Retirement plan work brings wealth management firms into the specialized world of ERISA and tax rules. Each firm must decide how to obtain the compliance and legal expertise the business requires while supporting advisors who serve plan sponsors and participants.
Jason Roberts, a securities and ERISA attorney who began his career as a litigator defending financial institutions and their advisors, founded Pension Resource Institute (PRI) in 2010. The San Diego‑based firm provides ERISA compliance resources, training and consulting to more than 70 member firms, including RIAs, broker‑dealers, banks and trust companies. Together, those firms support roughly 50,000 financial professionals. PRI operates alongside two affiliated firms, Fiduciary Law Center and Group Plan Systems.
WSR spoke with Roberts about PRI’s origins, its consulting model, its affiliated firms and the important place retirement plans occupy in wealth management.
WSR: What did you see as an ERISA attorney that led you to start PRI?
Roberts: There were a few key observations. First, even our largest and most successful enterprise clients didn’t have sufficient internal ERISA compliance and legal expertise. Then, when they went outside for help, ERISA compliance resources were scant and legal services were expensive. So, I saw an opportunity.
Second, and related, the laws and regulations were constantly changing, meaning that legal work‑product had (and today continues to have) a limited shelf life. When new rules were introduced, firms had to reengage, mostly on an hourly rate basis, to get updated interpretations, forms, etc. The expenditure was unpredictable and there wasn’t a lot of practical expertise to help with implementation.
After establishing our business, we realized that small firms could not afford to keep coming back, so we introduced tiered, fixed‑fee pricing based on a firm’s number of advisors.
WSR: Firms often call ERISA counsel when a specific issue arises and pay by the hour. How does PRI’s unlimited‑consulting model hold up economically?
Roberts: In nearly 16 years, we have yet to have a member abuse the unlimited consulting we deliver.
Also, the question implies that a firm will know when it has issues and that isn’t often the case. The first step in our new member implementation is to ask many carefully nested questions to ferret out prohibited conflicts and identify different ways to remediate. Penalties under ERISA and the Tax Code are significant, so it’s better to catch them before they compound.
The economics are great for our clients. For example, when the last two fiduciary rules were making their way through the DOL, it was widely reported that some firms spent six and even seven figures to get into compliance. Our members paid the same monthly fee they agreed to at the outset, resulting in significantly lower costs. As for our economics, having more predictable revenue allows us to make more confident investments in personnel and systems.
WSR: What is changing in the retirement plan market for wealth firms?
Roberts: We have unprecedented new plan formation resulting from competitive labor markets, state mandates and tax incentives.
New plan designs, pooled employer plans (PEPs) in particular, allow employers to statutorily shift administrative duties and risks to third‑party professionals known as pooled plan providers (PPPs). When that happens, clients have far fewer technical details to manage, so it becomes a more approachable engagement for otherwise retail‑focused wealth managers.
The key to unlocking the opportunity is having a solid compliance framework that gives firms and advisors the confidence to compete.
WSR: PRI, Fiduciary Law Center and Group Plan Systems operate as three separate firms. Why not one, and how do they fit together?
Roberts: At PRI, we exclusively serve RIAs, banks, trust companies and broker‑dealers, and we are happy to stay in that lane. When a PRI member firm wants to develop something proprietary or has a need that is beyond what we can provide in our consulting capacity, we can offer discounted legal services through Fiduciary Law Center.
In 2021, we launched Group Plan Systems, a PPP offering PRI member firms a trusted partner to deliver the administrative outsourcing that closes the loop on the shifting of fiduciary responsibilities away from their clients. GPS serves as the administrative fiduciary while member firms deliver investment fiduciary services, generally serving as ERISA 3(38) investment managers for employers that adopt their PEPs.
WSR: Where is the convergence of retirement plans and wealth management headed, and what should firms consider before building a plan capability?
Roberts: The convergence trend is favoring fee‑based financial institutions — particularly those looking to compete up‑market — and that includes not only RIAs but banks and trust companies too.
So, what I would say to growth‑minded executives is to look beyond the direct financials of plan‑level services and consider the ability to further serve participants both in and out of their plans.
WSR: What keeps you in this part of the industry after 16 years at PRI, and how should wealth firms think about risks associated with the retirement plan space?
Roberts: I genuinely feel rewarded by the work we do for member firms and how that translates to employees having a better shot at achieving a comfortable and dignified retirement. I’m also blessed by the relationships I’ve been able to form with our clients and their advisors.
While retirement rules are technical and strict and the penalties for noncompliance are significant, if you are properly advised on an ongoing basis, the practical risks are quite low and manageable. For firms that are properly positioned to both compete and comply, the door is wide open to deploy profitable and sustainable strategies to grow revenue and manage risk.
Wealth Solutions Report can be reached at info@wealthsolutionsreport.com.
