Intro

Better Together

Last month, at the PLANSPONSOR/PLANADVISER Awards for Excellence dinner, I was struck by the passion exhibited by many attendees; how much camaraderie there was in evidence among members of our industry (even those who compete against each other in their day jobs). Despite how much the retirement plan industry has been vilified in the mainstream media recently, how many articles will talk about the failure of the 401(k) plan to ­afford people a proper retirement (failing to note that the vehicle worked fine, but people were not saving enough), many in our industry are committed to the “mission” of their jobs.

Sure, there are bad apples, as there are anywhere, but surrounded by the PLANADVISER Top 100 Advisers, the PLANSPONSOR Retirement Plan Adviser of the Year and Retirement Plan Adviser Team of the Year finalists, our PLANADVISER Legends, those recently inducted into the PLANADVISER Hall of Fame, PLANSPONSOR Plan Sponsors of the Year winners and finalists, and the recordkeepers and investment managers that make all these programs work, you could tell these are people who believe in the tasks set out by their jobs—to help those participating in employer-sponsored retirement plans.

What I ask of you, as a skilled retirement plan adviser, is to help our industry continue its mission. While it can be easier­ to go along with a committee that doesn’t appear to care about whether its employees have enough to retire, or what the plan costs because those fees are borne by employees­, or rejects automatic enrollment because of the cost of the coordinating match, I challenge you not to simply accept that and instead ask the sponsors why they choose to offer a program if they aren’t interested in its success.

After all, that’s what we are looking for when we select the PLANSPONSOR Retirement Plan Adviser of the Year and Retirement Plan Adviser Team of the Year—advisers who are “helping make retirement security a reality for workers across the nation.” As Editor-in-Chief Nevin Adams wrote last year, in relation to our selection criteria, “You will have to provide actual data about the impact your firm is making­ on things that really matter. We look at participation rates, deferral increases, participant asset allocations, and even fee negotiations….If you don’t have, or aren’t monitoring, those kinds of data, you probably aren’t ready for this award.” Each year, I have advisers tell me that they don’t have high participation because their clients don’t want that; that may be true, but the best advisers eventually seem to find ways to overcome that resistance.

On that note, I would be remiss not to congratulate the finalists and winners of the PLANSPONSOR Retirement Plan Adviser of the Year, Jamie Worrell, and Retirement Plan ­Adviser Team of the Year, FDG Institutional Consulting Group at UBS. They, along with the finalists for this year’s award, are all profiled in this issue, starting on page 30, and, for more insights from our finalists, visit planadviser.com for a virtual roundtable conversation with them all.

I’d also like to take a moment and recognize the inaugural­ class of inductees into the PLANADVISER Hall of Fame, started in honor of PLANADVISER’s fifth anniversary. This year’s class included all the distinguished advisers who have been recipients of PLANSPONSOR’s annual Retirement Plan Adviser of the Year award and Retirement Plan Adviser Team of the Year award: John Mott, Dorann Cafaro, Chad Larsen, John Barry, Steven Dimitriou, Rick Wedge, The STAR Group at Merrill Lynch (most of whom are now the CAPTRUST Akron office), FFoA (now part of StoneStreet Equity), Fiduciary Investment Advisors, and The Prince Group at Stifel Nicolaus. Honoring these advisers reminded me of how much the ­retirement plan adviser space has grown in the past five years, and how much the growth in skilled intermediaries has helped bring a consultant-like model to many plan sponsors who would not otherwise have received such guidance.

Although it is wonderful to take time at events like that and honor those doing good work and be impressed by the collective dedication our group has for the industry, there is still much work left to be done. We had a great time ­honoring the industry’s best—and now, it’s back to the work of helping build a better retirement system for everyone because many advisers, plan sponsors, and participants still have a long way to go. —Alison Cooke Mintzer

For those who wish to be included in the process for the 2011 PLANADVISER Top 100 Advisers and the 2012 ­PLANSPONSOR Retirement Plan Adviser of the Year and Retirement Plan Adviser Team of the Year awards, the ­nomination process opens the day after Labor Day (Tuesday, September 6). Don’t say I didn’t tell you!