The Howell&Sharp Group at Merrill Lynch

Brett Howell and Craig Sharp began their partnership about eight years ago. Howell came from an insurance background, and had a fondness for talking about financial issues. Sharp had been a teacher, and felt at home in front of inquisitive participants. They began offering participant education meetings at large employers. They realized there was an opportunity to provide greater service to both the plan sponsor and employees, and they soon developed a network of HR professionals and began building their practice.

That practice has grown to $325 million in plan assets, spread among about 60 client plans. Even as they have grown, participant meetings are still a significant part of their job, Howell says. They offer one-on-one meetings with participants at every client and, even though more than half of their clients will be auto-enrolling participants in 2008, the Howell-Sharp team does not predict an end to these employee meetings.

The examination of everyone’s personal situation is the crux of making the plan work, Sharp says. In fact, automatic enrollment actually might be helping them on their mission, because they no longer will have to spend so much time and energy just getting people into the plan. Instead, they have an opportunity to discuss participants’ options for creating a stream of income in retirement. The duo helps participants understand how much they really need to save for retirement, and their clients have rallied around their approach. “We have been very fortunate to work with plan sponsors that are excited about what we can bring,” Howell comments.