NEW YORK, May 28, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The Financial
Times (FT) today released the Financial Times Top 401 Retirement
Advisers of 2015. The list recognizes the top financial
advisers who specialize in serving defined contribution (DC)
retirement plans. The inaugural list was developed in collaboration
with Ignites Research, a subsidiary of the FT that provides
business intelligence on asset management, and Broadridge Financial
Solutions, Inc. a leading provider of data solutions and market
intelligence.
The average FT 401 adviser has 18 years of experience advising
DC plans and manages $770 million in
DC plan assets. They hail from 41 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. California had the most advisers on the list,
followed by Illinois, Texas, Massachusetts and New York. FT 401 advisers are at the vanguard
of specialization; the average adviser on the list has 71% of his
or her total practice's assets under management concentrated in DC
plans. For 17% of the FT 401 advisers, the DC plan business
represents their only business.
"The Financial Times 401 list makes its debut at a time when the
business of advising DC retirement plans faces dramatic changes,"
said Loren Fox, Director of Ignites
Research and head of the FT 401 ranking. "The U.S. Supreme Court
just affirmed that employers providing DC plans must be more
vigilant in monitoring them, which means they will rely more
heavily on plan advisers. And, the Department of Labor has proposed
new rules that would put plan advisers and their compensation under
even more scrutiny."
Ignites Research created the methodology and ranked the
advisers. Broadridge provided unique data from its proprietary
databases that helped identify advisers who specialize in serving
DC plans, including 401(k) plans and other DC accounts.
"The DC market is poised for growth, especially in the small to
medium-sized plan segment. The key to unlocking that growth lies in
understanding where opportunities exist in the market, and having
the insights to maximize marketing efforts," said Frank Polefrone, Senior Vice President at
Broadridge Financial Solutions. "Identifying and understanding the
profiles of advisers that are driving the growth of the DC business
is critical to both independent recordkeepers and their fund
partners that target the adviser driven retirement business."
The research conducted to compile the list also looked at
investing trends within the DC market. Among the investments
used by FT 401 advisers, 38% of the DC plan assets they advise are
in long-term mutual funds (excluding lifecycle funds), followed by
target date funds (28%) and target risk funds (10%). The research
also showed that 8% of assets are in stable value funds, and less
than 2% of advised DC assets are in ETFs.
"This inaugural edition of the FT 401 list highlights the
variety among elite DC plan advisers, hailing from all over the
U.S., and representing both the largest brokerages and small,
independent shops," added Fox. "Roughly 92% of FT 401 advisers have
advanced industry designations, such as the CFP, AIF, or the
CIMA. Such credentials are
increasingly important in the DC plan market, where advising these
plans is becoming increasingly specialized."
To qualify for the list, advisers had to have 20% or more of
their total client assets in DC plans. Qualified advisers were then
graded based on seven broad factors: DC assets under management,
growth in DC plans and assets, degree of specialization in the DC
business, experience, participation rate in DC plans advised,
industry certifications, and compliance record.
The full report is available for viewing at
www.ft.com/intl/reports/top-401-advisers.
About the Financial Times
The Financial Times, one of the world's leading business news
organisations, is recognised internationally for its authority,
integrity and accuracy. Providing essential news, comment, data and
analysis for the global business community, the FT has a combined
paid print and digital circulation of 720,000. Mobile is an
increasingly important channel for the FT, driving almost half of
total traffic. FT education products now serve two thirds of the
world's top 50 business schools.
About Ignites Research
Ignites Research delivers
original research and analysis on the retail mutual fund market
from experienced analysts. With fresh content delivered straight to
inboxes every week, its research covers the distribution and
product topics that asset managers must understand to improve their
business. Ignites Research is a sister site to the popular online
newsletter Ignites, and is a subsidiary of the Financial Times.
About Broadridge
Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:BR) is the leading
provider of investor communications and technology-driven solutions
for broker-dealers, banks, mutual funds and corporate issuers
globally. Broadridge's investor communications, securities
processing and business process outsourcing solutions help clients
reduce their capital investments in operations infrastructure,
allowing them to increase their focus on core business
activities. With over 50 years of experience, Broadridge's
infrastructure underpins proxy voting services for over 90% of
public companies and mutual funds in North America, and processes more than
$5 trillion in fixed income and
equity trades per day. Broadridge employs approximately 6,700
full-time associates in 14 countries. For more information about
Broadridge, please visit www.broadridge.com.
For further
information please contact:
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For Financial
Times
Christopher Chafin
+ 917-551-5093
Christopher.Chafin@FT.com
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For
Broadridge
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Linda
Namias
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Danielle
Pieri
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Broadridge Financial
Solutions
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Brainerd
Communicators, Inc.
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+1
631-254-7711
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+1
212-986-6667
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linda.namias@broadridge.com
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pieri@braincomm.com
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To view the original version on PR Newswire,
visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/financial-times-reveals-the-top-401-retirement-advisers-of-2015-300090106.html
SOURCE Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc.; Financial Times