Nepsis, a twin city based RIA founded by Chief Investment Officer Mark Pearson, has created an in-house corporate retirement plan division as it builds a suite of family office capabilities that include asset management, financial planning, tax planning and preparation, estate planning, insurance, business management and 401(k) services .
Trenton Hazen left Northwestern Mutual, where he spent about five years as a retirement plan specialist, to lead the new division as director of retirement plan services.
“His role has two main objectives,” Pearson said Wealthmanagement.com. “One is to manage the book of business he already has and will bring. The other is to work with our advisors to create solutions and bring in more business.”
Assets managed by Hazen at Northwestern were not made available.
“It's an incredibly exciting time in the firm's growth trajectory,” Hazen shared in a statement. “This opportunity aligns perfectly with my interest in getting to the bottom of business owners' needs and helping them design the right retirement plans.”
The latest announcement comes just months after Nepsis created an in-house tax department through purchaselast year.
“We think the retirement plan business is underserved by RIAs,” Pearson said. “When you own a CPA firm like us along with wealth management, your retirement plan people can work alongside CPAs and wealth managers in providing solutions for business owners. It is another extension of the framework of the family office”.
Corporate retirement capabilities have gained increasing interest in the RIA space recently, as evidenced by Creative Planning APPROPRIATION of Mesirow's $13 billion business late last year and Modern Wealth the last departure.
Pearson expects the new division will ultimately strengthen lead generation on the private wealth side, while improving the services available to existing business owner clients.
In the near term, Nepsis is focused on hiring more CPAs and estate planning attorneys in anticipation of a tax-related announcement expected in the coming weeks.
“I'm going to have to make some decisions in terms of what we need to do internally to make sure we manage it because I believe it's going to bring us some significant opportunities,” Pearson said, declining to share more many details due to legal restrictions.
The Nepsis model delivers services through a Salesforce-based technology platform leveraging AI and a stable of specialized service providers. Counselors are usually expected to act as mediators in a relationship management capacity. The firm reached nearly $300 million in advisory assets at the end of 2023, and Pearson said another $200 million has been brought on board this year. With 35 employees — including 14 counselors, half of whom are W-2 — three associate counselors will join next month, and the search for another is underway.
“We don't want to be seen as just a linear financial planning and asset management organization,” noted Pearson. “We want clients to be able to access and get expertise in various areas that not only impact proactive tax planning, but also proactive financial, estate, pension and giving investments – with clarity. And I believe that the retirement component is an important step in this overall process.”