LPL Financial Retirement Partners to Provide Financial Advice and Education to Ascensus and Vanguard Retirement Plan Participants
San Diego, CA (PRWEB) August 21, 2013 -- LPL Financial LLC, the nation's largest independent broker-dealer, a leading RIA custodian, and a wholly owned subsidiary of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: LPLA), today announced that leading retirement plan providers Ascensus and Vanguard now offer LPL Financial Retirement Partners’ recently launched Worksite Financial Solutions, a platform for custom-tailored financial advice and education, to the plans and plan participants they serve. Worksite Financial Solutions is now available on Vanguard Retirement Plan Access, a comprehensive Vanguard retirement plan service for 401(k) plans, and on all retirement plans serviced by Ascensus.
The announcement of the partnership with Ascensus and Vanguard was made at focus13, LPL Financial’s largest annual event, held in San Diego, which brings together its financial advisors from across the country. This year, focus13 attracted a record crowd of more than 5,000 attendees, including 3,000 financial advisors. LPL Financial Retirement Partners has a dedicated team on site hosting several informative meetings acquainting LPL Financial advisors who serve retirement plan clients with the many benefits of its new Worksite Financial Solutions platform.
Through adoption of Worksite Financial Solutions, Ascensus and Vanguard help retirement plan sponsors and LPL Financial advisors better address the needs of plan participants throughout their financial lives, from the date of hire to separation and beyond. The new partnerships also create significant opportunities for LPL Financial advisors to provide these innovative services to over 1,000 plans representing more than $2.1 billion of retirement assets that these advisors currently serve through these two providers.
The Worksite Financial Solutions platform provides the benefit of enabling participants to engage with a financial advisor directly—either face-to-face, online, or over the phone—to receive personal financial advice based on their unique situation so they can adequately plan for the future.
Through the Worksite Financial Solutions platform’s Employee Advice Solution, plan participants receive customized retirement advice through online services that gather information on each participant’s financial picture and life stage. After completing a detailed “on-boarding” process, participants can elect to receive personalized advice through the system or manage their accounts on their own. At their discretion, participants can elect to receive advice all the way through retirement, as well.
The Worksite Financial Solutions platform is fully integrated with LPL Financial’s reporting and monitoring tools for plan advisors. Participants can receive account reviews and updates from their advisor, creating opportunities for advisors to form closer relationships with plan participants.
Bill Chetney, Executive Vice President of LPL Financial Retirement Partners, said, “We are very pleased to partner with Ascensus and Vanguard to offer our custom-tailored participant-level advice and education solution to their Vanguard Retirement Plan Access clients and to Ascensus plan participants. By offering this service of personalized financial guidance to plan participants, these industry leaders are taking a new step forward and giving participants another important option for planning for their future.”
Michael Dorvillier, Principal of Symbio Financial Partners in La Jolla, CA, a retirement-plan focused financial advisor with $400 million in assets under management affiliated with LPL Financial, said, “I am very excited about the partnerships that LPL Financial has announced today. Ascensus and Vanguard are great firms with products and solutions that span the entire market. The plan sponsors I work with have been asking for innovative ways to provide participant advice, to the point that it’s become a key decision factor for them and a key differentiator for me. I am proud to be able to offer this to help more Americans prepare for retirement.”
Dorvillier continued, “This partnership will enable my practice to strengthen its relationships with retirement plan sponsor clients currently on these providers’ platforms and offers a compelling new value proposition to a large number of prospective plan clients, as well.”
Mr. Chetney concluded, “Our advisors at focus13 have shown great enthusiasm for the new Worksite Financial Solutions platform. It represents LPL Financial Retirement Partners’ vision for the future of the retirement advisory industry, and enables plan participants to receive the personalized advice they need in order to prepare for the landscape ahead with confidence. We are honored that Ascensus and Vanguard recognize the importance of this vision and we look forward to working with them and all of our retirement-plan focused advisors.”
About Ascensus
With more than 30 years of industry experience, Ascensus is a leading provider of quality retirement plan solutions for organizations of all sizes. Through its 1,100+ highly trained associates and one of the largest ERISA consulting practices in the U.S., Ascensus provides recordkeeping and administrative services to over 43,000 retirement plans and administers over 1.5 million IRAs. Ascensus partners with financial institutions to offer tailored solutions to meet the needs of financial professionals, employers, and individuals. For more information, visit http://www.ascensus.com.
About Vanguard
Vanguard, headquartered in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, is the world’s largest mutual fund company and one of the world’s largest investment management companies. As of July 31, 2013, Vanguard managed more than $2.25 trillion in U.S. mutual fund assets. Vanguard offers more than 160 index and actively managed funds to U.S. investors and more than 80 additional funds in non-U.S. markets. Vanguard provides investments to nearly 4,000 defined contribution plans, including recordkeeping and investment services to 3 million participants in over 2,000 plans. Vanguard is also a major provider of investment, advisory, and recordkeeping services to defined benefit plans. For more information, please visit institutional.vanguard.com.
About LPL Financial
LPL Financial, a wholly owned subsidiary of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: LPLA), is the nation's largest independent broker-dealer (based on total revenues, Financial Planning magazine, June 1996-2013), a top RIA custodian,* and a leading independent consultant to retirement plans. LPL Financial offers proprietary technology, comprehensive clearing and compliance services, practice management programs and training, and independent research to more than 13,400 financial advisors and approximately 700 financial institutions. In addition, LPL Financial supports more than 4,600 financial advisors licensed with insurance companies by providing customized clearing, advisory platforms and technology solutions. LPL Financial and its affiliates have approximately 3,000 employees with primary offices in Boston, Charlotte, and San Diego. For more information, please visit http://www.lpl.com.
Securities and Advisory Services offered through LPL Financial. A Registered Investment Advisor, Member FINRA/SIPC
Ascensus and Vanguard are not affiliated with LPL Financial.
*Cerulli Associates: RIA Service Agent Survey Q1 2013
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LPL Financial Media Contact
Tony Vignieri
(858) 909-6698
[email protected]
Tony Vignieri, LPL Financial, http://lplfinancial.lpl.com/, (858) 909-6698, [email protected]
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