PLANADVISER - November/December 2021 - 36
practice management / compensation
Fee Models Are Shifting
How advisers choose to be paid is evolving with their business
T
wo common fee models that are
used by retirement plan advisers
are flat, or standard, fees and
project-based fees. In the flat-fee model,
one fee covers all of the various services
the adviser provides for a sponsor client.
With a project-based model, there
might be a small standard charge for
basic services, but most of the adviser's
compensation comes from charging for
each service, or project, rendered. This
has been called " a la carte " pricing.
Just 10% of the clients of advisers who
responded to the 2020 PLANADVISER
Practice Benchmarking Survey were on
a fixed, project-based fee model, but,
anecdotally, that tide is shifting.
Ryan Gardner, managing partner,
head of defined contribution (DC)
at Fiducient Advisors in Windsor,
Connecticut, says " per project " is not
how his firm prices clients; it uses a flat
fee based on plan size-what he calls
" retainer pricing. " He says any firm
should know the time and amount of
complexity involved in serving a client
of a certain size.
" Putting aside size and complexity,
the way we think about retainer
pricing is that we want to be our
clients' first call. We don't want them
to worry about extra fees for a call or
for figuring out solutions for a special
problem, " says Gardner, to elaborate on
the reasoning for this fee model. " Our
goal is to serve as a strategic adviser. "
Gardner says his firm's fee includes
everything from regular quarterly
meetings and whatever extra meetings
are needed, to quarterly reporting
and a governance calendar, annual
fiduciary training for committees,
annual recordkeeping and fee benchmarking,
and a review of the markets.
" We help them create the right fiduciary
trail, and we look at all key
elements of their plan to make sure it
is competitive, " he says.
The advantage of this simple fee
model for clients is that it eliminates the
unknown, Gardner says. " Many clients
36 | planadviser.com November-December 2021 Art by Gizem Vural
http://www.planadviser.com
PLANADVISER - November/December 2021
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of PLANADVISER - November/December 2021
A Shift in the Tech Landscape
Strength in Diversity
Future Faces
A Workforce in Flux
Fee Models Are Shifting
Nonenforcement Policies
‘Window’ of Opportunity
PLANADVISER - November/December 2021 - Cover1
PLANADVISER - November/December 2021 - Cover2
PLANADVISER - November/December 2021 - 1
PLANADVISER - November/December 2021 - 2
PLANADVISER - November/December 2021 - 3
PLANADVISER - November/December 2021 - 4
PLANADVISER - November/December 2021 - 5
PLANADVISER - November/December 2021 - 6
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PLANADVISER - November/December 2021 - 8
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PLANADVISER - November/December 2021 - 11
PLANADVISER - November/December 2021 - 12
PLANADVISER - November/December 2021 - 13
PLANADVISER - November/December 2021 - 14
PLANADVISER - November/December 2021 - 15
PLANADVISER - November/December 2021 - 16
PLANADVISER - November/December 2021 - 17
PLANADVISER - November/December 2021 - A Shift in the Tech Landscape
PLANADVISER - November/December 2021 - 19
PLANADVISER - November/December 2021 - 20
PLANADVISER - November/December 2021 - 21
PLANADVISER - November/December 2021 - 22
PLANADVISER - November/December 2021 - 23
PLANADVISER - November/December 2021 - Strength in Diversity
PLANADVISER - November/December 2021 - 25
PLANADVISER - November/December 2021 - 26
PLANADVISER - November/December 2021 - 27
PLANADVISER - November/December 2021 - 28
PLANADVISER - November/December 2021 - 29
PLANADVISER - November/December 2021 - Future Faces
PLANADVISER - November/December 2021 - 31
PLANADVISER - November/December 2021 - 32
PLANADVISER - November/December 2021 - 33
PLANADVISER - November/December 2021 - A Workforce in Flux
PLANADVISER - November/December 2021 - 35
PLANADVISER - November/December 2021 - Fee Models Are Shifting
PLANADVISER - November/December 2021 - 37
PLANADVISER - November/December 2021 - Nonenforcement Policies
PLANADVISER - November/December 2021 - ‘Window’ of Opportunity
PLANADVISER - November/December 2021 - 40
PLANADVISER - November/December 2021 - Cover3
PLANADVISER - November/December 2021 - Cover4
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