Exclusive: Hub RPW Launches ‘Select’ Solution for Small-, Mid-Market

Hub Retirement and Private Wealth (Hub RPW) has announced the launch of the “Hub Retirement Select” program.

While offering an advanced preview of the solution to PLANADVISER, Adam Sokolic, chief operating officer (COO) for Hub RPW, said the goal of Hub Retirement Select is to provide a comprehensive solution for small to midsized businesses looking for amenities traditionally afforded to large organizations.

“The approach eases the administrative and fiduciary risk burden and adds value to their holistic benefits offering,” Sokolic said. “Importantly, Hub Retirement Select can serve as a sophisticated retirement option if an employer is in a state requiring a mandated retirement plan.”

Sokolic emphasized that the solution will be priced competitively compared with existing offerings in the small- and mid-market. As of the launch of the solution, Hub is partnering with a handful of select recordkeepers to power the solution, and Sokolic said additional partnerships are likely. 

When using Hub Retirement Select, clients gain access to Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) 3(38) investment management. Additionally, clients receive a quarterly monitoring report that includes tools and analytics design to make it easy to monitor and optimize their plan, along with an economic update to help them understand the bigger picture.

“We take responsibility for the quality of the investments and give clients regular updates,” Sokolic explained. “We expect Hub Retirement Select to be a highly competitive alternative option to state-mandated and voluntary retirement plans for employers.”

The idea here is that working with Hub will be easier—and potentially more cost-effective when staff resources are taken into account—than creating the necessary payroll integrations to allow participation in a state-run option. As Sokolic observed, in the absence of a federal mandate, nearly a dozen U.S. states (California, Illinois, Oregon, Washington, New York, Vermont, Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Maryland) and one city (Seattle) have already enacted mandated and voluntary retirement programs. 

Asked to put this development into the context of Hub’s ongoing expansion into the retirement planning space, Sokolic said it is a natural extension of the registered investment adviser (RIA) merger and acquisition (M&A) activity the firm has engaged in. As he explained it, Hub’s advisers will be able to leverage the Hub Retirement Select solution to connect with and serve smaller clients than they may  have typically targeted. They can push this solution in the open market, and they can also use it to relevantly serve the many small and startup businesses existing within Hub’s broader insurance and benefits business which currently do not have retirement plans or dedicated retirement advisers.

“We want to deliver the full value of Hub to this group of small businesses and startups, and Hub Retirement Select is a big step in that direction,” Sokolic said. “We have the complementary expertise and the technology and partnerships to make this work.”