Beyond Rollovers
Topics in 401(k) Distribution: Fifth in a Series Rollover IRAs are by far the most important practice focus for most 401(k) advisors, apart from 401(k)s themselves. SEPs, SIMPLEs, single-person 401(k)s and other business services sold to decision makers at plans they advise aren’t far behind. What does this tell us about 401(k) advisors? It tells […]
Read more...Revenue Realignment
Topics in 401(k) Distribution: Fourth in a Series TPA firms which administer 401(k) plans live mainly on 401(k) billed service fees, that’s not startling information. What is perplexing is that after growing steadily for years, the share of TPA firm revenue associated with these fees has declined slightly since 2016. In the nine years to […]
Read more...Why 20 Percent Matters
Topics in 401(k) Distribution: Third in a Series Close to half of all 401(k) advisors are all but ambivalent when it comes to business development; half say their prospecting activity today compared to a year ago is about the same, nearly half (46 percent) say as much for their proposal activity. In fact, with respect […]
Read more...Steady Habits in the Land of TPAs
Topics in 401(k) Distribution: Second in a Series One enduring habit of TPAs who administer 401(k) plans is just how steady their habits really are. In this our sixth study of TPAs going back to 2004 we find, for example, that: • The median number of plans administered, 260, is virtually unchanged since 2012 (although […]
Read more...The End of Trend?
Topics in 401(k) Distribution: First in a Series For more than a dozen years RSI studies have traced the inexorable march of 401(k) advisors as they converged around three interrelated principles: 1) being fee-based; 2) writing business as a Registered Investment Advisor or Investment Advisor Representative and 3) acting as a fiduciary. This year all […]
Read more...Who Sells Big Plans?
Topics in 401 (k) Distribution: Fifth in a Series Specialist or “Heavy” advisors, of course, those deriving almost all of their professional income from 401(k), right? Well, only partially. To be sure, Heavy advisors are about twice as likely as all advisors to sell larger plans, say $10M+. But flip the axes and a slightly different […]
Read more...The Twilight of Active Management?
Topics in 401 (k) Distribution: Fourth in a Series Unsettled though advisors may be about what their broker/dealers will require of them under the fiduciary rule, they are nonetheless utterly clear-headed about where their investment recommendations are going. More than half (52%) expect to begin recommending passively-managed funds or to increase the number of such funds […]
Read more...Defined Contribution Participant Perspectives: Fifth in a Series
With the final compliance deadline for the DOL fiduciary rule now pushed out to July 1, 2019 it may still be too early to say how advisors are reacting. But some early signs are telling. Most advisors have already made one or more changes as a result of the DOL fiduciary rule… More than […]
Read more...Deductibility Matters
Defined Contribution Participant Perspectives: Fourth in a Series In the heat of the tax reform debate last fall one trial balloon hovering over Capitol Hill was the full or partial “Rothification” of 401(k) contributions. ‘Nobody maxes their contributions,’ the argument went (close to true, it’s under 10%) and ‘Nobody will notice if they are contributing […]
Read more...Paint my Retirement
Defined Contribution Participant Perspectives: Third in a Series How do active DC participants envision their retirement? Of eight retirement scenarios tested, “working at least part-time” is by far the most prevalent at 49%; only 24% of today’s participants expect to be in a position to travel extensively, for example, while barely a fifth (21%) expect […]
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