As the number of participants in defined contribution plans is increasing rapidly – and assets in these plans balloon – the role of a financial advisor is now more important than ever.
According to the Investment Company Institute, over the past 20 years, assets in defined contribution plans have more than quadrupled and are now estimated at $10.4 trillion. These assets account for more than 90 million participants, or nearly a third of the US population who is over the age of 21.
Incredibly, however, only a fraction of retirement planning participants are actually working directly with a financial advisor or receiving some level of professional guidance on their retirement planning, saving and investing. And while there has been some progress in recent years in providing participants with more mentorship through their plans, it is nowhere near enough. Participants still face huge savings, planning and investment risks – and the retirement security of millions will be at stake.
Fortunately, we see a clear opportunity to help bring the financial advice and retirement industries closer together. This is why information and WealthManagement.com The team has partnered with Retirement Advisory University, the premier retirement education and training organization in the country.
Our new partnership, which was announced earlier today, will connect key influencers in the retirement planning advice industry with their counterparts in the wealth management industry.
TRAU, led by founder and CEO Fred Barstein, has educated thousands of retirement planning advisors and plan sponsors, and works directly with the most influential companies throughout the retirement ecosystem.
We share a common, ambitious goal with TRAU: to identify and implement strategies that will improve planning outcomes for retirement planning advisors, plan sponsors – and ultimately participants.
To accomplish this, we have launched RPA Edge, a new omni-channel initiative that will educate our audience and industry about emerging opportunities that have been created by aligning wealth management and retirement planning advice.
Dedicated RPA Edge content, starting today, will be hosted in a new body of WealthManagement.com And it will be distributed to our audience of over 600,000 financial professionals in the wealth management industry.
In addition to the launch of our new RPA Edge section, we are introducing a new RPA Edge newsletter and an RPA Edge podcast, which will be hosted by Barstein, featuring thought leaders from the wealth and retirement landscape, as well as his popular Will be Weekly Video 401k Real Talk reproduces the latest industry news.
We will also host several RPA Edge think tanks in 2022 that will connect and empower key organizations in our industries: 401(k) aggregators, record-keepers, broker-dealers, CIOs asset managers and innovative fintech providers strategically linked , and key findings from our RPA Edge think tank will be captured and delivered to WealthManagement.com the hearing.
To integrate and introduce the RPA industry directly into our core platform, the first RPA Edge think tank will be hosted during our largest and most important conference, Wealth Management Edge, from May 31 to June 3 in Hollywood, Fla. Will happen. The RPA Edge think tank will be combined with Inside ETF, WealthStack and RIA Edge under the Wealth Management Edge platform, virtually with the CIO event in December where the convergence of wealth and retirement will come to life.
The launch of RPA EDGE and the partnership with TRAI and Barstein, we believe, will be transformative for WealthManagement.comour audience – and ultimately an industry.
We are committed to helping consultants work more effectively with plan sponsors and plan participants in ways that move your business and improve the financial lives of your clients. At its core, that is the mission of RPA Edge.
As we introduce you to more RPA Edge content and events, we welcome feedback and suggestions from our community on ways to enhance this important initiative and increase its impact. For more information about RPA Edge and us, please visit www.wealthmanagement.com/rpa-edge, or contact me directly [email protected] To discuss how you can get involved and support RPA Edge.
