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National Association of Plan Advisors (NAPA)

NAPA Names Nation’s Top DC Advisor Teams
National Association of Plan Advisors (NAPA) | December 17, 2018

ARLINGTON, VA — The National Association of Plan Advisors has published its list of the nation’s top defined contribution (DC) Advisor Teams.

Unlike other lists, this focuses on individual firms, or what may, in a wirehouse environment, be referred to as a team, or office, and the assets under advisement related to their defined contribution (DC) practice specifically.  This year publication of the list was also accompanied by the list of the nation’s Top DC Multi-Office Advisor Firms.   

“Since their inception, NAPA’s various industry lists have been a valuable Who’s Who of who matters in the world of retirement plans and retirement plan advisors,” noted Nevin Adams, Chief Content Officer of the American Retirement Association, and Editor-in-Chief of NAPA-Net, the nation’s leading online resource for retirement plan advisors.  “This latest chapter – the NAPA Top DC Advisor Teams, ranked by self-reported DC assets under advisement – presents a compelling case for the positive impact on the nation’s private retirement system”.

This year’s list, which focuses on firms with at least $100 million in AUA, represents more than $640 billion in DC assets under advisement.  Significantly, those teams include more than 1200 advisors – and many more support personnel – working to help Americans prepare for a financially satisfying retirement.  “As the nation’s leading voice for retirement plan advisors, we are pleased to highlight these contributions,” noted Adams.

The coincident publication of the Top Multi-Office DC Firms highlights the nearly $2 trillion in AUA, more than 187,000 plans supported, and more than 25 million participants supported by the actions of these firms.

The list of NAPA’s Top DC Advisor Teams, which will be published in the Winter issue of NAPA Net, the Magazine, is available online at https://www.napa-net.org/industry-lists/top-dc-advisor-teams/, and NAPA's Top Multi-Office DC Firms is also available at https://www.napa-net.org/industry-lists/top-dc-advisor-firms/

About the National Association of Plan Advisors (NAPA)

The National Association of Plan Advisors was created by and for retirement plan advisors. Membership is also open to other retirement industry professionals who support the interests of plan advisors. NAPA is the only advocacy group exclusively focused on the issues that matter to retirement plan advisors. NAPA is part of the American Retirement Association, based in the Washington, D.C. area. More information about NAPA is available at napa-net.org.

Media Contact: Nevin E. Adams, JD, Chief Content Officer, American Retirement Association, 703.516.9300 Ext. 114, [email protected]

NAPA Announces 2018 Top Women Advisors
National Association of Plan Advisors (NAPA) | November 29, 2018

ARLINGTON, VA – The National Association of Plan Advisors (NAPA) is pleased to announce its inaugural list of Top Women Advisors.

The Top Women Advisors accolade was launched in 2015 to acknowledge the contributions of a growing number of women who are making significant contributions to the retirement industry, as well as bringing excellence to the profession.

“We are pleased and proud to be able to once again acknowledge the fine and important work that these individuals have done to help provide a better retirement for their clients, employers and individual retirement savers alike,” said Nevin E. Adams, Chief Communications Officer of the American Retirement Association, and Editor-in-Chief of NAPA-Net. 

More than 500 nominations were provided by NAPA’s extensive list of broker-dealer and RIA Firm Partners.  Nominees were, in turn asked to respond to a series of quantitative and qualitative questions regarding their experience, education, team structure, accomplishments, and impact.  Those responses were anonymized and then reviewed by a blue-ribbon panel of industry experts who, over the course of several weeks, selected the individuals honored in three separate categories:

  • All-Stars: Top producers who have their own practice.
  • Captains: All-stars who happen to be principals, owners or team captains of their organizations.
  • Rising Stars: Top producers who have less than five years of experience with retirement plans as a financial advisor (some have been working with retirement plans longer, but not as a financial advisor).

The list of 2018 Top Women Advisors is available at https://www.napa-net.org/industry-lists/top-women-advisors/

About the National Association of Plan Advisors (NAPA)

The National Association of Plan Advisors was created by and for retirement plan advisors. Membership is also open to other retirement industry professionals who support the interests of plan advisors. NAPA, part of the American Retirement Association, is the only advocacy group exclusively focused on the issues that matter to retirement plan advisors.   The American Retirement Association, based in the Washington, D.C. area, is a non-profit professional organization established to educate all types of retirement plan professionals, and to preserve and enhance the employer-based retirement plan system as part of the development of a cohesive and coherent national retirement income policy.  More information

Media Contact: Nevin E. Adams, JD, Chief Content Officer, American Retirement Association, 703.516.9300 Ext. 114, [email protected]

Advisors Open Up in First-Ever NAPA Summit Insider Survey
National Association of Plan Advisors (NAPA) | October 11, 2018

ARLINGTON, VA – The National Association of Plan Advisors (NAPA) has released the results of its first-ever survey of nearly 500 retirement plan advisors conducted in conjunction with their annual conference, the NAPA 401(k) Summit.

NAPA, part of the American Retirement Association (ARA), surveyed more than 500 advisors to get a glimpse into the industry landscape.

“We wanted to take advantage of the largest gathering of retirement plan advisors in the nation to get their sense of their current challenges and future trends,” said Nevin Adams, Chief Content Officer, American Retirement Association, and Editor-in-Chief of NAPA-Net the Magazine, which conducted the Summit Insider. “This first-ever survey of the nation’s leading retirement plan advisors offers a variety of perspectives as well as some remarkable consistency on key issues.”

The key findings include:

  • Client retention was the biggest advisor issue cited; nearly a quarter (24 percent) said it was “very important,” and another third (33 percent) rated it as an “important” consideration.
  • While savings/deferral rates, participation rates, and plan administration costs top plan sponsor concerns, cybersecurity is an emerging issue, and ranked second among plan sponsors with over $100 million in assets.
  • Robo-advice was deemed the most “overhyped” industry trend.
  • More than half (56 percent) said they would like more information about health savings accounts, or HSAs.
  • Seventy-eight percent of respondents said they sometimes favored passive options depending on the situation.
  • The most common reason cited for shifting to passive options was a desire to reduce plan costs (34 percent), but the second-most cited (22 percent) was plan sponsor demand.
  • A third (31percent) are currently tracking profitability on a per plan basis – another quarter (27 percent) are doing so “sometimes.”
  • Nearly four in ten (39 percent) said that litigation trends are influencing plan sponsor receptivity to their design recommendations.

To get a full copy of the survey, including verbatim comments from advisors on what they’d like plan sponsors and regulators to know, please email Nevin Adams.

About the National Association of Plan Advisors (NAPA)

The National Association of Plan Advisors was created by and for retirement plan advisors. Membership is also open to other retirement industry professionals who support the interests of plan advisors. NAPA is the only advocacy group exclusively focused on the issues that matter to retirement plan advisors. More information about NAPA is available at www.napa-net.org.

Media Contact: Nevin E. Adams, JD, Chief Content Officer, American Retirement Association, 703.516.9300 Ext. 114, [email protected]

NAPA Announces the Retirement Industry’s Top 100 DC Wholesalers
National Association of Plan Advisors (NAPA) | September 10, 2018

ARLINGTON, VA – The National Association of Plan Advisors (NAPA) is pleased to announce its list of 100 Top Defined Contribution (DC) Wholesalers, as selected by the nation’s leading retirement plan advisors.

This year’s list drew an overwhelming response. Finalists for this recognition were selected based on votes cast by several thousand advisors from a list of more than 500 wholesalers nominated by NAPA Firm Partner recordkeepers and Defined Contribution Investment Only (DCIO) providers.

“We call them “Wingmen” because if they are doing their job, they have the advisor’s back in terms of information, tools, and support,” explained Nevin Adams, Chief Content Officer at the American Retirement Association, and Editor-in-Chief of NAPA-Net, the publication that sponsors the award.

With an estimated 1400 record keeping and DCIO external wholesalers working directly with advisors, this Wingmen list represents the top 7 percent of the industry.

The list is available at: https://www.napa-net.org/industry-lists/top-wholesalers/

The Top DC Wholesalers will be featured in the fall issue of NAPA Net the magazine.

About the National Association of Plan Advisors (NAPA)

The National Association of Plan Advisors was created by and for retirement plan advisors. Membership is also open to other retirement industry professionals who support the interests of plan advisors. NAPA is the only advocacy group exclusively focused on the issues that matter to retirement plan advisors. For more information about NAPA, click here.

Media Contact: Nevin E. Adams, JD, Chief Content Officer, American Retirement Association, (703) 516-9300 Ext. 114, [email protected]

NAPA Welcomes Acheson as President
National Association of Plan Advisors (NAPA) | September 10, 2018

NASHVILLE, TN — The National Association of Plan Advisors welcomed Jeffery Acheson, CPFA, as its 2018-2019 President at the opening session of the 2018 NAPA 401(k) SUMMIT.

Acheson has nearly 40 years of experience with advising and educating clients, providing industry leadership and building trusted relationships. He founded Powell, Ohio-based Advanced Strategies Group, LLC in April 2017, where he delivers a fiduciary-based business model focusing on high-income individuals, high-net-worth families, successful companies, mid-size retirement plan sponsors and charitable organizations. Previously Acheson headed up the advisory services team at Corporate and Endowment Solutions, Inc., where he focused on helping employers design and implement incentive-based deferred compensation and executive benefit plans as well as advising individuals on ways to accumulate wealth through tax-favored planning strategies. Prior to that role, he spent 14 years as a co-managing partner of a CPA firm’s affiliated wealth management arm.

Acheson acknowledged the contributions and accomplishments of Paul D’Aiutolo, NAPA’s 2017-2018 President, saluting him with a “job well done” as he presented the President’s Award, thanking him for guiding the organization through its sixth year of unprecedented growth and success. D’Aiutolo now replaces his predecessor, 2016-2017 President Sam Brandwein, as an ex officio member on the organization’s Leadership Council.

Other changes on the NAPA Leadership Council (LC) for 2018-2019 include:

  • Previous Vice President, Jania Stout, Co-Founder, Fiduciary Plan Advisors at HighTower in Baltimore, MD, becomes this year’s President-Elect.
  • Pat Wenzel, Managing Director–Wealth Management, Merrill Lynch, Houston, TX, replaces Stout as Vice President.
  • Corby Dall, Barbara Delaney and Charlie Snyder join the NAPA Leadership Council as at-large members, replacing Wenzel, Jamie Greenleaf and Michael Perry.
  • Jon Anderson joins the LC as a Firm Partner representative, replacing Ken Pardue.

About National Association of Plan Advisors (NAPA)

The National Association of Plan Advisors was created by and for retirement plan advisors. Membership is also open to other retirement industry professionals who support the interests of plan advisors. NAPA is the only advocacy group exclusively focused on the issues that matter to retirement plan advisors. More information about NAPA is available at www.napa-net.org.

Media Contact: Nevin E. Adams, JD, Chief Content Officer, American Retirement Association, (703) 516-9300 Ext. 114, [email protected]

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