Leadership Perspectives

Retirement Plan Consulting That Goes the Distance

by Nick Della Vedova and Vince Giovinazzo
Retirement Division Presidents

Designing, implementing and administering retirement plans is a complicated process, and it takes the right people and techniques to make it all come together successfully. At NFP, we have over 100 employees across the country who focus solely on retirement plans. That talented team contains nationally recognized experts in investment consulting, ERISA, provider benchmarking, sales and marketing, plan consulting and client service, and operations. Our goal is to help all NFP employees understand our retirement capabilities and to provide access to these assets so we can all continue to grow and better serve our clients.

Our Numbers Stack Up Strong
NFP is one of the largest qualified retirement plan consultants in the U.S., servicing more than 4,500 retirement plans with over $105 billion in assets under advisement. Clients of all sizes turn to us for help with their retirement plan needs. All of this started with one simple objective — to inspire clients and guide them toward their goals.

We offer a multitude of retirement plans, including 401(k), 403(b), 457, defined benefit, cash balance and deferred compensation. We also serve plan sponsors of all sizes, from startups to plans with several billion dollars in assets. One common denominator with everyone we serve is the need for guidance.

How NFP Helps Makes Retirement Planning Easier
Despite the ever-changing regulatory landscape, our commitment to our clients’ successful retirement plan outcomes is constant. We know there are lots of recordkeepers and service providers in the marketplace, so we help employers select the provider that’s the best fit for them. We work with plan participants to make sure there’s a strategy in place and to help ensure they contribute as much as they can afford into that plan so they can retirement on time and on budget.

More Support, More Guidance
With the new fiduciary regulations and legislative actions, plan sponsors are drowning in fiduciary responsibilities. When it comes to retirement planning, fiduciaries need more support and guidance than ever before from their advisors in virtually all of these areas:

• Plan design
• ERISA compliance
• Fiduciary governance
• Target date fund (TDF) suitability and analysis
• Investment due diligence and fund monitoring
• Enhancement of participant retirement outcomes

That’s why we’re here — to provide the guidance participants need to help create optimal outcomes while complying with the onslaught of regulatory requirements plan fiduciaries face. Another thing that’s changing the playing field for our retirement business are proprietary tools.

Growing Our Toolbox
A major differentiator is our different approach to investment due diligence and the unique, proprietary suite of retirement plan reporting tools. Our exclusive Scorecard System tracks nearly $300 billion in retirement assets and evaluates more than 40,000 investment options across hundreds of provider platforms. The metrics used are balanced and built specifically for institutional retirement plan clients.

Most recently, our TDF suitability process has been a beneficial resource. It’s important for people to diversify their assets, and it’s difficult when they don’t have the expertise or the time. A TDF automatically diversifies assets, but it can be limiting because of its “one-size-fits-all” nature. That’s where we come in. We help plan sponsors comply with the Department of Labor’s guidance on TDFs by evaluating their current TDF and looking at other solutions that may be a better fit for their participants. To help solve the issue of misfit-risk exposure, we’ve created a service called flexPATH that provides TDFs that are customized to plan participants’ needs. FlexPATH is the first of its kind in the industry — a solution that provides multiple risk postures and access to world-class money managers. It’s unlike most traditional TDFs, which only have one risk posture and a single money manager.

Our tools, systems and processes are respected throughout the industry. Over 300 retirement plan consulting firms and 125 NFP offices and member firms subscribe to these tools and look to us as the standard for how a retirement plan practice should be managed.

It’s All Coming Together
As always, our focus is on our clients and helping them address their biggest concerns so they can concentrate on growing their business. Because at the end of the day, their success is our success.

We look forward to working more closely with retirement-focused employees across the company as we all grow together.

Stone Point Capital Acquires Majority Stake in Kestra Financial

As many of you know, we’ve entered into an exciting strategic partnership with Stone Point Capital, a leading private equity firm specializing in global financial services investments. Stone Point has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Kestra Financial f/k/a NFP Advisor Services. NFP will maintain a substantial minority stake (approximately 20 percent) in Kestra and has entered into a long-term strategic partnership with Kestra designed to extend and optimize the successful partnership our two firms have enjoyed for well over a decade. As part of the transaction, our CEO Doug Hammond will serve on Kestra’s board of directors.

Although currently intertwined, NFP and Kestra have different capabilities, clients and technology needs. By separating the businesses, the appropriate resources, time and efforts can be focused, creating a path to greater opportunity and growth for all, while clarifying for our associated advisors, employees and clients the competencies and purpose of each business.

NFP will remain the largest client of Kestra, and Kestra will continue to serve as NFP’s broker-dealer/RIA platform partner. This partnership is reflective of our continued pursuit of excellence and ability to build collaborative relationships that benefit the entire company and our clients.

Want to learn more? Listen to the April 5 Company Call recording.
Need Help Logging in? Contact technologyservices@nfp.com or call 800-880-0080, Ext. 6484.

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HR

RECOGNITION

Unsung Hero, Bob Avina

Bob knows benefits like nobody’s business! A benefits analyst in our Austin, TX, office, he assists employees with new hire enrollment, life event changes and benefit plan questions. We rely on Bob’s expertise on all our plans, whether medical, dental or ancillary benefits.

Bob’s known for resolving issues quickly and efficiently, and with a smile on his face. He thrives on making things better. He recently worked on our conversion to a new life and disability carrier, as well as on the benefits side of the PeopleFirst Portal conversion.

Exceptional customer service from Bob is a given. Statements from employees that Bob has helped include quotes like, "Thanks for the quick response, Bob! You’re the best!"

And we couldn’t agree more.

Bob loves his partner, lighthouses, traveling and living life to the fullest. He also supports The United Court of Austin, a nonprofit organization that raises money to help the LGBT population.

Unsung Hero, Tim Lenihan

Tim’s been an integral part of NFP since 2003. A director in our New York office, he oversees small group benefits business. Tim believes in the power of teamwork and shares his successes, insights and resources with the other small group benefits teams in the Northeast.

He truly goes above and beyond to provide support to those he works with. Tim is extremely helpful and answers any questions that arise regarding clients and prospects in New York and surrounding areas. He’s always willing to share his time and expertise, and he provides valuable insight to many area-specific inquiries. Tim’s responses are thorough, on point and have helped foster trust and camaraderie among those he works with. He’s clearly a valuable team player, and we’re grateful that he’s on team NFP.

Tim enjoys spending time with his family, which includes a new puppy. He also loves to support his sons in their sports endeavors through coaching.

Know an Unsung Hero? Submit a nomination form to humanresources@nfp.com.

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COMMUNITY

The Meltzer Group Doles Out Awards and Good Times

Our firm The Meltzer Group held its second annual Staff Recognition Banquet. The Master of Ceremonies for the event was the quick-witted Andrew Prevost, president of our Retirement Plan Services division. This year Meltzer honored over 20 employees and gave out two major kudos: the Producer of the Year award and the Alan Meltzer Driven Award, which honors an employee who most embodies The Meltzer Group's core values. View a full list of award winners.

L to R: Jack Abel, Joe Colletta winning the Chatty Cathy Award, Andrew Prevost

L to R: Jack Abel, Jack Rushing winning the Driven Award, Alan Meltzer

Opening Day of Baseball in New York Is Pitcher Perfect

Our Plainview, NY, office celebrated Opening Day with a hot dog lunch and raffle. Mets, Yankees and Phillies tickets were raffled off, with proceeds going to the Ronald McDonald House. When employees took a vote to see who had more fans, the Mets or the Yankees, the Mets won by a landslide. Sounds like all the bases were covered at this event.

L to R: Rose Massa, Delores Simmon, Denise Gordon

L to R: Paul Tortorici, Jill Zagorsky, Adam Levins

Selling Sweets for Autism Speaks

Our Toronto and Southwestern Ontario offices held bake sales that provided a fabulous mix of goodies with very good results. Together, the offices raised $1,178 for the Autism Speaks Campaign. A sweet deal all around.

Doing Good with United Way

Employees from our Austin, TX, office joined forces with United Way for Greater Austin (UWATX). Over $10,000 was raised for UWATX programs that help battle the root causes of poverty in Central Texas. Employees also volunteered their time to write letters of encouragement to middle school students. The week closed with a well-deserved celebratory lunch for all of our contributors.

L to R: Melanie Kersey, Patrease Rogers

What a Beautiful Day for a Picnic

A sunny day was served up for our Scottsdale, AZ, office and its annual picnic at the McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park. Employees and their families spent the day enjoying a wide variety of entertainment, including a balloon blower, face painting, bounce house, a DJ and carnival stands with prizes. Sounds like everyone was a winner that day!

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WELL-BEING

Born to Run

Some of our NYC employees are enjoying precision running classes at Equinox Fitness Center as they strive to go faster and farther with Project Run. The program is designed to help them reach their running goals through 30 minutes of weekly running for six weeks. Way to move!

L to R: Giada Zucchet, Kiersten Martin, Caroline Mills, Lindsey Lornell, Chiquita Wilson

Employees Go the Distance

It was a perfect day for the Statesman Capitol 10K in Austin, TX. The state’s largest 6.2 mile run and the seventh largest in the nation had 30 employees from our Austin office smiling as they crossed the finish line.

L to R: Brett Williams, Robin Johnston, Marcie Schmidt, Erin Vance, Carissa Federico, Mary Steed, Shannon Preslar, Eric Panza

Start the New Plan Year Right and Score Points

Vitality’s new plan year started April 1. Now’s the time to log in and take the Vitality Health Review (VHR). The VHR will give you great insight into your current state of well-being so you can make healthy decisions all year long. The good news is that we turned completing it into a fun and rewarding challenge.

• Earn Points — Get at least 500 points for completing the VHR. Everyone who joins the challenge and completes the VHR will receive an additional 100 points for participating. The region with the highest percentage of members that complete the VHR before May 30 will win the challenge and receive an additional 250 points each. If you've already taken the VHR since the new plan year started on April 1, that will count toward the challenge and you won't have to take it again.
• Challenge Info — The VHR is a 15-minute confidential online questionnaire about your current health status and risk factors. Enter information about your lifestyle, behaviors and clinical measures and receive instant feedback on your health.
• Sign Up — Go to www.powerofvitality.com. Hover over the “Community” tab. Then click on “My Challenges.” You can even take it on the Vitality Today mobile app. Download the app from the Apple Store or Google Play.

Not enrolled in Vitality? Sign up and start your path to a healthier you!

Questions? Contact Human Resources.

Saying “I Do” to Vitality Points

So what can one do with all those Vitality points? Julie Southard Alvis, director of client services in our Atlanta office, used them to help her say “I do.” Prior to her wedding, she achieved Gold Status through our Vitality Well-Being program. Julie purchased her wedding favors with the Amazon gift cards she earned with her Vitality points. What an awesome way to boost your well-being and get rewarded at the same time. Congrats to the happy couple!

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DEVELOPMENT

Emerging Leaders Training Comes to Lenox

Marie Snidow, AVP of Human Resources, helped bring Emerging Leaders training to our firm Lenox Advisors. Lenox managers enjoyed a special two-day intensive training, where they had the opportunity to troubleshoot business challenges.

The Emerging Leaders series is offered each quarter in 2016, and includes seven interactive online courses for managers. Employees who complete the entire series receive a framed certificate along with the critical skills they need to lead.

Kim Pillar, SVP and head of Human Resources at Lenox, thanked Marie for her expert facilitation, saying "The group enjoyed having the opportunity to engage with their colleagues from Lenox and NFP."

Interested in taking courses? Learn more.

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Regional Office & Platform News

Lenox Integration Moving Forward

We’re pleased to announce that we recently closed the Lenox Advisors management buyout. NFP purchased Lenox Advisors in 2002. Since then, under the strong leadership team of Michael Book, Greg Large and Rick Van Benschoten, the firm has grown from 24 professionals in one office to 250 plus professionals in six cities across the U.S.

Lenox is a successful multidiscipline business with an established institutional sales force, providing individual solutions across all financial services, as well as corporate individual disability insurance enrollments. Together, we’ll continue to deliver a breadth of services for corporations and individuals that other companies can’t.

Your Retirement Plan Could Save You $$$ Now and Later

Want to reduce your federal income tax liability for next year? Contribute a pretax portion of each paycheck to your retirement savings plan and you’ll shrink the amount of income subject to federal taxation. At the same time, those assets will grow tax-deferred until distribution. Even better, depending on your adjusted gross income, tax filing status and retirement contributions, you may qualify for the Tax Saver’s Credit,* further reducing your taxes. If eligible, you can receive up to $2,000 ($4,000 for married couples filing jointly) when you make contributions to the retirement savings plan that NFP sponsors. This deduction is claimed in the form of a non-refundable tax credit and ranges from 10–50 percent of your annual contribution.

To show you how it works, let’s calculate your credit for the 2015 tax year. First, determine your AGI — total income minus all qualified deductions. Then refer to the chart below to see how much you can claim as a tax credit, if you qualify.

Filing Status/Adjusted Gross Income for 2015

Amount of Credit	Joint	Head of Household	Single/Others
50% of amount deferred	$0 to $36,500	$0 to $27,375	$0 to $18,250
20% of amount deferred	$36,501 to $39,500	$27,376 to $29,625	$18,251 to $19,750
10% of amount deferred	$39,501 to $61,000	$29,626 to $45,750	$19,751 to $30,500

Source: IRS Form 8880

Pay now. Save later. With the Tax Saver’s Credit, you may owe less in federal taxes when you file next year by contributing to your retirement plan. Cha-ching!

*To be eligible you must be over 18, not a full-time student and not claimed as a dependent on someone else’s tax return.

New England Region’s P&C Success

Our New England region specializes in small and midsized accounts, with a focus on schools, medical offices, dental practices, construction companies and fraternal organizations. The region’s team also successfully provides property and casualty (P&C) services to over 27 locations in seven northeastern states.

Here’s how the team’s integrated sales efforts with NFP offices across the country are paying off:

• Adding P&C to existing benefits accounts resulted in $150,000 in additional revenue.
• Adding benefits to existing P&C accounts added $300,000 in revenue.
• Creating several other carrier partnerships resulted in an average of $25,000 per partnership.

The region is also developing a small business service center that will provide back-office support to firms in the Northeast. The hope is to provide this service on a national scale soon.

Are you in the New England area and want to learn more? Contact Dan Lussier.

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Technology

Keep Clear of Phishing Nets

The success rate of malicious phishing emails is on the rise. Phishing is a cybersecurity attack aimed to fool the victim by impersonating a trusted entity. Most generic phishing attacks attempt to impersonate institutions, such as your bank or the IRS in order to obtain your information. While we work to minimize these attacks, the constant evolution of these emails makes it extremely difficult to catch everything. Gone are the days of poor grammar and unsophisticated email templates that make them easy to spot.

If an email is flagged by our spam filter and you release it, scrutinize before you click. In addition, review all emails that you receive, even if they make it through your spam filter, and delete the email if it:

• Comes from a sender you don’t recognize
• Is out of the usual course of business/time of what you’d expect
• Is generic and doesn’t have the personal touch you’d expect from someone you know
• Refers to multiple attempts to reach you or delinquency and it’s the first you’ve heard from them
• Asks you to confirm anything by responding or clicking on a link within the email
• Wants you to get to a specific website by clicking on a link inside the email

If you’ve clicked on a link or opened an attachment that you realize after the fact is a phishing attempt, or if you have concerns about the validity of an email, contact technologyservices@nfp.com or 212-301-1111.

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Procurement

More Ways to Save with the Updated Vendor Partnerships Guide

We enjoy significant discounts from several companies, including Xerox, FedEx, Dell, W.B. Mason, Hertz and Avis. Get all the information you need in the Q2 edition of the NFP Vendor Partnerships Guide, which includes these new opportunities:

• Shred-it to Protect It — Shred and stay secure for less. Shred-it provides secure and compliant information destruction services that help mitigate the risks and threats of data breaches. Take advantage of our nationally negotiated rates.
• Save with Access Corp. on Tape Storage and Disposal — Save money on tape storage and equipment disposal through our national contract with Access Corp. Available to our offices in the following cities soon: San Diego, CA; San Antonio, TX; Nashville, TN; Detroit, MI; Kansas City, MO; Pittsburgh, PA; Buffalo, NY; Richmond VA; Raleigh, Durham and Charlotte, NC; Greenville and Spartanburg, SC; and Tulsa, OK.

If you haven’t done so, send your existing contracts with other companies to Silver Chaudry to track the expiration dates and discuss transitioning to the national program. Already have an NFP account with Shred-it or Access Corp.? It will automatically switch to the new rates.

Questions? Contact Silver Chaudry.

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Marketing

New NFP Marketing Materials — Just for You

Check out the Marketing Resource Library to find the most current versions of these great marketing materials:

NFP Overview One Pager — You asked for it and you got it. This newly branded piece is a convenient snapshot of everything we provide.

NFP Fact Sheet — We’ve updated the fact sheet to reflect our new business structure and include new stats and financials.

Social Media

Get the word out on your office events, charitable efforts and employees’ professional achievements. Submit them to our rapidly growing Facebook and Twitter accounts:

1. Fill out the brief NFP Social Media Post Submission Form. The form is located on NFP Brand Central, where you’ll find tools and support you need for NFP-related branding, compliance, marketing and public relations.
2. Email the completed form and any related photos to communications@nfp.com.

Make sure you’re fully connected to NFP. Follow, friend and connect with us on social media!

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