Kicking of March and Women’s History Month, C2P Enterprises announced its launch of a women-dedicated event meant to engage more female advisors in the industry. Meanwhile, RBC Clearing & Custody (RBC C&C) hired Vestwell as their small plan 401(k) and 403(b) provider, and Equitable announced new improvements to their buffered annuity suite.
C2P Enterprises promotes ‘A Woman’s Clarity’ event
C2P Enterprises announced a new event dedicated to engaging women advisors in the industry. The holding company is hosting its “A Woman’s Clarity” program dedicated to helping financial professionals increase their footprint and engage with more female advisors.
The first event for “A Woman’s Clarity” will be held on International Women’s Day, Wednesday, March 8. The session will feature an open discussion format with dialogue among panelists and Q&A from the audience, guests include Carol Ochoa, President of Your Secure Retirement, Deb Cundiff from Hammer Financial Group, and Julie Manning, RICP, from Keystone Financial Planning.
“With this supportive, empowering, and educational exchange of ideas, we are working to close the loop and help ease the transition into retirement so that more women have the financial confidence and clarity they deserve in every stage of life,” said Kirsten Schlumbohm, vice president of Insurance Sales at C2P and program host of A Woman’s Clarity, in a statement.
RBC Clearing & Custody hires Vestwell as small plan 401(k) and 403(b) provider
Vestwell has announced its small plan 401(k) and 403(b) solutions are now available to advisor clients of RBC Clearing & Custody.
RBC C&C, powered by Vestwell, enables advisors to scale their retirement plan practice and customize their offerings. Vestwell’s technology minimizes administrative workload and provides the tools needed to maximize participant engagement.
“After the passing of SECURE 2.0, we’ve seen 401(k) solutions increasingly become a priority for small business owners across the United States. This demand, with the right platform in place, creates a natural pathway for our advisor clients to rapidly expand their wealth practices,” said Brett Thorne, president of RBC Clearing & Custody, in a statement.
The underlying architecture of the 401(k) offering is powered by Vestwell’s cloud-based digital recordkeeping platform. Legacy technology stacks have become too costly and cumbersome for financial advisors to scale their businesses, especially in the small to mid-sized retirement plan market.
“We’re seeing tremendous demand from U.S. business owners, which is greatly contributing to the growth in the 401(k) industry…” said Aaron Schumm, founder and CEO of Vestwell. “We are excited to be the exclusive 401(k) provider of RBC Clearing & Custody and bring their thousands of advisor clients the ability to deliver a white-labeled offering that’s right for them including modern interactions, real-time communications, and transparent costs.”
Equitable enhances buffered annuity suite
Equitable has announced enhancements to its Structured Capital Strategies PLUS 21 and Structured Capital Strategies Income variable and registered index-linked annuities (RILAs). The new enhancements are designed to provide clients with partial protection against market volatility along with the opportunity to capture upside market potential up to a cap.
The enhancements provide higher buffers to provide additional, partial protection against market turbulence; shorter investment durations that give clients the flexibility to reallocate underlying investments in times of uncertainty; and new investment options that can provide positive or enhanced performance even if market index returns are negative.
One enhancement is Equitable’s Loss Limiter, a RILA investment feature that ensures clients will never lose more than 5% or 10% of their investment due to index performance in the Loss Limiter segment at maturity. Loss Limiter offers built-in downside protection with a buffer against loss up to -10%, and a 90% or 95% protection guarantee based on the chosen investment time frame, no matter how far the chosen equity index drops.
A second new investment option, Dual Step Up, guarantees a positive rate of return equal to the performance cap rate if the selected index return is greater than or equal to the selected buffer (-10% or -15%) at the end of the one-year period. Dual Step Upallows clientsto participate in the combined benefits of Equitable’s Dual Direction and Step Up investment options, providing the potential for predictable, positive returns in flat or down markets.
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Amanda Umpierrez is the Managing Editor of 401(k) Specialist magazine. She is a financial services reporter with over six years of experience and a passion for telling stories and reporting news. Amanda received her degree in journalism and government and politics at St. John’s University. She is originally from Queens, New York, but now resides in Denver, Colorado with her partner. In her free time, Amanda enjoys running, cooking, and watching the latest drama show.
