‘Game Changers’ Reflect Progress

Art by Scott Bakal

Who are the “most successful” retirement plan advisers? It’s a question we have asked since before the launch of PLANADVISER magazine, in 2006, and for years before debuting our Top 100 Retirement Plan Advisers list, a decade ago.

At first, we recognized only individual advisers in our awards and lists, but, based on feedback from advisers themselves, we soon broadened eligibility to include teams. As those teams grew and expanded, we added team sizes, including small, large and mega or multioffice. It has been remarkable to recognize how many incredibly successful and excellent advisers have been named over the years. However, in the last few years, it has been increasingly difficult to define and defend the word “team.”

Let us be clear: Our data collection efforts, led by some of the best and brightest analysts in the industry, remain highly effective and informative. This is demonstrated by our annual PLANADVISER Retirement Plan Adviser Survey and its related reports and publications, such as the PLANADVISER Practice Benchmarking and PLANADVISER Recordkeeper Services surveys, which stand among the most sought-after independent research reports in the retirement adviser space.

As you may know, the Top 100 is drawn from our Retirement Plan Adviser Survey, based on an analytical process through which we identify responding firms with the most plans and assets under advisement (AUA). This methodology has worked effectively in the past, but, as we reflected this year on the data and looked at how we defined various team categories—based on number of advisers, support staff and office locations—we were struck by how many groups wanting to be recognized as one team were truly national firms, often with multiple teams within.

Our conundrum is this: There are now a handful of massive, nationally representative advisory groups that, our former definitions say, should be named as “mega teams” within the PLANADVISER Top 100 awards program. Yet, it is inappropriate to give a blanket team award covering every adviser in these firms, because they are not one team, and we have no way to assess whether all practices now operating under a single brand deserve a Top 100 designation.

We have realized that the massive amount of adviser consolidation that has unfolded in the last several years makes our approach up until now untenable for 2021 and for the future of the Top 100 Retirement Plan Advisers awards program.

Therefore, beginning this year, we are carving out and recognizing a group of firms in a new category, calling them out as what they are: game changers. These firms, due to their outsized influence, are too big to take part in the traditional Top 100 process. In fact, those on this initial list all note that their single “team” includes more than 15 office locations and 21 or more advisers. They include, in alphabetical order, CAPTRUST, CBIZ Retirement Plan Services, Gallagher Benefit Services Inc., MMA Retirement Services, Pensionmark Financial Group, Resources Investment Advisors – a OneDigital Company, and SageView Advisory Group.

The justification for this decision can be seen in the evolution of the retirement plan adviser industry itself. In 2011, the individual advisers in our Top 100 represented about $15 billion in retirement plan assets, while the teams on the list collectively served just shy of $110 billion. Today, CAPTRUST alone oversees more than $600 billion in plan assets, and Hub International, OneDigital, Marsh McLennan and the rest are not far behind. This is far more than is managed by teams we typically categorize as mega. With this in mind, we cannot consider such entities as one unit.

Looking at the industry’s likely future, we at PLANADVISER feel confident that our new approach to the Top 100 program is the right one. We will continue to recognize teams within these large national firms, as we have for years within our annual Retirement Plan Adviser of the Year program, where we have had many winners, both individuals and teams, that are part of these national firms.

While the game changers may not be featured in the Top 100 program as a mega team, we expect to see many of their offices around the country represented, as we better define eligibility for teams that truly are delivering service as one entity.

Did You Know?

In 2011, the individual advisers in the Top 100 represented about $15 billion in retirement plan assets, while the teams collectively served just shy of $110 billion. Today, the biggest firm responding to our survey alone oversees more than $600 billion.