Understanding the 2017 Adviser Awards

It is one of the busiest but also the most exciting times of the year for the staff of PLANADVISER Magazine: awards season.

Each year PLANADVISER and PLANSPONSOR field two primary awards programs to recognize the tremendous contributions of our adviser readers to solving retirement security issues in the United States and globally—the PLANADVISER Top 100 Retirement Plan Advisers and the PLANSPONSOR Retirement Plan Adviser of the Year.

Each year, many advisers eager to participate in the awards programs email or call with questions about the difference between the two awards; the difference between entry processes, etc. In the spirit of addressing some of these concerns, this short article will spell out key details of our various awards programs.

What is the difference between the PLANADVISER Top 100 Retirement Plan Advisers and the PLANSPONSOR Retirement Plan Adviser of the Year Awards?

Following some changes first enacted in the 2016 awards selection process, the two awards are completely distinct from one another and require completely separate entries.

To be considered for the Top 100 Retirement Plan Advisers recognition, advisers or adviser teams must complete our 2017 PLANADVISER Retirement Plan Adviser Survey, which is already open and closes on September 9th. This is the survey from which we take the data underlying our Top 100 Retirement Plan Advisers award, as well as the PLANADVISER Adviser Choice Awards for providers and investment managers and the PLANADVISER Practice Benchmarking results. In other words, if you don’t take this survey, you won’t be considered for the 2017 PLANADVISER Top 100 Retirement Plan Advisers! More information and access to the survey form are online here: http://www.planadviser.com/2017-PLANADVISER-Retirement-Plan-Adviser-Survey/ 

To be considered for the Retirement Plan Adviser of the Year Award, advisers must be nominated by a peer or a client. Nominations for the Retirement Plan Adviser of the Year awards, now given in four categories based on practice and team size, may be made by plan sponsor clients, employers, brokers/dealers of eligible advisers, as well as from working partners of these advisers, such as investment vendors, accountants, attorneys and plan administrators. However, self-nominations are not permitted (this includes a team member nominating other members of the team for a team award). The nomination form is available here:  https://www.research.net/r/RPAY2017. 

What about the Plan Sponsor of the Year Award for clients?

This is the sister-award to our PLANSPONSOR Retirement Plan Adviser of the Year. It’s an opportunity for advisers and service provider partners to recognize clients that have gone above and beyond to serve their plan participants. For plan sponsors to be recognized, nominations may be made by providers, advisers, consultants, actuaries, attorneys, third-party administrators, employees and colleagues—and plan sponsors are eligible to nominate their own plans. The award is given in many categories to recognize all plan types, so any plan sponsor can be eligible. The nomination form is available here: https://www.research.net/r/PSOY2017

The deadline for the 2017 Plan Adviser and Adviser Team of the Year award is October 14, while the deadline for the Plan Sponsor of the Year award is October 28.