Lee Applebaum, AIFA®, CFP®, CPFA®, NQPA™

2022 NAPA Top DC Advisor Team – Established in 2017, nominees had to be individual advisor team/offices with a defined contribution book of business in a single physical location. To be considered, firms had to submit responses to an application form, including information about their practices, notably their defined contribution (DC) assets under advisement. The list is created and conducted by the National Association of Plan Advisors, an affiliate organization of the American Retirement Association, a non-profit association. In 2022, 438 applications were submitted and 430 were on the final list. The rating is not indicative of the Advisor’s future performance. No fee is charged to participate.

2021 NAPA Top DC Advisor Teams – Established in 2017, nominees had to be individual advisor team/offices with a defined contribution book of business.  To be considered, firms had to submit responses to an application form, including information about their practices, notably their defined contribution (DC) assets under advisement.  The list is created and conducted by the National Association of Plan Advisors, an affiliate organization of the American Retirement Association, a non-profit association.  No fee is charged to participate.  The rating is not indicative of the nominee’s future performance.  Approximately 340 submissions were received and 332 were selected.

2020 NAPA Top DC Advisor Teams – Established in 2017, nominees had to be individual advisor team/offices with a defined contribution book of business, in a single physical location.  To be considered, firms had to submit responses to an application form, including information about their practices, notably their defined contribution (DC) assets under advisement.  The list is created and conducted by the National Association of Plan Advisors, an affiliate organization of the American Retirement Association, a non-profit association.  No fee is charged to participate.  The rating is not indicative of the nominee’s future performance. This year there were 305 submissions, with 300 on the final list.

2019 NAPA Top DC Advisor Teams – Established in 2017, nominees had to be individual advisor team/offices with a defined contribution book of business. To be considered, firms had to submit responses to an application form, including information about their practices, notably their defined contribution (DC) assets under advisement. The list is created and conducted by the National Association of Plan Advisors, an affiliate organization of the American Retirement Association, a non-profit association. No fee is charged to participate. The rating is not indicative of the nominee’s future performance. Teams are ranked by assets under advisement, self-reported by advisor firm/teams. Approximately 282 submissions were received and 265 were selected.

2018 NAPA Top DC Advisor Teams – Established in 2017, nominees had to be individual advisor team/offices with a defined contribution book of business. To be considered, firms had to submit responses to an application form, including information about their practices, notably their defined contribution (DC) assets under advisement. The list is created and conducted by the National Association of Plan Advisors, an affiliate organization of the American Retirement Association, a non-profit association. No fee is charged to participate. The rating is not indicative of the nominee’s future performance. Teams are ranked by assets under advisement, self-reported by advisor firm/teams. Approximately 279 submissions were received and 257 were selected.

2017 NAPA Top DC Advisor Teams – Established in 2017, nominees had to be individual advisor team/offices with a defined contribution book of business. To be considered, firms had to submit responses to an application form, including information about their practices, notably their defined contribution (DC) assets under advisement. The list is created and conducted by the National Association of Plan Advisors, an affiliate organization of the American Retirement Association, a non-profit association. No fee is charged to participate. The rating is not indicative of the nominee’s future performance. Teams are ranked by assets under advisement, self-reported by advisor firm/teams. Approximately 300 submissions were received and 275 were selected.

PLANADVISER Top 100 Retirement Plan Advisers 2020 – The “PLANADVISER Top 100 Retirement Plan Advisers” 2020 list is compiled from responses to the PLANADVISER Retirement Plan Adviser Survey. The list is drawn solely from a set of quantitative variables and information in the survey supplied by the advisers themselves. For an adviser to be eligible for recognition in this year’s Top 100, s/he had to submit a completed entry to our 2020 Retirement Plan Adviser Survey, which was fielded this past September. The Top 100 Retirement Plan Advisers is segmented into four groups based on the number of advisers and number of total employees including support staff: individual adviser, meaning one adviser with support staff; small team, a group of two or more advisers and support staff, the total not exceeding 10; large team, a group of 11 to 35 advisers and support staff; and mega teams, 36 or more team members. To qualify for a particular segment, individuals needed to advise a minimum of 110 plans or $900 million in retirement plan AUA; small teams had to advise at least $1.8 billion in retirement plan assets or 130 plans; large teams needed $4 billion or more in retirement plan AUA or 175 or more plans; and mega teams had to oversee at least $12 billion in retirement plan AUA or 250 plans. A sub-segment of the questions was used to determine eligibility for the Top 100. In 2019, 684 nominations were received, and from that 292 were named to the list. The rating is not indicative of the investment adviser’s future performance; and a fee was not paid to participate in the survey.