Retirement Industry People Moves

BPAS partners with bank to create 401(k) platform; intellicents opens office in Colorado; and Seelaus names managing director of firm’s subsidiary.

Art by Subin Yang

Art by Subin Yang

BPAS Partners With Bank to Create 401(k) Platform

BPAS announced its partnership with American National Bank of Texas (ANBTX) Trust Division to service the YOUR kPlan 401k platform.

The platform provides bundled plan administration and recordkeeping services for the YOUR kPlan, and enables small-to-large business owners to adopt a 401(k) and profit sharing retirement plan. ANBTX Trust and BPAS recommend YOUR kPlan to plans with $500,000 or greater in assets. They also offer a separate platform for start-up plans.

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“Partnering with ANBTX Trust delivers the best of both worlds to business owners in the North Texas region—the trusted relationship of ANBTX Trust, which understands the unique challenges of small and large businesses in the region, and the expertise of BPAS, which specializes in administering Group Trusts across the country,” says Paul Neveu, president, BPAS Plan Administration and Recordkeeping. “Delivering successful retirement plans through our partnership exemplifies our goal of helping participants achieve better outcomes and retire with dignity.”

BPAS provides plans with plan administration services, an education model with financial wellness programs, MyPlanLoan continuation program, and the option to add the Roadways Health Savings Accounts (HSA).  

intellicents Opens Office in Colorado

intellicents has opened an office in Colorado led by Betsy Cox, a certified financial planner.  

Cox holds 11 years of experience in both client service and practice management. In addition to delivering personal financial management services to individuals, she has working knowledge on federal, state of Colorado and corporate retirement plans and employee benefits.

“Expanding to Colorado has been on our radar screen for over 18 months,” comments Grant Arends, president of Retirement Plan Services at intellicents.  “We have long felt that our goal of deploying state-of-the-art financial management technology would resonate perfectly with Colorado’s exploding population and technology boom. What we needed was to find the right person to lead the charge in elevating our Colorado presence to great success. We are confident that our new intellicents office in Colorado will soar to new heights with Betsy at the helm.” 

Seelaus Names Managing Director of Firm’s Subsidiary

Seelaus & Co., Inc. (Seelaus) hired Christina Goulding as managing director of Seelaus Asset Management, LLC, the firm’s wholly-owned subsidiary.

Goulding will assist the investment team in fixed income credit, and is responsible for a number of business areas including marketing and operations. She will also work closely with foundation and nonprofit clients on their portfolio management and investment strategies.

“Christina brings well-rounded expertise, cultivated through her tenure as a financial analyst and strategic partner in the nonprofit space,” says Annie Seelaus, CEO of R. Seelaus & Co, Inc. “In addition, she represents another talented woman we are lucky to have in the room re-entering the full-time financial services industry after some time out.”

Goulding has more than 10 years of high-grade and crossover credit experience. Most recently, she was a director at Bank of America Merrill Lynch where she worked on the Investment Grade Credit Desk as senior desk analyst in the Financial Institutions Group. Prior to that, Goulding held positions at Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch.

She graduated cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in international economics and violin performance from American University. She has held board positions with Overlook Hospital Auxiliary, the Summit Junior League and The Connection. She is also a member of the Morristown Women’s Hospital Association.

Reducing Financial Fragility Important to Improving Retirement Savings

The Society of Actuaries says financial wellness programs need to be designed so individuals of different fragility levels can connect to what is useful and important to their situation.

There are dramatic differences when it comes to retirement planning behavior by levels of financial fragility, according to a report from the Society of Actuaries (SOA), “Aging and Retirement: Financial Fragility Across the Generations.” The SOA interprets financial fragility as vulnerability to a financial crisis and having a negative outlook of personal finances

Those with high fragility are much more likely to have short planning horizons and to prioritize everyday bills over retirement or emergency savings. Debt, especially credit card debt, is a major barrier, with 94% of those with high fragility holding some form of debt and 56% reporting credit card debt.

“Reducing financial fragility is an important step in helping individuals manage the priorities of today and those of the future, especially funding a secure retirement,” the report says. “Financial wellness and education programs looking to address these issues should understand the range of differences among financial fragility issues. These programs need to be designed so individuals of different fragility levels can connect to what is useful and important to their situation.”

There is significant variation in financial planning time frames based on levels of financial fragility. Six in 10 of those with high fragility can only plan paycheck to paycheck, while this is only the case for 20% with moderate fragility and just 5% of those with low fragility. On the other end of the planning spectrum, only 6% with high fragility plan for the rest of their lives compared to 10% of those with moderate fragility and 29% of those with low fragility.

While almost all of those with high fragility are prioritizing being able to afford everyday bills, those with low fragility are prioritizing saving for the future, including for retirement (67%).

To address their financial priorities that mainly focus on affording everyday bills and current debt, those with high financial fragility are more likely to say they are sticking to a budget and learning to use credit cards wisely than those with low fragility. Additionally, they are significantly more likely than both moderate and low fragility individuals to say they will be cutting back on things like vacations and eating out, making efforts to get their debts under control, and cutting back on needed medical costs to address their financial priorities this year. Those with low fragility are more likely to plan for tomorrow’s priorities by sticking to a monthly savings plan, contribute to an employer’s retirement plan, target investing to grow their money and produce income now and in retirement, and work with a financial adviser.

Concerns around retirement are high for all, but especially for those who are more financially fragile. The biggest concern for retirement for those who have high financial fragility is they might not be able to maintain a reasonable standard of living for the rest of their life. For those with moderate and low financial fragility, the biggest concern for retirement is that savings and investments may not keep up with inflation.

Greenwald & Associates conducted an online survey of 2,001 individuals for the Society of Actuaries last July on which the financial fragility index is based.

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