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Oswald Financial, in Cleveland, was founded in 1999, when there were virtually no retirement plan specialists. “From the beginning, and throughout the growth of our practice, the focus on maximizing participation and retirement readiness, as well as success through plan design, have been at the forefront,” David Kulchar says.
Oswald aims to customize its services for each client. One service it believes distinguishes it from competitors is the customized education programs it creates in-house.
“Because our in-house education specialists and wealth managers are available in a group capacity, as well as one-on-one, and have the resources to accommodate unique employer demographics, we are truly able to develop and maintain strong relationships for the participants’ full financial wellness journey—all the way to transitioning to retirement and beyond—to ensure that employees stay on track,” the firm reports. “We are proud to say we make our group and individual services available to every single participant.”
To engage participants and reach those who may not work at a desk, Oswald Financial creates videos about retirement topics every month, available online, that participants can access from anywhere.
To improve participants’ retirement readiness, the firm persistently advocates for adding automatic enrollment and automatic escalation and tracking replacement ratios. With an eye toward helping plan sponsor clients manage their fiduciary responsibilities, Oswald will serve as either a 3(21) or 3(38) fiduciary and also offers fiduciary training to plan committees.
Further, the practice embraces new developments in the industry, educating its advisers, staff and clients about health savings accounts (HSAs), student loan repayment programs, Roth 401(k)s and in-plan annuities.