Deals & People April 11, 2023

OneDigital Acquires Huntington Bank’s $5.6B Retirement Advisory Business

The retirement and investing aggregator will bring on Huntington’s 1,300 employees focused on workplace savings plans.

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OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC, a division of Atlanta-based OneDigital, has added to its growing roster of advisers by acquiring Huntington National Bank’s 401(k) advisory and retirement plan servicing business, the firms announced Tuesday.

The deal, which closed on March 31, brings Huntington’s 1,300 workplace savings plan employees and $5.6 billion in assets under management into OneDigital’s financial services and employer benefits fold.

OneDigital had been working with Huntington as an outsourced employee benefits solution for about six years, and the two teams started talking about a deal for the retirement division around the middle of last year, says Vincent Morris, president of retirement and wealth at OneDigital.

“We really liked the partnership with Huntington, and we looked at how we could enhance the client experience on the retirement side with their current clients,” Morris says.

The deal adds to OneDigital’s “brick and mortar” locations for retirement advisement, Morris says, specifically in the cities of Columbus, Ohio; Cleveland; Detroit; and Pittsburgh. Advisers in the field will operate out of OneDigital branches that are in their local markets but continue to service the legacy bank branches as well, he says.

Meanwhile, some of Huntington’s retirement leadership will join OneDigital’s retirement operations and home office team, including Frank Zugaro, currently head of retirement plan services at Huntington.

“This team is top-notch and really will enable us to expand our leadership capabilities,” Morris says.

Strengthened Commitment

Huntington National Bank is a subsidiary of Huntington Bancshares Inc., with more than 1,000 branches in 11 states and headquarters in Columbus, Ohio.

“Huntington is strengthening our commitment to this business when many of our competitors are walking away,” Michael Robinson, executive vice president and director of wealth management at Huntington, said in a statement. “It is our collective goal to ensure our clients receive the same high standard of service they expect while gaining the technological excellence and deep product capabilities offered by OneDigital.”

With the acquisition, OneDigital’s retirement platform has more than 1 million participants and 41,000 individual accounts, according to the firm. The move comes after OneDigital announced on March 16 the acquisitions of Arizona-based firms The Clear Group and 401K Resources to expand its Southwest presence.

401k Resources, founded by current National Association of Plan Advisors President Renee Scherzer, works with employers to design retirement plans. The Clear Group, founded by President Chris Scherzer, provides employee benefits solutions, retirement planning, human resources consulting and personal and business property and casualty solutions. Both leaders, who are married, and their teams will remain with their firms under the OneDigital brand, according to the announcement.

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Wealth Management

Despite the recent retirement-related acquisitions, Morris says OneDigital does not foresee imminent expansion on the retirement advisory side.. It’s more likely that nearer-term announcements will involve wealth managers as the firm looks to build on its financial service offerings.

“We’re fierce advocates for health, success and financial security in the marketplace, and we want to be able to offer our clients access to advice and financial planning,” Morris says. “You don’t consume benefits in a silo. … We are providing solutions in a holistic way.”

OneDigital will continue to look at geographic locations where they might be strong in one area of employer benefits but lacking in another, according to Morris.

“You’ll continue to see us add strategic players to round out our offerings in the employer world,” he says.

Data & Research April 11, 2023

Data Shows 68% of Parents Make Financial Sacrifice for Adult Children

Among parents helping their adult children, 43% of parents have made dipped into their retirement savings.  

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Nearly half of parents may have made some sacrifice to their retirement savings to help out their adult children, according to a survey conducted by Bankrate LLC. 

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When considering retirement savings, 43% of parents have made a financial sacrifice to help their children, and 18% said the decision was significant, according to the findings. 

“[Paying for your child’s bills] can enable bad behavior or stunt an adult child’s development,” Ted Rossman, senior industry analyst at Bankrate, said in a statement. “It can also put your own retirement and other financial goals at risk. You can get loans for a lot of things, but retirement isn’t one of them.”

Among parents with adult children, 68% have made or are currently making a financial sacrifice to help their kids, and 31% said it was a significant financial sacrifice.

“Remember that saying about putting your oxygen mask on before helping others,” Rossman said in a statement. “While we of course want to be empathetic and help our kids, sometimes financial assistance goes too far.”

A slight majority of parents (51%) said they have reached into their emergency savings to help their adult children, and 20% reported it being a significant loss.

Lower-income households are more likely to sacrifice their emergency savings. Among households with a yearly income less than $50,000, 58% reported dipping into their emergency savings to help their children. In contrast, for households earning $100,000 or more, 46% of people did the same.

To help their children, 49% of parents are sacrificing making payments on their own debt, and 55% report they are risking reaching a financial milestone.

The study from Bankrate surveyed 2,346 U.S. adults, 773 of whom have children aged 18 or older. Conducted from March 14 to 16, the investigation examined how parents were helping their adult children financially.

On average, American adults believe 20 is the age that people should begin paying their own bills for items such as subscription services and credit card bills. Respondents said age 23 is when people should start paying for their own health insurance and student loans.

Those in Generation Z and Baby Boomers held the most contrasting attitudes toward when adults should independently pay their bills. Gen Zers think people should begin making payments around one to three years later than Baby Boomers.

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