Brady Dall, OneDigital

Business at a Glance as of 12/31/21

• Plan assets under advisement: $4 billion
• Median plan size (in assets): $25 million
• Plans under administration: 163
• Total participants served: Approximately 110,000

PLANADVISER: Tell us about your practice and how you got into advising retirement plans.

Dall: As one of our first clients can tell you, I got my start by helping with enrollment meetings when I was 12 years old. That was 24 years ago, and those clients are still with us today. They love to joke about how they trained me. It was this early exposure where I learned how fun this business could be, but more importantly I developed a respect for what we do and how many people we help.  

Where I really developed a passion for the business and decided on making it a career was during an internship during college with National Retirement Partners in Sothern California. Here I learned from the best and brightest, they were early pioneers in this niche of the financial services industry. I really got to sample every side of the business working closely with service providers, adviser practice leaders, broker dealer executives, industry media experts and plan sponsors. It was clear to me that I wanted to work directly with employers and their employees to experience firsthand the direct impact thought leadership and proper counsel can have on the lives of many.

Over 15 years later I look back on my decision to pursue this career and can’t imagine doing anything else! We grew our team to 15 equally passionate retirement experts and helped hundreds of companies elevate their retirement benefits along the way.

In January 2020 we completed a merger with 10 of our close friends and partner firms around the country, officially joining forces after a loose affiliation for many years. We merged our teams and RIA with OneDigital, a leading HR and benefits firm. Now I’m blessed to be part group of industry leaders building one of the largest national platforms in the retirement & wealth space. This scale and brain trust is allowing us to continue to innovate for our clients and solve their complex challenges better than ever before.   

PLANADVISER: How is your team/process/structure unique? How has it evolved? Where will you be in five years?

Dall: Siloed benefit and retirement programs do not address the needs of employees today. We believe health and wealth are exclusive in the minds of employees. We have evolved into a collaborative cross-functional team which sets us apart from many of our competitors who continue to manage employee health, wealth, HR and total rewards strategies in silos. This unique team structure helps us understand and address the total picture for the employee as they work to maximize their benefits dollars.

Our team sits at the intersection of decisions that impact employee’s ability to afford health insurance, create wealth, and prepare for a dignified retirement. Our greatest differentiator is our “people first” philosophy. Like so many of our clients, we lead with culture, we drive results, and we invest in relationships with our clients by treating their success as our own. We do more than just 401(k) consulting; we assist in building cultures and empowering employees to rise to their true potential.

In five years, my retirement team will be even further integrated with our entire team of holistic workforce strategists at OneDigital. This will allow us to show up as one and to more effectively solve client challenges, while respecting their time constraints.

PLANADVISER: As a retirement plan adviser, what do you take the most pride in?

Dall: Helping some of the best employers in the country solve their workforce challenges while also helping main street Americans reach achieve a dignified retirement. It’s a double win for our team and what makes us proud of the work we do every day.

PLANADVISER: What challenges do you think the retirement plan industry faces and what role do you have in addressing and confronting those challenges?

Dall: I believe the what the industry is calling the “coverage gap” to be one of most acute challenges we must address to avoid government intervention. We know American workers are 10-times more likely to save for retirement if their employer sponsors a workplace retirement program like 401(k). We also know we have a retirement savings crisis here in the U.S.

It is employers that can make a huge dent in this crisis by sponsoring retirement plans. This gap is most heavily focused in the small business market where retirement plans are often absent. Small employers are already burdened with enough, but as their strategic advisers we can make a difference by reducing the barriers to entry and supporting start up plans. This can make a huge dent in the savings crisis while doing good for our clients, helping them better recruit, retain and reward their workforce. At OneDigital we have over 90,000 employer clients, a significant portion of these relationships are small businesses without a retirement plan. We are changing that and making a difference for millions of Americans in the process. If we solve this problem in the private sector, we are more likely to avoid government intervention.

PLANADVISER: Why do you feel it is important to work with plan sponsors and companies offering retirement benefits to their people? 

Dall: It may be cliché, but for good reason. We make a difference!

Being a retirement plan adviser aligns my passion for finance, teaching, consulting and making a difference. We educate our clients on the retirement savings crisis in our country, and I believe it is our job to help the employers understand why they need to play an integral role in helping people save. Many committees may not jump on the band wagon immediately. It can take several different approaches to find the one that resonates and motivates them to employ the tactics to move folks towards a successful path. I have learned to never give up on educating and promoting strategies we know make a difference.

We have countless success stories of helping plans move the needle in a big way and it’s not always the same strategy with each employer, it requires persistence and passion for outcomes. We help them envision the legacy they can leave and families they can impact with their stewardship. When the decision makers see that passion, they are more likely to get on board and when we succeed it helps thousands of other succeed as well.

PLANADVISER: What are the most important issues that your plan sponsor clients face with their company retirement plans, and what particularly effective or unique actions do you take to assist them in overcoming those issues?

Dall: Fiduciary and operational issues still seem to be some of the biggest issues plan sponsors worry about and experience. Some are apparent and others they may be unaware of, but with class action suits and regulatory enforcement in the news more than ever before, stakeholders are understandably concerned.

To help clients address these fiduciary concerns and unlock operational accuracy and efficiency, we begin every new relationship with a fiduciary and operational audit, which is basically a mock DOL and IRS audit. Our process uncovers deficiencies and inefficiencies ensuring tight controls going forward and preparing the plan for possible future scrutiny. Plan fiduciaries rest easy, and this allows the focus to shift to the bigger picture of driving successful outcomes for plan participants.