Deals & People August 2, 2024

Retirement Industry People Moves – 8/2/24

The Wagner Law Group hires 3 senior attorneys; Prime Capital announces promotion of VanderLinde to president of Liberty Wealth Advisors; Petra Funds Group appoints Gajdjis as senior adviser; and more.

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The Wagner Law Group Hires 3 Senior Attorneys

Bill Hoch

Edward Englander

Denise Chicoine

Three senior attorneys announced that Denise Chicoine, Edward Englander and Bill Hoch have joined the firm as partners in the Boston office.

Chicoine’s practice is focused on employment law. She handles issues such as noncompete agreements, severance agreements, disability accommodation and employee benefits. She also represents management and individuals at the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination.

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Englander’s practice is concentrated on civil matters. He has litigated cases in Massachusetts and federal courts in the areas of real estate, employment, business disputes and municipal disputes. He has resolved cases involving employment disputes, noncompete agreements, beach rights among other issues.

Hoch is an employment law attorney, representing companies trying to manage workforce issues and defend against employee lawsuits. He has defended employment law cases before state and federal agencies, trial courts and appellate courts.

Prime Capital Promotes VanderLinde to President of Liberty Wealth Advisors

Annette VanderLinde

Prime Capital Financial, formerly Prime Capital Investment Advisors, has promoted Annette VanderLinde to president of Liberty Wealth Advisors, a Prime Capital Financial company.

Liberty Wealth Advisors provides financial services through its remote adviser business model, and VanderLinde has been a key driver in advancing this model, according to Prime Capital.

The firm stated that VanderLinde has also been instrumental in elevating Liberty Wealth to a comprehensive wealth planning organization, expanding its services to include holistic financial planning.

“I am thrilled to take on this new role and continue the immensely rewarding task of helping clients achieve their financial goals, and I look forward to welcoming new clients to Liberty Wealth,” VanderLinde said in a statement.

Petra Funds Group Appoints Gajdjis as Senior Adviser

Nicholas Gajdjis

Petra Funds Group, an independent private funds administrator, announced the addition of Nicholas Gajdjis as a senior advisor to the firm, expanding its bench of professionals who help private equity, private debt and venture capital fund managers scale their operations.

Gajdjis joins Petra after nearly four decades at EY, where he worked with a broad range of financial services and investment management firms. For the last 20 years, he has specialized in private equity as an audit partner to private equity funds, investment advisers and regulated investment companies.

He has advised clients on start-up operations, accounting policies and procedures, internal controls, regulatory matters, valuation, complex fund structures, and finance and reporting operating models.

“Throughout his career, Nick has built deep and trusted relationships across the private markets ecosystem, working closely with general partners at leading private equity and alternative investment funds,” Stephen Coats, co-founder and managing partner of Petra, said in a statement. “We are thrilled to welcome Nick to Petra.”

401GO Joins the Retirement Advisor Council

Retirement Advisor Council announced that 401GO, a fintech retirement plan provider, has joined the firm as a member-at-large.

401GO offers businesses hands-off administration, practical pricing and customer support. The firm will be represented by Dan Beck, CEO and co-founder.

“We are excited to be joining the Retirement Advisor Council as a member-at-large, to further our commitment to making retirement a reality for every American,” Beck said in a statement.

 

Data & Research August 2, 2024

US Households Face Significant Financial Advice Gaps

Americans revealed the financial tasks they find very difficult and have not sought help to address.

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Research and benchmarking firm Hearts & Wallets’ latest survey, the results of which were released Wednesday, revealed that American households have significant financial advice gaps, defined as finance-related tasks that U.S. households find very difficult and for which they have not sought help in the past 12 months.

Nationally, the largest gaps in advice, measured in dollar terms, include estate planning, emotionally handling market volatility, Roth conversions, buying and selling specific securities and balancing goals with required minimum distributions.

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The findings point to the need for advice, both for in-workplace retirement plan participants and tasks related to out-of-plan financials. In separate research Hearts & Wallets  conducted for PLANADVISER recently, the firm found an increase in the use of workplace-provided advice across the board for savers—though with plenty of room for growth.

“Advisers and firms should regularly engage with clients to understand which financial tasks they are struggling with,” says Laura Varas, founder and CEO of Hearts & Wallets. “Usually clients struggle with multiple financial tasks, and knowing where to go to get help makes all the difference is addressing advice gaps.”

In its research released Wednesday, the firm found that a notable portion of households in the “wealth accumulation” stage of life need advice on balancing short- and long-term goals. For retirees with assets between $1 million and $10 million, the primary advice gap is developing a strategy to withdraw income from multiple accounts.

Accumulators

Americans in all stages of life indicated similar levels of difficulty across tasks relating to retirement, income and tax optimization. Those in the accumulation life stage, which includes emerging, early and mid-and-late career stages, indicated similar levels of difficulty in retirement planning (41%) and estimating required minimum withdrawals (37%).

Difficulty with Financial Tasks for Accumulator Lifestages

Very Difficult
Somewhat Difficult
Not Difficult
Does not apply
Retirement planning, including how much to save for retirement
16%
25%
11%
2%
Estimating required minimum withdrawals will have to take
13%
24%
12%
5%

Retirement Stage

Meanwhile those in or near retirement, which includes pre-retirees, fully employed seniors and retirees faced a different set of challenges, assigned similar levels of difficulty across the various tasks: determining income to safely withdraw from assets (21%), determining strategy/timing for taking Social Security payments (18%), developing strategy/timing for taking income from multiple accounts (20%) and calculating minimum required distributions (18%).

Difficulty with Financial Tasks for In or Near Retirement Lifestages

Very Difficult
Somewhat Difficult
Not Difficult
Does not apply
Determining income can safely withdraw from assets
8%
13%
19%
7%
Determining strategy/timing for taking Social Security payments
6%
12%
21%
8%
Developing strategy/timing for taking income from multiple accounts
7%
13%
17%
9%
Calculating minimum required distributions
7%
11%
18%
10%
Source: Hearts & Wallets

Hearts & Wallets’ survey, “Pain Points & Actions 2024: Today’s Top Advice Gaps & the Customer Loyalty Connection,” was fielded from September 11 through October 6, 2023, with 5,846 U.S. households.

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