Deals & People September 18, 2023

Advisory M&A

Crabbe joins Cetera Advisor Networks; Integrity acquires Invictus Marketing Solutions; R&R Wealth Management selects Commonwealth; and more.

 

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Crabbe Joins Cetera Advisor Networks

Cetera Financial Group announced that Anne Crabbe and her team, One Wealth Mgmt., have joined Cetera Advisor Networks via Cetera Wealth Partners.

“The collaborative community culture and industry-leading resources, tools and support make Cetera Wealth Partners an ideal destination to continue my practice and provide enhanced services to my clients,” Crabbe said in a statement. “I’ve worked with Cetera before, and I’m thrilled to be back under the umbrella with this group of like-minded and talented advisers.”

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Crabbe and her team had more than $102 million in assets under administration as of June 13, 2023. She has 16 years of experience helping families manage finances and achieve goals for retirement, investment, savings and more. Based in Paso Robles, California, Crabbe was previously affiliated with Park Avenue Securities.

“I’m pleased to welcome Anne and team to Cetera Wealth Partners and look forward to working with her to further her practice’s goals,” Tom Halloran, president of Cetera Wealth Partners, said in a statement.

Invictus Marketing Solutions Joins Integrity

Integrity Marketing Group LLC, a distributor of life and health insurance, announced it has partnered with Invictus Marketing Solutions, an independent marketing organization based in Jefferson City, Missouri.

Founded in 2015 by Travis LePage and Scott Amos, now managing directors, Invictus specializes in Medicare coverage and insurance with the goal of helping senior clients feel financially secure in their futures.

“The Integrity platform gives our agents greater ability to connect with clients and provides the right healthcare solutions for their individual needs,” said Amos in a statement. “We can’t wait to leverage Integrity’s full-stack platform to become more efficient in the way we run our business and serve our clients.”

“I’m confident that Invictus will expand their influence and impact in their community in the years to come with the support of this partnership and it’s an honor to welcome such committed leaders to the Integrity family,” Bryan Adams, co-founder and CEO of Integrity, said in a statement.

R&R Wealth Management Selects Commonwealth

Commonwealth Financial Network announced that R&R Wealth Management of Waukesha, Wisconsin, has joined its network of independent advisers.

Robert Holton and Tom Driscoll, vice presidents of wealth management and senior financial advisers, along with their team of six, will bring nearly $223 million in assets under advisement to Commonwealth. The team was previously affiliated with Avantax Investment Services.

R&R Wealth delivers financial planning services to business owners, corporate executives and high-net-worth families. The firm specializes in providing businesses with employee-sponsored retirement plan support, while also offering services in investment management, financial planning and complex life insurance solutions.

“We took a strategic look at who our RIA/broker/dealer was and who gave us the best opportunity to grow going forward,” said Holton in a statement. “We want to build our business to $1 billion in assets over the next four years, and that growth trajectory needs a partner who can support our goals. We feel strongly that Commonwealth is the ideal partner as we grow both organically and through acquisitions, and it will help us become the premier wealth management firm for business owners in Wisconsin.”

Thompson Wealth Management Joins Redhawk Wealth Advisors

Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc., a full-service registered investment adviser, announced the acquisition of Thompson Wealth Management, an established RIA located in the Los Angeles area.

Thompson Wealth Management is led by George Thompson, who has worked in the financial industry for more than 25 years and is known for his “Total Wealth Management System” that teaches generational wealth. He will be joining the Redhawk Wealth Advisors team in a new role as director of development.

“The primary reason I joined Redhawk was for the ability and the freedom to give my clients the best options with respect to investment solutions, technology and customer service,” said Thompson in a statement. “In addition, I wanted to partner with a firm that could help me grow my business my way.”

Redhawk Wealth Advisors is registered in 39 states, with more than $2 billion in assets under management. The firm is known for its proprietary process called Risk-Guard, a tactical asset allocation solution designed to increase retirement income, lower risk and reduce investment costs.

 

Client Service September 18, 2023

Suggestions for Best Plan Participant Service

Experts say direct, personalized education is key for engaging and helping participants.

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These days, the ability for retirement plan advisers to offer direct and personalized education for participants is the key to providing best-in-class service, according to experts at the PLANADVISER National Conference.

Advisers are being asked to consult for clients on more than just the retirement plan, so offering financial education and engagement to participants—even if it is via a colleague or partner—is key to competing, advisers told an audience last week in Scottsdale, Arizona.

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Scott Ciullo, director of retirement plans from KerberRose Wealth Management, suggested holding on-site enrollment with face-to-face engagement. He discussed a successful attempt at servicing a participant group of 192 people through in-person meetings.

“We started out with group meetings,” he said. “Immediately following the group meetings, I would give people a pen with our number on it, and a little half sheet so they could get their username and password. Then we had three laptops in three separate rooms where they would sit down. They’d bring their smartphone in, and my folks would put the app on their phone.”

Participants entered the information for their beneficiaries and talked about their contribution amount, Ciullo said. Then his team would “hit em’ hard on never going less than the match [to] get the free money.” During the meeting, his team also went over topics like Roth versus traditional 401(k) deferrals, portfolio asset allocation, taxes and other financial planning concerns.

“Your section about the 401(k) enrollment is so cool with that laptop idea,” responded Kelli Send, senior vice president of financial wellness services at Francis LLC. “But we would like to see that same kind of effort during open enrollment times.”

Send, who works directly with participants, has seen a massive difference in engagement when using contests and incentives during the open enrollment period. “People want to gamify; they want to have those incentives when you offer these same financial wellness programs,” she said.

“[Another option] is to go directly to the source,” said Send. “It’s gathering that information as best as you can and then communicating directly to [participants].”

Send said her team gets email addresses directly from participants. For those employees who do not have email addresses, her team uses phone numbers.

Jessica Ballin, a principal in and investment adviser representative at 401(k) Plan Professionals, said her firm is always seeking ways to deepen its connection with plan sponsors and participants to prompt engagement. “What we say is that we want to be your first point of contact,” she said. “We love the participant calls. We’ll call in to the providers with them, help them answer questions, log in with them so all our clients know we want to take work off your plate.”

Phil Sherman, a senior retirement plan consultant at Deschutes Investment Consulting, said it is also important to think about behavioral finance and speak in terms anyone can understand.

“We’re right up there with medical and legal professions with the amount of jargon we have in our industry,” said Sherman. “It’s important to maybe take a step back and ask, ‘Am I subconsciously falling into these traps as well?’ ‘Is this skewing my own education presentation?’  Obviously, you can try to simplify the language that you use.

Another important aspect is to be mindful of generational preferences and stereotypes, said Sherman. “We’re all individuals,” he said. “We all have our own unique perspectives on things, and I don’t think anybody likes to be put into a box, so be mindful when you talk to individuals to not fall into that trap as well.”

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