If you're looking for a defined contribution plan advisor, you might want to check out the Financial Times' evaluation of those who advise the sponsors of U.S. DC plans.
The Financial Times, together with sister company Ignites Research, contacted large U.S. brokerages, independent advisors and other wealth managers to identify qualified applicants.
Once that was done, partner Broadridge Financial Solutions provided data that helped identify advisers specializing in serving DC plans, including 401(k)s and other DC accounts.
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Advisors were required to advise on at least $50 million in DC plan assets, with at least 20 percent of their client assets in DC plans in order to be considered. Those who qualified on those counts then completed a questionnaire about the nature of their practice, their investment recommendations and more.
FT's formula for deciding who made the cut and who didn't took into account seven factors, which then contribute to an advisor's final score. The determining factors are these: assets under management; specialization in the DC business; the growth rate of their DC business; their years of experience advising DC plans; industry certifications; participation rate in the DC plans they advise; and their compliance record.
The list is long and categorized in alphabetical order by state, rather than in order of their final score.
However, among the firms whose advisors made the list, some naturally enough had a larger presence than others; some states had just one who passed all the ratings qualifications.
Among the firms with multiple advisors, in no particular order, are UBS Wealth Management, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, Pensionmark Retirement Group; and Captrust.
But there are plenty of other names you may not have run across. And the great majority cater to small, micro (under $10 million in assets) and midsize ($10–100 million in assets) plans, with large ($100–500 million) plans placing third and mega ($500 million-plus) plans tackled by the fewest number of advisors.
To see the list of advisors for each state, go to the Financial Times website. Here are advisors named from a few states of interest to our readers:
Virginia:
Khalil Andraos, Lee Hoffman, Lesslie Whipkey — Merrill Lynch Wealth Management
Michael Aylward — RBC Wealth Management
John Keenan — Signature Estate & Investment Advisors
Tripp Leonard — Virginia Asset Management LLC
Jimmy Masters — Towne Investment Group — Raymond James
Jim Maulfair — AHT Retirement Services/Kestra Financial
Paul Mazziotti — Wells Fargo Advisors
Kenneth Rogers — Rogers Financial Pensionmark
Courtenay Shipley — Retirement Planology Inc.
Michael Stone — Incisive Financial Group
Allan Strange — Janney Montgomery Scott LLC
California:
Darin Beeghley, Renee Fourcade, Brett Henderson, Jennifer Hocking, Steven Hocking, Andrew Hutcheson, Douglas Kincart, Robert Schneider, C. Scott Sutcliff — UBS Financial Services
Douglas Bermudez — Bemudez/Hall Retirement Group of Wells Fargo Advisors
Kathleen Branconier, Shannon Main — Fiduciary Retirement Advisory Group, LLC
Lon Burford — Genovese Burford & Brothers
Karen Casillas, Mark Davis — Captrust
Mark Chapman, James Diepenbrock — Graystone Consulting
John Clark, Sean Kelly, Blake Thibault — Heffernan Retirement Services/LPL Financial
David Cooper — Ameriprise Financial
Jason Ezzell — The Ezzell-Conklin Group — High Tower
Curtis Farrell — Financial Management Network
John Gerken — Wealth Management Advisors
James Gunn, Thomas Kokjohn, Erik Tappin, Brian Wiese — Morgan Stanley Wealth Management
Troy Hammond — Pensionmark Financial Group LLC
Doug Igel — Beacon Pointe Advisors
Daniel Ketchum — Raymond James Financial Services
Steven Kjar — Lockton Investment Advisors
Jason Labrum — Labrum Wealth Management
Mike Mammini — Mammini Company
David Morehead — Retirement Benefits Group/LPL Financial
Paul Neuner — Next Retirement Solutions — Raymond James
Avinash Pai — Provence Wealth Management Group/LPL financial
John Palladino — 401(k) & 403(b) Fiduciary Advisors, Inc/Kestra Financial
Tuyen Pham — Tutton Financial, a Pensionmark Firm
Harlan Spinner — UBS Private Wealth Management
Ryan Stover — Marsh & McLennan Agency
Race Stowell — Merrill Lynch Wealth Management
Scott Sutherland, Thomas Wolfson — Wells Fargo Advisors
Marte Werner — NWK Group Inc.
Nate White — SLW Retirement Plan Advisors
Illinois:
Michael Ciesemier, Mark Ratay, Sam Valeo — Morgan Stanley Wealth Management
Paul Coyner, L. Rita Fiumara, Tom Kret, Limei Yu – UBS Financial Services
Paul Embree — Embree Financial Group
Jordan Gelb, Joel Gershon, Timothy Jenkins, Robert O'Brien, James Radler, Peter Schallmoser — Merrill Lynch Wealth Management
Robert Greulich — The Pinnacle Planning Group, LLC
Justin Kirby — Kirby Wealth Managment Group, Northwestern Mutual
James Maher — Archford Capital Strategies
Dough Morris — Lockton Investment Advisors
Jim O'Shaughnessy — Sheridan Road Financial, LLC/LPL Financial
Daniel Peluse — Wintrust Retirement Plan Services
Texas:
David Altimont — Lockton Investment Advisors
Joseph Birkofer — Legacy Asset Management Inc.
Joe Calao, Robert Vaughan, Jon Willhite — UBS Financial Services
Kevin Clift — Morgan Stanley Wealth Management
Michael Coelho — SageView Advisory Group
Stephen Ellsworth — Baird
Todd Kading, Neal Weaver — LeafHouse Financial Advisors
Matt Lasko — UBS Private Wealth Management
Ramona Locke, Patricia Wenzel — Merrill Lynch Wealth Management
Robert Massa — Ascende Wealth Advisers, Inc.
John Mott — Graystone Consulting
Neil Netoski — Keystone Retirement & Insurance Advisors/LPL Financial
Tom Noble, Ann-Marie Sepuka — The Noble Group — Raymond James
Teresa O'Connor — ALTUS Consulting Group
Donald P. Peterson — VisionPoint Advisory Group/LPL Financial
Kirk Quaschnick — Mogul Wealth Strategies
W. Dean Salyer, Joe Stack — Pensionmark Financial Group
Christian Smaistria — The Greensage Group/LPL Financial
David Test — Northwestern Mutual
Kenneth Thornton — Riverside Securities
Walter Zelop — Raymond James
New York:
John Biondo, Robert Karp, William Peragine — Wells Fargo Advisors
H. Steve Bogner — Treasury Partners
Christopher Braccia — Manhattan Ridge Advisors/First Allied Securities
Paul D'Aiutolo, Linda Modico, Allen Saunders –UBS Financial Services
John Davenport — Captrust
James Detterick — Graystone Consulting
Scott George — M. Griffth Investment Services Inc.
Charles Herendeen — APFS Wealth Management
Jonathan Kass, Byung Sun lee — Merrill Lynch Wealth Management
Akira Kido, Craig Patolove, Andrew Wilshinsky — Morgan Stanley Wealth Management
Dennis Leahy — Lee, Nolan & Koroghlian LLC
James Lukezic — Standard Fiduciary Consulting
Kevin Mahoney — The Mahoney Group of Raymond James
Matthew Monroe — Independent Retirement Partners/LPL Financial
Michael Paris, Stuart Paris — Paris International Corporation
Douglas Park — Sage Rutty & Company
Brian Schmidt — NFP Corporate Services (NY), LLC
Daniel Tacktill — Oppenheimer & Co Inc.
Mark Temple — Retirement & Benefit Partners/LPL Financial
Pennsylvania:
Christian Aguirre, Megan Bailey, Omar Rasheed — Merrill Lynch Wealth Management
William Beale — HB Retirement/LPL Financial
Richard Busillo — RTD Financial
Deanna Calvelli — Lockton Investment Advisors
Brian Catanella — UBS Financial Services
Andrew DeGroat, John Wenz — WhartonHill Advisors/LPL Financial
Timothy Dougherty — Financial Guide, LLC/Windsor Financial Group
Greg Dupee — Janney Montgomery Scott LLC
Phillip Fogli — FRS Capital/LPL Financial
James Hageney — Centurion Group, LLC
Seth Hoffman — A.P. Lubrano & Company, Inc.
Paul Schaffer, Scott Wertheim — Captrust
Scott Sides — The Sides Group at RBC Wealth Management
Noel Wolfe — Morgan Stanley Wealth Management
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