Advisors are from Venus, and TPAs from Mars. Okay, not quite, but how does the former better leverage the latter?
A Feb. 27 afternoon session at the 2023 NTSA Summit in Tampa titled “Resource ‘Full’: Working with Your TPA” sought to answer just that.
Moderated by Jim Kelleher with Carruth Compliance Consulting, it included PlanMember Securities’ Jennifer Brittingham, National Benefit Services’ Daren Holverson, TSA Consulting Group’s Robert Ard, and M3 Investment Services, Michael Pesendorfer.
Kelleher began by asking Pesendorfer about his home state of Michigan and what it’s like working with TPAs there.
“Back in the 1990s, it was the Wild West with no real uniformity between school districts,” Pesendorfer said. “Around 2007, 2009, we got some legislation that led to fewer plans that were out of compliance, so it’s better. We work with TPAs, vendors, and advisors and engage rather than try to go around the advisors.”
Moving to Brittingham, he asked for an example of when working with a TPA really paid off. Brittingham referred to an advisor in her firm with a plan with a sizable number of employees. The vendor was leaving, and she emphasized the importance of getting the plan sponsor, vendor, and advisor together and on the same page.
“Our goal was to increase adoption, integration, and participation, and we did that,” she said.
Kelleher asked Holverson about Hawaii, and Holverson mentioned the credentialled education his firm instituted before bringing in the Certified Retirement Education Specialist (CRES) designation “to give advisors tools. Compliance is the main focus of our TPA. Our advisors, plan sponsors, and TPA all work together, and there is this feeling that maybe we’re acting as gatekeepers. We’re not keeping anyone out; we want to ensure they play by the rules.”
“We’ll see people try to go around the TPA, which you can argue isn’t necessarily wrong, but we are the gatekeepers,” Ard countered. “We have the trusted relationships.”
Other subjects on which the session touched included the following:
- What types of services and support can TPAs provide to advisors?
- Case study examples of how TPAs, advisors, and home Office reps have successfully partnered.
- Innovative ways to work with TPAs to make 403(b) plan changes that can impact advisors, including adding payroll slots, Roth contributions, or dynamic ways of communicating new product and service features.
- How to establish roles and responsibilities for legislative-driven 403(b) plan changes such as those related to SECURE 2.0.
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