Michael Saulnier,
Aprio Wealth Management

Business at a Glance as of 12/31/23

• Location: Atlanta, Georgia
• How many plan assets do you have under advisement? $821.65M
• What is your median plan size (in assets)? $3.68M
• How many plans do you have under administration? 223
• How many participants in total do you serve? 15,000+
• Parent firm: N/A

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

Saulnier: I started with Aprio about eight years ago, having left John Hancock Retirement Plan Services to take the job as lead plan adviser. When I started, we had around 30 retirement plan clients, and today we have over 220! Our practice is a little different in that we’re part of a large accounting firm and typically only work with firm clients; however, that is evolving as our practice is becoming more well-known in the area. We take a very holistic approach to managing retirement plans, although the term “holistic” has become overused, in my opinion. I believe we truly offer a holistic approach in that we are tied to an accounting firm and work closely with our client’s tax adviser to ensure the plan design aligns with their business and personal financial goals. In addition, we take a very hands-on approach to working with our clients and their employees. We believe the old way of managing plans with annual education meetings is doing a disservice to the participants. Our approach involves one-on-one meetings, utilizing technology to conduct these virtually. Additionally, we utilize custom websites for each plan and have constant communication campaigns to encourage interaction with participants. We have seen meaningful improvements in our plans through this approach. Most advisers stop with periodic 401(k) education and investment oversight; we do not. Throughout the year, we conduct numerous financial wellness webinars that cover a range of topics outside of the 401(k). From topics such as 529 plans, HSAs, insurance, budgeting, state-of-the-market updates and more, we cover a lot! This helps make sure participants are well-rounded and educated on many topics.

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

Saulnier: Our team is very unique in several ways, and I believe this sets us apart from competitors and provides a better service for clients. First, our entire team is paid a salary, and no adviser is paid directly on new business. By doing this, we remove barriers and instead foster a true team approach. All advisers work together with clients! Another reason the team is unique is that we are 100% focused on retirement plan clients. No adviser on the team works with individuals on personal wealth management; instead, we have a separate team that focuses on individual wealth management. This has allowed us to become experts in our field, staying in our “401(k) lane,” if you will.

PLANADVISER: How do you grow your business? What changes to your practice or service model are you planning for 2024?

Saulnier: We grow our business by partnering with our counterparts on the accounting side of Aprio and working with their clients to improve their retirement plans. A lot of clients are looking for a higher level of service, including taking some of the fiduciary duties off their plate. Since pooled employer plans were announced, we have seen many clients express interest in joining a PEP, so we created our own. In planning for 2024 and beyond, we are putting a big focus on our PEP and believe the pricing structure allows more clients to offer a retirement plan. This provides two benefits: more employees getting access to a workplace 401(k) plan and more efficiencies for my team.

PLANADVISER: Why do you feel that retirement plan advisers should get involved in the expansion of the DC retirement plan system to cover more employers and, in doing so, more employees?

Saulnier: At the end of the day, a retirement plan is for the benefit of the participants. The fact that all employees do not have access to a workplace retirement plan is absurd. I believe strongly that the introduction of pooled employer plans is going to have a meaningful impact in expanding the number of employees covered by a plan. The PEP provides a low-cost, high-touch retirement plan with many outsourced fiduciary duties to lessen the burden on plan sponsors. I believe the state-run retirement plans are a good start, but there are limitations with these, and I feel strongly that the PEP provides a more robust and efficient retirement vehicle for employers to utilize.

PLANADVISER: What are the biggest stumbling blocks to adding more tax-advantaged retirement savings opportunities in the workforce? What are you doing to try and overcome them?

Saulnier: When speaking with prospective clients looking to start a plan, the three biggest stumbling blocks we hear about are cost, administrative burden and payroll integration. Knowing this, we introduced the Aprio Advantage Pooled Employer Plan as a way to mitigate two of the three stumbling blocks: cost and administrative burden. Aprio’s PEP has a very competitive cost structure, which, along with tax credits, makes offering a retirement plan a no-brainer. The PEP allows for most fiduciary duties to be outsourced, removing the administrative burden from the plan sponsor. The last issue, payroll, is something that causes issues for almost all clients. Unless a client is utilizing a payroll provider that has a 360-degree integration with the recordkeeper, there will always be some manual work required on the part of the plan sponsor. We have seen third-party providers stepping in to assist with payroll contributions; these are companies that provide a 360 feel to payroll processing but charge a monthly fee. Oftentimes, we have found the fee to be reasonable, given the amount of work offloaded from the plan sponsor. When presenting the PEP and payroll integration partners to new clients, we are effectively removing the stumbling blocks from their decisionmaking process and getting to “Yes” faster, thereby allowing more employees to have access to a workplace retirement plan!