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Business at a Glance as of 12/31/23
- Location: Brookfield, Wisconsin
- How many plan assets do you have under advisement? $13.5B
- What is your median plan size (in assets)? $69M
- How many plans do you have under administration? 84
- How many participants in total do you serve? Approximately 90,000
- Parent firm: N/A
PLANADVISER: How is your team unique/competitive in the marketplace?
Aidoo: Francis LLC is completely independent and does not sell any products. Because our financial planners do not earn commissions or have any conflicts of interest, we act as true fiduciaries providing advice based solely on the best interest of our participants. Typically, the people that have access to financial advice are only those who can afford to pay for it. Our services are provided as an employee benefit, giving people of all income levels access to unbiased financial advice. We don’t just advise participants on their retirement plans but on all financial topics to ensure our financial planning services are holistic.
To make our services inclusive and equitable, we work with HR team members to understand the unique needs of each client’s population. We offer onsite and virtual financial planning sessions across all shifts, and we have bilingual planners for Spanish speakers and 24/7 access to an interpreter hotline to communicate in all other languages, including ASL. Our DEI committee is constantly doing research on financial planning and other considerations for various identities so we can increase our cultural competence to best meet the needs of our diverse participants. Our planners go the extra mile to try to make needed changes to improve the financial health of participants during their session with the understanding that many of our participants lack access to technology, face a language barrier or simply aren’t comfortable making changes on their own.
PLANADVISER: Are you connected to a wealth management division? If so, please explain how you work for them and your goals for coordination. If not, please explain whether you plan to be in the future, or not, and why.
Aidoo: We are not, nor do we ever plan to be connected to a wealth management division for the sole purpose of ensuring that our services remain completely unbiased and always in the best interest of our participants.
PLANADVISER: What challenges do you think the retirement plan industry faces, and what role do you have in addressing and confronting those challenges?
Aidoo: Diverse teams lead to more creativity, innovative solutions and better decision making. However, the workforce of our industry is largely homogenous, notably lacking gender and racial diversity. We must attract diverse talent to make our workforce demographics reflect those of the participants we serve. This will allow us to learn from one another and better understand the needs of all participants so we can identify barriers to retirement plan participation and think of creative ways to overcome them.
One of the biggest challenges the industry faces is financial literacy and inequality. Retirement plans are complex and can be confusing for all, but some participants face additional challenges. Due often to a variety of cultural factors, many of the participants I meet with are unfamiliar with how 401(k) plans work and/or have pressing financial concerns that can make contributing to a retirement plan seem impossible. Working in several different countries and being part of a bicultural family with all my in-laws residing in Ghana, I can easily identify with the cultural barriers and competing financial priorities that deter many from saving in retirement plans. I am also bilingual, so Spanish speakers no longer face an intimidating language barrier to getting the financial advice they need.
To increase financial literacy and engage participants facing barriers to retirement plan participation, we must provide inclusive education that is accessible to all and lead holistic financial planning sessions with cultural awareness and empathy.
PLANADVISER: How do you go about moving from words and ideas to action when it comes to addressing the lack of diversity in the financial advisory industry?
Aidoo: We have a DEI committee that reflects the diversity of our firm and makes ongoing recommendations to leadership on what we can do to increase diversity within our firm. A genuine commitment from leadership is a must. Leadership must be willing to set goals, allocate resources and hold themselves accountable for progress.
Our DEI committee reviews job descriptions for language inclusivity to ensure that we are not using language that could potentially deter women, people of color or those with disabilities from applying. We post opportunities on university job boards and reach out to candidates on LinkedIn that would add diversity and value to our team. A diverse representation of our team is always involved in the interview process to root out any potential unconscious bias that could affect hiring decisions. We also consider candidates who have experience and degrees in other fields to add diversity to our team so long as they exhibit the soft skills and passion required for the job. When hired, those candidates are supported with tuition reimbursement and training.
Additionally, we provide team members with training on unconscious bias, cultural competence and inclusive leadership to promote inclusion and equity and help underrepresented employees advance their careers within the firm.
PLANADVISER: What are some of the benefits that an equitable and inclusive culture can bring to a retirement advisory and its employees?
Aidoo: An inclusive and equitable culture cultivates a sense of belonging where employees of all identities feel safe and comfortable being their authentic selves and sharing their ideas and concerns. This improves collaboration and unleashes creativity through diverse thought, resulting in better decision-making and superior outcomes.
Employees who feel valued and respected are more engaged and motivated, leading to greater productivity and job satisfaction, less turnover and a greater ability to attract top talent.
At Francis we are continuously working to create a more inclusive and equitable culture, the benefits of which are reflected in the services we provide. The classes we create incorporate personal examples from our financial planners to make the content even more relatable. We offer courses on a variety of financial topics that meet the needs of those in different life stages, but we also provide classes geared toward specific audiences such as: “Women and Money,” “Building Financial Confidence for Global Families,” and “Building Wealth for Hispanic Households.” All courses also have Spanish versions tailored to meet the needs of our Hispanic population. We are working to continue to expand our library of content to increase inclusion and create more equitable outcomes.
Feeling comfortable sharing our diverse backgrounds and experiences with one another also increases our cultural competence and allows us to relate better to our diverse participant population, enhancing the financial planning services we provide them.