For most plan advisors, their provider is really their local wholesaler. Though they may travel to due diligence meetings and visit with home office people, more than 90% of their interactions are with their local wholesaler. It’s estimated that there are more than 1,000 record keeping wholesalers and almost 500 DCIO reps from the national firms (see our lists of providers). But these essential components of the DC ecosystem have been mostly unrecognized except by peers and their local plan advisor clients. Until now, that is.
NAPA is compiling a list of the Top 150 DC wholesalers — 100 from record keepers and 50 from DCIO firms — based on votes from NAPA members and nominations from each provider’s home office. Here’s your opportunity to recognize your local wholesaler for all their hard work and all the times they have gone “above and beyond.” The process is simple — just click here to get started. You must be a NAPA member and be logged in to access the voting page.
Here’s how the process will unfold:
• Providers submit lists of their wholesalers to populate NAPA’s database. Some providers have done so already; plus, there’s an opportunity to upload an Excel file on the nomination page. If you are not a NAPA Firm Partner, contact [email protected] to get a template.
• NAPA members (not just advisors) may nominate and vote for their favorite wholesalers and take the opportunity to comment on why they are special. You can search by location, provider or name of the wholesaler, or create a new nomination if your favorite is not on the list. Vote for as many wholesalers as you like.
• A “blue Ribbon panel” of advisors will review the results of the voting and select the top 100 record keeping and top 50 DCIO wholesalers.
The top 10 record keeping wholesalers and the top five DCIO wholesalers will be announced in the Spring 2014 Issue of NAPA Net the Magazine and at the 2014 NAPA 401(k) Summit in March.
So take a few minutes to vote for your favorite wholesaler. Remember all that they have done for you. And if you are a wholesaler, send this link to all your advisors to remind them to vote for you: https://www.napa-net.org/nominee/. It’s the least they can do!
