Recordkeeper PCS Retirement and Envestnet Retirement Solutions have connected the dots—and “pipes”—between participant and wealth management data.
Through ManagedPlan, the PCS Retirement recordkeeping platform will be integrated with Envestnet’s Wealth Management Platform. PCS will handle recordkeeping and administrative services at the plan level, and for individual participant accounts. In addition, advisors can log into PCS’s Advisor Lab 401(k) Toolkit via a single sign-on from Envestnet to create proposals for new plans.
“Our industry needs a solution that can make professional wealth management accessible and affordable for retirement plan participants—while also mitigating fiduciary risk for the sponsors,” said Mark Klein, CEO of PCS Retirement.
The platform, roughly a year in development, came after the suggestion of a large broker/dealer and launched three weeks ago with over 6,800 advisors. “Our most innovative products are inspired by our clients,” explained Jim Patrick, Group President of Envestnet | PMC, who notes that the platform not only allows advisors to support their clients in a more integrated way, but allows them to better scale their outreach, since advisors can view real-time plan and participant data from PCS within Envestnet Wealth Management Platform. “Advisors are under a lot of pressure, particularly in this market,” he notes.
ERS and PCS have pooled their experience and solutions in ManagedPlan for startup and existing 401(k), ERISA 403(b), SIMPLE IRA, and Solo 401(k) plans. The firms note that ManagedPlan will be rolled out first to financial professionals of a “large broker-dealer client of Envestnet, Inc.”, advising plan sponsors in a registered representative capacity, with the goal of eventually offering the solution to other clients on Envestnet’s wealth management platform to help their small-business clients launch retirement plans.
The key element here is the data aggregation, leveraging Envestnet’s advisors’ tool suite, and breaking down the wall down between the two systems. With the new platform, advisors can now directly connect to the PCS website/participant balances.
The platform—comprised of funds chosen by ERS as the ERISA 3(38) investment manager—provides plan-level investment options, including risk- and objective-based model portfolios from fund strategists such as American Funds, BlackRock, Brinker Capital, and Symmetry Partners—models that are also available in Envestnet | PMC’s Fund Strategist Network on Envestnet’s Wealth Management Platform. Options that aren’t available on many 401(k) platforms.
The risk-based portfolios—comprised of offerings that don’t necessarily exist in the plan’s core menu—serve as the default qualified default investment alternative (QDIA) for retirement plan clients. If a participant decides to move from that QDIA, a risk tolerance questionnaire pops us automatically to help make risk-appropriate selections, explains Klein.
“This takes some of those risk-based portfolio product solutions that exist in the retail world, and now bring those—delivered via a 3(38) fiduciary capacity—to the 401(k) world,” Denise Diana, Senior Vice President, Envestnet Retirement Solutions explains.
More information is at https://www.pcs401k.com.
