PLANADVISER - September/October 2019 - 6

intro
A Time of Change
A
s has been a major theme with us over
the past year-and subject of the cover
stories in our last two issues-the retireWinning
Strategies for Retirement Plan Advisers
When plans are no
longer cost-effective,
there are actions
advisers can take
September-October 2019 | planadviser.com | $30
2019
Retirement
ment plan adviser landscape is in flux. In late
September, Global insurance brokerage firm Hub
International Ltd. announced the acquisition of
several well-established advisory practices. As
reported on PLANADVISER.com, CAPTRUST has
been on a serial buying streak of its own. Meanwhile,
other practices are following the affiliation
model, leveraging tools and services from firms
such as GRP Advisor Alliance, Resources Investment
Advisors LLC and Retirement Plan Advisory
Group (RPAG). In " The Persistent Pace of M&As "
(page 18), we discuss why and how the advisory space has seen so many of
these transactions in the first three quarters of this year.
As an advisory practice plans to changes focus, strategically grow or pursue
Plan Adviser
Survey
Addressing
Profitability
a merger or acquisition, it first must assess its profitability at serving individual
clients. " Addressing Profitability, " our cover story (page 20), discusses
what advisers need to consider to gauge how productive their relationships
are-including when to end a client relationship.
According to data gathered by SCORE, a nonprofit provider of consulting
services to U.S. small businesses, 71% of businesses that have no retirement
plan blamed the cost of plan setup, and 63% said they have inadequate
resources to pay for plan administration. In " Effectively Serving Small Solutions "
(page 24), we share strategies some advisers are profitably using to
serve the smallest of clients. We include SCORE data indicating that plans can
cost the employer just 2.4%, on average, of a worker's annual compensation.
As advisers grow their practice by taking on new clients and expanding
assets under advisement (AUA), it's essential they partner with providers that
are a good fit. We are proud to deliver, for the 12th year, the PLANADVISER
Retirement Plan Adviser Survey (page 28). Brian O'Keefe, director of research
for PLANADVISER, has made an in-depth examination of the types of services
that investment managers and recordkeepers offer adviser clients, and
reveals advisers' top choice of provider for each. We also report advisers' top
five criteria when they select one asset management firm, overall: 1) performance
against benchmarks; 2) five-year return; 3) Sharpe ratio; 4) manager
tenure; and 5) fee structure for plan.
This issue's Investment-Oriented article probes whether fixed-income
investments are currently doing their job. According to one expert interviewed,
switching from stocks to bonds to reduce risk and generate more
income simply doesn't work in this low-interest environment. What discussions
are you having with plan sponsor clients?
And I look back fondly on the three days in mid-September, when industry
experts, including representatives from the winning 2019 Retirement Plan
Advisers of the Year, gathered at the 2019 PLANADVISER National Conference
(PANC) to engage with attendees on important issues of the day (page
40). The conference, held in Orlando, Florida, was framed this year by the
theme " Contagious Ideas: It's all about the outcomes. " This was my first time
at PANC, and the event feedback has been awesome. If you missed it, maybe
we'll see you at PANC 2020, September 14 through 16, in Scottsdale, Arizona.
We hope this issue's lineup impacts your practice goals. Let us know at
editors@issmediasolutions.com. -Judy Faust Hartnett, Managing Editor
editor-in-chief: Alison Cooke Mintzer
Alison.Mintzer@issgovernance.com
creative director: SooJin Chun Buzelli, svp
SooJin.Buzelli@issgovernance.com
managing editor: Judy Faust Hartnett
Judy.FaustHartnett@issgovernance.com
managing editor, planadviser.com: John Manganaro
John.Manganaro@issgovernance.com
editorial staff: Lee Barney, Rebecca Moore,
Amanda Umpierrez, Karen Wittwer
contributors: John Keefe, Judy Ward
surveys & research: Brian O'Keefe, Jackie Scott
design & production: Donna Bien-Aimé, Alanna Jacobs,
Clarissa Liu, Joy Liu
design contributor: Cherese Rambaldi
art contributors: Tim Bower, Harry Campbell, Sam
Green, Mar Hernández, Matt Kalinowski, Uijung Kim,
Amy Matsushita-Beal, Marc Rosenthal, Ellen Surrey,
Dalbert B. Vilarino (cover), Woshibai, James Yang
head of media sales: Katie Bacon, vp
Katie.Bacon@issgovernance.com
advertising sales: Meghan McGowan, Bill Murray,
Lisa Reilly
sales operations manager: Anthony Groccia
conferences: Carol Popkins, vp; Katie Campbell,
Rebecca Fahey, Melissa Groccia, Lucille Velander
accounting operations: Abeer Abu-Issa, Mayrillane
Bahi, Ruth Fissaha, Doreen Fucci, Ricky Kostik
chief technology officer: Phil Herzog
technology operations: Ray Lucibello, Aaron Montecalvo,
Bhakti Patel, Jigar Patel, Dexter Reaves,
Stephen Widom
sponsored content and audience data: Drew Donaldson
Drew.Donaldson@issgovernance.com
reprints: Michelle Judkins 203-595-3276
Michelle.Judkins@issgovernance.com
PLANADVISER is owned by Institutional Shareholder
Services Inc. (ISS)
president and chief executive officer: Gary Retelny
chief operating officer: Stephen Harvey
chief financial officer: Allen Heery
global communications and marketing: Nancy Adler
PLANADVISER (ISSN 1935-9098) is published
bimonthly (Jan/Feb, Mar/Apr, May/Jun, Jul/Aug,
Sep/Oct, Nov/Dec) by Institutional Shareholder
Services Inc. (1055 Washington Blvd., Stamford,
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Stamford, CT, and at additional mailing rate.
postmaster Send address changes to: PLANADVISER,
P.O. Box 88, Congers, NY 10920-9916
reproduction policy PLANADVISER, Volume 14, Issue
1. No part of this publication may be reproduced
or transmitted in any form without the publisher's
permission. Authorization to photocopy items for
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©2019. Entire contents copyrighted.
6 | planadviser.com September-October 2019
PLANADVISER - September/October 2019

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