What’s up in the 401(k) advisor space? TD Ameritrade Institutional is trying to find out. The institutional clearing and custodial giant kicked off its 20th annual national conference for RIAs in Orlando, Florida on Wednesday with preconference retirement sessions that were standing-room only.
The conference, which will last until Friday night, boasts 3,200 attendees, 1,700 advisors and 250 exhibiting firms. In addition, 74 undergraduates and program directors from 26 colleges and universities are expected to attend.
401(k) plan-specific sessions include practice management breakouts for registered investment advisory firms that are looking to broaden their revenue streams.
“We’ll be conducting a panel on Friday that really gets to the heart of how to grow your 401(k) business,” says Frank Pitten, TD Ameritrade Institutional’s national sales manager of retirement plan solutions. “We have a branded solution that was rolled out two years ago and we really want to know what we can do to help them further.
In keeping with the Department of Labor’s upcoming fiduciary rule proposal, Pitten says, “It’s a fantastic opportunity for RIAs to build a case with open architecture.”
John Newman, managing director TD Ameritrade Trust Company, add that the company will feature a retirement plan workshop at the 101 level, for those advisors that are “fairly new.”
“We’ll run through the types of plans, sales and setups, the advisor’s role and support, Newman says. “We maxed out in attendees. We’re looking to include those advisors that are very entrenched as well as those that are new advisors.”
Newman notes that there will be six different sessions overall, and will focus on the three different types of investors that TD Ameritrade claims are found in any 401(k) plan; the delegators, the do-it-yourselfers and the experts.
Ubiquitous industry presence Skip Schweiss notes that he’ll host “SkipCenter,” a humorous take on ESPN’s SportsCenter, “the goal of which is to drive advisors to success. Like any game, we’re going to break down retirement.”
When asked if he agrees with comments by high-profile broker-dealer executives about the inevitability of fiduciary reform, the president of TD Ameritrade Trust Company (and all things fiduciary) doesn’t equivocate.
“Broker-dealer executives are saying, ‘this is going to happen, so get ready for implementation.’ All the lobbying, additions, subtractions—they’re all baked in at this point.”
With more than 20 years serving financial markets, John Sullivan is the former editor-in-chief of Investment Advisor magazine and retirement editor of ThinkAdvisor.com. Sullivan is also the former editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines, and has a background in the insurance and investment industries in addition to his journalism roots.