PLANADVISER - September/October 2018 - 34

edge Fidelity Investments, BlackRock,
J.P. Morgan, American Century and
T. Rowe Price as the top five firms for
plan sponsor support and recognize
them for their participant education
materials.
Assessing Recordkeepers
On the recordkeeping side of the equation,
the two most important standards
that advisers consider when selecting
a provider are value for price (cited as
No. 1 by 46.8%) and fee structure for
the plan (ranked No. 2 by 27.3%). These
have generally remained the same
over the years, possibly suggesting
that recordkeeping, in the eyes of
advisers, has assumed a commoditytype
status.
The recordkeeping
platform is
the backbone
of the plan.
Knowing that reputation is a large
part of why plan sponsors may, or may
not, want to work with a particular
recordkeeper, we also asked advisers
to rank each recordkeeper according
to their perception of it. The recordkeepers
that were perceived most
often as " very favorable " are Empower
Retirement (cited by 58%), Fidelity
Investments (by 57%) and T. Rowe Price
(by 43%).
While the recordkeeping marketplace
does seem to consolidate more
each year, a wide variety of provider
options still exists, and adviser
responses to " Whom do you like to
work with? " show that there is still
room in the market for growth.
Only three recordkeepers were
chosen by more than half of respondents
as being one the adviser had
" worked with many times " : Fidelity
Investments (cited by 77%), Empower
Retirement
(by
63%) and Principal
Financial Group (by 59%).
Asked to rank recordkeepers on
value for price, advisers chose Empower
Retirement (22.6%), Ascensus (7.1%)
and Fidelity Investments (6.5%) as the
top three. -Lee Barney
Top-Rated Investment Firms (150 advisers voting)
Adv Support/Value-Added Services Votes
1 J.P. Morgan
2 American Funds
3 BlackRock
4 American Century
5 Legg Mason
Fund Fact Sheets
1 American Funds
2 Vanguard
3 Fidelity
3 Legg Mason
3 T. Rowe Price
Investment Value for Price
1 Vanguard
2 American Funds
3 BlackRock
4 T. Rowe Price
5 Fidelity Investments
21
18
16
9
8
Votes
27
13
6
6
6
Votes
59
37
13
9
7
Participant Educational Materials Votes
1 Fidelity Investments
2 American Funds
3 BlackRock
4 T. Rowe Price
5 John Hancock
5 J.P. Morgan
Plan Participant Support
1 Fidelity Investments
2 American Funds
3 BlackRock
4 T. Rowe Price
5 Principal
23
18
12
11
9
9
Votes
30
14
8
7
6
Plan Sponsor Educational Materials Votes
1 Fidelity Investments
2 J.P. Morgan
3 T. Rowe Price
4 Federated Investors
4 Invesco
24
16
7
6
6
Reputation
1 Vanguard
2 American Funds
3 T. Rowe Price
4 Fidelity Investments
5 BlackRock
Supporting Materials*
1 American Funds
2 Fidelity Investments
3 J.P. Morgan
4 Vanguard
Wholesalers
1 American Century
2 J.P. Morgan
3 American Funds
4 BlackRock
5 Fidelity Investments
Plan Sponsor Support
1 Fidelity Investments
2 BlackRock
3 J.P. Morgan
4 American Century
4 T. Rowe Price
Quarterly Evaluation Materials
1 J.P. Morgan
2 American Funds
3 Fidelity Investments
4 Invesco
4 Janus Henderson
4 PIMCO
4 Voya
Votes
57
30
18
17
7
Votes
23
15
14
8
*Only four firms received five or more votes
Votes
17
14
13
11
9
Votes
20
11
8
7
7
Votes
20
12
11
5
5
5
5
34 | planadviser.com September-October 2018
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PLANADVISER - September/October 2018

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