Holm & Cawley Financial Group is a full service Registered Investment Advisory firm. In addition to the many financial services we offer to our individual clientele, we also offer retirement planning services for employers including 401k plans, 403b plans, and other similar retirement plans. In recent years, regulatory and industry changes have opened up avenues for Registered Investment Advisors to enhance the effectiveness of retirement plans above and beyond what has traditionally been available in the marketplace. Holm & Cawley has been at the forefront of these revolutionary changes and continually seeks to serve retirement plan clients in order to realize the benefits of the changing marketplace.
In the past, the retirement plan industry has been overwhelmingly dominated by large brokerages, broker-dealers, and insurance companies. In many instances, these large institutions have imposed excessive fees and inadequate “family” funds that do not serve the best interests of the plan or its participants. Often times certain fees are hidden so that the company and its plan sponsor are unaware of the charges. This has led to extensive litigation and potential liability for plan sponsors and their companies. Millions of dollars have been paid out to plan participants in some of these circumstances.
The longtime state of the industry has created many conflicts of interest between the traditional plan providers and the companies buying their products. These conflicts included:
- Self-Serving Advice: Plan providers often recommended use of funds that resulted in behind the scene commissions that increased the providers’ compensation.
- Avoiding Fiduciary Role: Plan providers often structured their relationship with plans and their sponsors to avoid any fiduciary status.
- Upfront Commissions: Often times brokers received upfront commissions when transferring a plan to a new platform. This created an incentive to pick certain platforms over others that paid higher commissions ultimately at the expense of plan participants.
- “Family” Funds: Plan providers limited fund lineups to their own “family of funds” which oftentimes came with high expenses and mediocre returns.
- Use of More Expensive Fund Classes: Plan providers are not required to disclose cheaper institutional fund classes and have an incentive to recommend more expensive funds even though a nearly identical fund can be used with a much lower cost.
- Indirect Compensation: Plan providers sometimes utilized revenue sharing based on plan assets to offset record-keeping costs. This revenue is often retained by providers even when the revenue exceeds the costs.
Although there have been recent regulatory changes designed to close the gap on these conflicts, they are still prevalent in the industry and it will be some time before a full correction will be realized. This is largely because many of the current plans burdened by these conflicts will likely be grandfathered in under the new regulatory scheme.
However, utilizing a skilled Registered Investment Advisor for your retirement plan needs can avoid these conflicts altogether. As an independent advisor, Holm & Cawley works for their clients in a fiduciary capacity rather than for a large brokerage and seeks to eliminate the adverse consequences of the traditional marketplace conflicts. We are uniquely positioned to enhance your retirement plan by offering fiduciary services, ensuring that your plan avoids unnecessary fees, and opening up your plan to the full universe of available funds. The net result is a less expensive retirement plan with better investment options and better management of the plan.
Advice/Plan/Retirement
At Holm & Cawley Financial Group we understand that each client’s financial and retirement circumstances are inherently unique. As such, Holm & Cawley offers a wide range of services to provide a basis to tailor a specific and comprehensive financial plan for each client.
Our Services
At Holm & Cawley Financial Group we understand that each client’s financial and retirement circumstances are inherently unique. As such, Holm & Cawley offers a wide range of services to provide a basis to tailor a specific and comprehensive financial plan for each client.
PUTTING OUR CLIENTS AT THE TOP OF THE FOOD CHAIN SINCE 2009
At Holm & Cawley Financial Group our mission is to connect our clients with the emerging opportunities of the financial world. We are committed to keeping clients at the top of the financial food chain by cutting out middlemen, avoiding outdated industry practices, and staying ahead of industry trends.
Our goal is to build long standing client relationships focused not just on retirement, but on securing and expanding our clients’ hard earned wealth.
