PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - 32

Small Plans
Cultivating Connections
Wealth managers meet the needs of small-business participants
IN 1998, Chad Parks was a financial planner frustrated by
his inability to help small-business-owning clients start
workplace retirement plans. His response was to leave the
practice and start his own firm, which became small-plan
industry mainstay Ubiquity Retirement + Savings.
Fast forward to today. Financial advisers still face the
same queries from clients about workplace plans-sometimes,
in recent years, as driven by state mandates-but
the advisers no longer have to leave to start their own firm
to help provide solutions. Now there are a host of 401(k)
providers and government-facilitated options that can
handle the administrative,
investing and fiduciary roles
that qualified plans require.
" I was that financial planner and registered investment
adviser to my clients, and I couldn't find a solution, " says
Parks, Ubiquity's CEO, from the firm's offices, in San Francisco.
" So we've had that as our roots, and we welcome that,
and we always make room for advisers, whether wealth
advisers or retirement advisers. "
The convergence flowing from retirement plan advisement
to wealth management with a goal of servicing participant
assets has been a major industry trend in recent years.
In the small-plan market, however, the flow is starting to
get stronger from the wealth management side, according
to consultancy MarshBerry.
As the firm's Rob Madore, a vice president, in Mount
Pleasant, South Carolina, has pointed out, there has been
a small but potentially growing trend of wealth managers
bringing retirement plan services in-house. Notable deals
have included Carson Group's acquisition of Northwest
Capital Management; Savant Wealth Management adding
Capital Direction; MAI Capital Management LLC buying West
Point Business Group; Merit Financial Advisors acquiring
Allegiance Retirement Solutions Inc.; and, in 2021, Creative
Planning purchasing Lockton's retirement business.
This past January, investment advisory Carson Group
announced a partnership with 401(k) recordkeeper Vestwell
to provide a defined contribution retirement offering for its
adviser network.
Carson Complete 401(k) was designed to address " key
friction points " for financial advisers in providing a retirement
solution, the two firms said at the time.
" With significant tax credit expansion offered to small
businesses through the SECURE [Setting Every Community
Up for Retirement Enhancement] Act, along with affordable
fintech solutions driving down the costs for advisers, now is
32 planadviser.com | Winter 2023 | Plan Management

PLANADVISER - Winter 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of PLANADVISER - Winter 2023

Publisher’s Note
Just the Facts
On the Move
Nuts & Bolts
What’s Next?
Best Foot Forward
2023 PLANADVISER National Conference
Cybersecurity Conference
Let It Ride
Cultivating Connections
The Risks of Custom TDFs
Managed Account Services
People-Savvy
Be Sure They Get the Message
End Paper
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - Cover1
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - FC1
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - FC2
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - Cover2
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - 1
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - Publisher’s Note
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - 3
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - Just the Facts
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - 5
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - 6
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - 7
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - On the Move
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - 9
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - 10
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - 11
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - Nuts & Bolts
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - 13
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - What’s Next?
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - 15
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - 16
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - 17
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - 18
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - Best Foot Forward
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - 20
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - 21
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - 2023 PLANADVISER National Conference
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - 23
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - 24
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - 25
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - Cybersecurity Conference
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - 27
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - Let It Ride
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - 29
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - 30
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - 31
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - Cultivating Connections
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - 33
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - The Risks of Custom TDFs
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - 35
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - Managed Account Services
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - 37
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - People-Savvy
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - Be Sure They Get the Message
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - End Paper
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - Cover3
PLANADVISER - Winter 2023 - Cover4
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