Products & Services March 27, 2025

401GO Expands 3(38) Services Through Mesirow Partnership

Mesirow’s 3(38) fiduciary services will be integrated within the 401GO retirement platform and available to the approximately 1,400 financial adviser partners working with the 401GO recordkeeping system.

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Recordkeeper 401GO has partnered with Mesirow to offer outsourced 3(38) fiduciary services to 401GO clients.

Mesirow’s 3(38) fiduciary services will be integrated within the 401GO retirement platform and available to the approximately 1,400 financial adviser partners working with the 401GO recordkeeping system.

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The partnership will launch with Mesirow’s 3(38) services, with planned future enhancements to include custom default solutions, and broader fiduciary and reporting solutions, the companies said.

This partnership is being added in addition to the ways advisers currently work with the 401GO platform, according to the press release. Advisers will continue to have the option to use 401GO as their 3(38) fiduciary under sister company GOInvest; create their own investment lineups from 401GO’s open architecture platform; or engage with asset management firms.

“Partnering with Mesirow, an industry pioneer in outsourced fiduciary services, is an important new step in 401GO’s evolution,” said 401GO Chief Growth Officer Stan Smith, in a statement. “Adding Mesirow’s services to our platform greatly expands our retirement plan offering, to the benefit of our many financial adviser partners and plan sponsor clients.”

Deals & People March 27, 2025

Academics Receive Awards for Research Advancing Financial Planning

The Financial Planning Association and the “Journal of Financial Planning” announced the academic researchers who earned the 2024 Best Research Award for work about spending trends in retirement and the distinction between financial stress and anxiety.

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The Financial Planning Association and the “Journal of Financial Planning” announced that three academic researchers have earned the 2024 Best Research Award for their contributions to advancing financial planning practitioners and the profession.

The 2024 winners, announced earlier this month, are David Blanchett, portfolio manager and head of retirement research at PGIM DC Solutions; Kristy Archuleta, professor at University of Georgia Financial Planning; and Timothy Todd, dean of Liberty University School of Law.

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Blanchett was recognized together with Michael Finke, professor of wealth management at The American College of Financial Services, for their work about retirement consumption optimization.

Their research entitled “Retirees Spend Lifetime Income, Not Savings” demonstrated how retirees are more willing to spend from lifetime income than other potential funding sources like capital income, labor income, qualified savings and nonqualified savings. The report suggested that allocating savings to lifetime income can give households a “license to spend” in retirement.

Archuleta and Todd were recognized for their work describing conceptual frameworks to help planners distinguish between financial stress and financial anxiety. Their presentation, “Let’s Talk About Financial Stress and Anxiety: Is There a Difference?” explained how financial stress and anxiety are important to financial planners’ ability to assess their clients’ needs.

“Each year, FPA takes great pride in showcasing groundbreaking research at our Annual Conference and within the ‘Journal of Financial Planning,’ which enriches the knowledge base of our profession,” said 2025 FPA President Paul Brahim, in a statement. “The exceptional researchers we honor have produced innovative studies that empower practitioners to stay at the forefront of the profession and enable them to meet their clients’ needs effectively.”

Following a call for papers last spring, the researchers were invited to present their work at the FPA Annual Conference 2024 in Columbus, Ohio from September 18 to 20, 2024.

Presenters at the FPA Annual Conference were selected from submissions during the call for papers, and Best Research winners were selected from among the presenters for their work’s contribution to the profession.

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