Like most businesses, Independent Fiduciary ConsultantsSM has characteristics that differentiate it from its competition. Some of these differences merely make us a more attractive choice, while other differences allow us to communicate to our prospects that we are the best option for them. We’ve grouped our differences into three distinct categories.
Compliance: Our firm has a strategic plan that gives us key organizational advantages over many other banks, brokers, insurance companies, financial planners and other investment advisers. First and foremost, we are independent from all other financial service providers our client use. We do not accept commissions. We are exclusively an asset-based fee service provider. We feel this method of payment best aligns our interests with our clients’ interests. Another key strategic difference is our nationally recognized reputation as a fiduciary thought leader. We focus on the three critical tasks needed to help sponsors carry out their fiduciary duty: Disclosure, Due Diligence, and Documentation.
Menu Options: Our firm has an investment philosophy we believe provides a very unique and advantageous solution to our clients’ investment counseling needs. Unlike nearly every other financial service provider, we are one of the few investment advisers in the country that has been on the leading edge of investment management by avoiding the liability risks many now recognize come with the use of an academic theory born more than a half-century ago. We focus not on an arbitrary definition of risk, but on the practical definition of risk – failing to meet one’s goal. By combining Goal-Oriented TargetingSM and downside risk analysis, we believe we can better serve retirement plan participants through the structure of the investment menu provided to them. Consistent with the latest research in behavioral finance, we create a “category” or “tier” based menu. These categories represent employee attitudes and behavior, not the typical “style box” menu layout that dates to the previous century. Studies have shown reframing the investment option menu in this way increases employee participation and generates higher savings levels.
Retirement Readiness: Beyond plan design, we’ve developed easy-to-understand tools employees can use to measure their retirement readiness. Furthermore, we’ve generated proprietary training program that use various media delivery vehicles. Education research suggests people learn in different ways. There is no “one-size-fits-all” training program. We try to provide the same education from as many different points of view as possible. More importantly, we’ve invented an extremely effective method to integrate the Goal-Oriented TargetingSM method with the category-based investment menu option. How effective and unique is this invention? We have a patent pending on it.
