Joe DeBello,
CAPTRUST*

Business at a Glance as of 12/31/23

• Location: Tampa, Florida
• How many plan assets do you have under advisement? 2.6B
• What is your median plan size (in assets)? $13.5M
• How many plans do you have under administration? 93
• How many participants in total do you serve? 42,000
• Parent firm: CAPTRUST
  (Note: Debello was nominated as a finalist for his work with OneDigital.)

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

DeBello: My journey into the financial industry began serendipitously with an internship during my time at Colgate University. That summer I gained valuable insight into the industry while working at an RIA/TPA combo practice. Following a brief stint in minor league hockey after college, I chose to embark on a career as a financial adviser. Guided by an early mentor’s advice to specialize, I fortuitously secured my first 401(k) plan within my initial year of advising, which sparked my passion for the problem-solving aspects of the field. My practice now predominantly serves mid-market businesses and their defined contribution plans across various industries including not-for-profit in the Southeast. I am continually drawn to plans with significant complexities arising from rapid growth through mergers and acquisitions, as well as significant plan design and administrative challenges.

PLANADVISER: PLANADVISER: How is your team unique/competitive in the marketplace?

DeBello: Early in my career, I realized the challenge of distinguishing oneself in a saturated market if the focus was solely on investments. Observing many competitors, I noticed a prevalent dependence on third-party partners for compliance, plan design and administrative guidance. In the highly commoditized investment management aspect of our business, I saw an opportunity to excel by becoming an expert in areas often avoided by financial advisers. This expertise enabled me to offer swift, superior and cost-effective solutions to HR departments, which frequently faced more administrative and technical issues than investment-related ones.

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

DeBello: The rapidly evolving technological landscape, including AI, presents challenges to various industries. However, our unique human ability to understand our clients and institutions on a personal and cultural level enables us to develop tailored strategies. These strategies not only address specific challenges faced by plan sponsors but also resonate with their organizational ethos. As technology continues to enhance efficiency in advisory practices, advisers who fail to offer value beyond investment reporting may face stiff competition from tech-based solutions. Our duty as advisers is to advance retirement readiness, support robust fiduciary governance practices and address the overall coverage gap in the US. By consistently addressing plan sponsors’ challenges, we solidify our role as irreplaceable trusted partners, offering value that technology alone cannot replicate.

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

DeBello: I believe working with an adviser can absolutely help a plan sponsor operate their plan faster, better and cheaper. The tasks we as advisers handle, often out of sight and behind the scenes, ensure employers are offering best in class retirement benefits and empowering their people potential. In an environment burdened with many growing conflicts of interest, rising litigation threats and rampant employee financial stress, it has never been more important for an employer and its employees to have access to unbiased, independent fiduciary advice.

PLANADVISER: What are three of the most important issues your plan sponsor clients face with their retirement plans? What actions do you take to assist them in overcoming those issues?

Debello: Plan Design – Post covid many employers have taken a hard look at plan design either for financial reasons or due to the rapidly changing regulatory environment. The past couple years have been dominated by the Setting Every Community Up For Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 and the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 questions and education. This has rightly put the spotlight back on plan design as employers now have many new tools to utilize.

Litigation Threats – ERISA related lawsuits continue to creep further and further down market and many employers are taking notice. By supporting the plan sponsor with regular fee benchmarking, reporting and documentation of all fiduciary decisions we as advisers help relieve some of this burden by creating and implementing prudent practices for committees.

Administrative Issues – As plans continue to grow in complexity (student loans, PLESA, Roth catch-up changes) plan sponsors are increasingly looking for guidance and best practices on how to properly administer their plans. Technology has helped relieve some of these burdens with tools such as payroll integration, but the sheer volume of data being transferred between organizations not only creates new and heightened cyber security issues but rapidly increasing administrative headaches. Having a trusted partner that not only provides a quick solution to challenges, but the right solution from a fiduciary standpoint is an area many plan sponsors have indicated they place a tremendous amount of value on.

*The selection of Joe DeBello was based on his work at OneDigital.