.
PA: As part of the industry expansion, is your firm working
on health-care savings generally or on health savings
accounts [HSAs] specifically?
Stout: We've become increasingly vocal and consultative
concerning our clients' HSA plans. It's taken time to help
clients recognize that we should be either leading or a part
of these conversations. For example, most ignored the investment
aspect of their HSA plan, assuming that the majority
of employees used up their account funds each year. When
we helped these sponsors dig into the data, we found many
of the accounts were accumulating balances. And there was
more need to ensure that the investments and fees associated
with [them] were reasonable.
Also, many of the large retirement recordkeepers now
have an HSA offering. Helping our clients evaluate those
partners is important. We want as much synergy as possible
between participants' HSAs and their retirement accounts.
DiPiero: Health-care savings in general comes up increasingly
in client conversations. When it does, we have a
network of referral partners and bring in experts to address
our clients' needs. HSAs have tax advantages and benefits
that make them a great option to save for retirement medical
expenses. We help educate our clients on the role these
different accounts play for their employees.
Hammond: That's an avenue we're certainly exploring. As
financial advisers, it makes sense for us to assist in managing
the non-cash investable assets.
PA: Do you address " holistic financial wellness, " perhaps via
debt counseling or budgeting?
DiPiero: Holistic financial wellness gets to the root of helping
people understand how they can be better prepared with
emergency funds and budgets, and understand the impact
of their debt.
With COVID-19 this year, we've stayed the course and
helped participants get back on track. We worked with
our clients' respective providers on innovative education
campaigns to address concerns via modified messaging to
2016 PLANSPONSOR Large Team
Retirement Plan Adviser of the Year
Domenic DiPiero, founder and president,
since 2004, of Newport Capital Group, a
national independent investment advisory
firm in Red Bank, New Jersey. DiPiero says the
group ensures that " clients stay ahead of any
pending changes that could affect their plan. "
2016 PLANSPONSOR Individual
Retirement Plan Adviser of the Year
Jania Stout, co-founder and a practice
leader, since 2014, of Fiduciary Plan Advisors
at High Tower, in Baltimore, Maryland. Stout
says she is " in the business to change lives. "
Since 2016, the group has expanded existing
services including overall wellness strategies.
2013 PLANSPONSOR Multioffice
Retirement Plan Adviser of the Year
Troy Hammond, president/CEO, since 1990, of
Pensionmark Financial Group in Santa Barbara,
California. Hammond says, " Just as in 2013,
we try to be at the forefront of industry trends.
Pensionmark has expanded to a full range of
participant services. "
planadviser.com November-December 2020 | 27
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PLANADVISER - November/December 2020

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