{"id":847633,"date":"2026-09-14T16:04:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T16:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/847633\/"},"modified":"2026-09-14T16:04:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T16:04:12","slug":"broker-dealers-race-to-build-the-bridge-to-wealth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/847633\/","title":{"rendered":"Broker\/Dealers Race to Build the Bridge to Wealth"},"content":{"rendered":"

When asked what the three biggest initiatives Osaic wanted him to focus on when he took the job recently, Henoch Tezara, vice president of employer plan consulting, replied, \u201cThere was only one\u2014build the bridge to wealth.\u201d<\/p>\n

The retirement professionals at broker\/dealers and their partners, who gathered at the 8th annual RPA Broker\/Dealer Roundtable last week in New York City are in some ways best positioned to enable to build that bridge more than RIAs or even aggregators, but they also face steep hurdles.<\/p>\n

Most broker\/dealers have realized the opportunity to leverage the workplace, especially defined contribution plans, to help their reps find new wealth clients providing additional support. But issues with participant data collection and management are concerning, consuming resources from legal and compliance departments and slowing the process, while some record keepers are not cooperating.<\/p>\n

Related:Edelman Financial Engines Expands Into Small Business Market<\/a><\/p>\n

Professionals at b\/ds must serve experienced retirement plan advisors, hybrid wealth advisors with significant DC assets and the blind squirrels, who still make up 75% of their population. Artificial intelligence promises to significantly change the financial advisory industry, but there are concerns about its use and the veracity of the underlying data\u2014some quipped that when there is not enough data, AI hallucinates answers to please. And who will serve the growing number of small plans, which Cerulli estimates will top 1 million by 2029?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe opportunity [convergence] is too big to ignore, even with concerns about data,\u201d stated Matthew Eickman, managing partner at the Fiduciary Law Center.<\/p>\n

Some b\/ds like Morgan Stanley have built a consolidated platform where advisors can view participant data on all plans, and the home office can view everything, getting daily feeds from 14 record keepers. Candice D\u2019Amato from Raymond James asked the obvious question: \u201cWhy not adopt the Morgan Stanley format?\u201d SPARK and DCIIA have tried to create a standardized plan and participant data format with limited success because, on the one hand, some record keepers would not cooperate, while on the other, they did not include distributors in the process.<\/p>\n

D\u2019Amato said that Empower allows advisors to access participant data on their plans but not at the home office, whereas Manulife John Hancock does, and Voya will soon. When asked if record keepers should charge for data, Charmaine Hughes from Transamerica noted, \u201cIt\u2019s more about out-of-the-box requests and the costs associated. Firms have spent millions creating data feeds and there is no urgency to change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related:401(k) Real Talk Episode 207: September 9, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Along with systems and oversight, firms need plan sponsor permission, which Christian Romano from Vestwell said is baked into their service agreements. \u201cWe provide daily feeds to partners like Morgan Stanley.\u201d Justin Witz from Catapult noted, \u201cMost every provider is bending to advisors. AI and model context protocol [introduced by Anthropic in 2024<\/a>] will help the process.\u201d<\/p>\n

The $1 trillion IRA opportunity was front and center for all b\/ds with support firms like IRALOGIX, InvestorCom, Inspira and iJoin\/Broadridge at the Roundtable. Dave Reeve, CEO at InvestorCom, which helps with 500,000 rollovers annually, noted, \u201cIt is a backward process taking six to seven months.\u201d Peter DeSilva, president at IRALOGIX quipped, \u201cWe must redo the process and remove the friction. How can we do a rollover in a week?\u201d<\/p>\n

Some thought record keepers intentionally delay the process to retain the assets but DeSilva, recalling his days at Fidelity, said that when Ned Johnson made it easier for investors to get out of money market accounts, the assets flowed.<\/p>\n

There are fraud concerns with instant IRA rollovers. Stan Boyle at Voya noted, \u201cA week seems reasonable.\u201d Michael Kelly from Inspira added, \u201cWe have spent $75 million to reduce fraud.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related:Why Vanguard is Still an Enigma to the 401(k) Industry<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are the tech bumps that need to be removed to make servicing plans easier?\u201d asked David Schultz from FIS, which recently released a cloud-based version of Omni and Relius utilized by 80% of the DC market with 68 million participants. D\u2019Amato asked, \u201cCan we go direct to FIS to address issues?\u201d To which Schultz replied that she must go through their record keeper partners.<\/p>\n

Servicing wealth advisors is vastly different than working with RPA specialists. The wealth advisors want simplicity. \u201cSome see the value in working with TPAs,\u201d stated Bob Carroll from Map Retirement. \u201cOthers like bundled solutions from fintechs and payrolls.\u201d Bidmoni\u2019s software facilitates easy and fast plan origination, but CEO Steven Daigle noted, \u201cThe owner of a small business is not interested in their 401(k) plan\u2014they are investing in their own company and looking for tax relief.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bob Carroll agreed, \u201cMost small businesses don\u2019t see the value in 401(k)s but feel like they have to offer it.\u201d A major DCIO\/record keeper noted that they are seeing a growing number of wealth advisors selling their first plan. \u201cPEPs may be an option,\u201d stated Taylor Hammons from Kestra. \u201cWe need to make sure advisors are aware of all the solutions available and help all participants most likely in partnership with record keepers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taylor mentioned that advisor-managed accounts are a major initiative for Kestra, with Chris Weirath from Morningstar noting they can help build the bridge to wealth. \u201cAMAs are a way for advisors to put their brand in front of participants,\u201d stated Jim Smith also from Morningstar. Casey Jacobson from Basic Capital said his firm is focused on managed accounts as a way for an advisor to get to know their client and engage.<\/p>\n

Not much traction or interest in private equity investments in DC plans even with President Donald Trump\u2019s executive order and pending DOL rule. Clients are not demanding it yet, and Carroll noted, \u201cAdvisors start with expenses\u2014private investments are expensive.\u201d Joel Shiffman from Bidmoni and Money Management Institute noted that only 2% to 3% of individual assets are in alternatives, while Daniel Bryant of Bryant Capital Group stated that demand from high-net-worth investors is strong, with Apollo deploying hundreds of salespeople.<\/p>\n

Incredible interaction at the September 9-10, 2026, RPA Broker\/Dealer Roundtable. It is \u201cgame on\u201d for these firms building that bridge to wealth, whether through IRAs, managed accounts or financial planning. Collaboration is key as b\/ds look for partners who support their efforts rather than compete with them.<\/p>\n

Should be an equally interesting discussion at the November 12-13 Aggregator Roundtable<\/a> in Chicago, and especially the Convergence Roundtable in Chicago at Morningstar\u2019s headquarters Dec. 10-11,<\/a> where all groups will convene to discuss this topic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When asked what the three biggest initiatives Osaic wanted him to focus on when he took the job…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":847634,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[28,147,530],"class_list":["post-847633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=847633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847633\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/847634"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=847633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=847633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=847633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}