Many have long known NFP as an insurance provider, but fewer are aware of the company’s growing wealth management and retirement offerings. Even so, wealth and retirement took in $88.1 million, or 16.5% of their $534 million in total revenues for the first quarter of 2022—and now NFP is setting out to bring more awareness to that part of the business.
On Tuesday, the company announced plans for a comprehensive realignment meant to better showcase its wealth and retirement segments in an effort to attract new talent, foster new growth and promote better integration to "provide holistic planning services" for its clients.
Within the NFP structure, registered investment advisory firm Wealthspire Advisors provides financial planning and investment expertise for high-net-worth families, individuals and family offices. Fiducient Advisors, another RIA, provides advisory services for retirement plan sponsors, endowments and foundations, private clients and financial institutions.
Under the reorganization, NFP will retain its Property & Casualty division and establish new "Benefits & Life" and "Wealth & Retirement" divisions in place of the former "Corporate Benefits" and "Individual Solutions" segments of the company. Life insurance services will move from Individual Solutions to Benefits & Life; and the retirement advisory business will move to Wealth & Retirement.
“NFP is currently a leading P&C and benefits consultant but has also been in the wealth management space for more than 20 years,” said NFP President and COO Mike Goldman, pointing out that DiMeo Schneider and Associates—which ultimately became Fiducient—was acquired in the early 2000s and Sontag Advisory—now part of Wealthspire—joined NFP in 2005.
“We are taking steps to better highlight our presence and scale in this space, which supports conversations advisors are having with clients and ultimately drives growth," he said. "We also want to show clients that wealth management stands side-by-side and integrates well with our P&C and Benefits & Life segments.”
“The spectrum of what our advisors are capable of doing to solve problems for the individuals that we intersect with is significantly expanded,” Wealthspire CEO Mike LaMena told WealthManagement.com. “We're in a network where all those capabilities exist and it's about connecting the dots to be able to get you to the right experts. I think the consolidation of these asset-based businesses makes it much easier.”
Dan Seivert, CEO and managing partner at Echelon Partners, said the industry is seeing more and more firms bring previously disparate businesses—such as insurance and retirement planning—together with wealth management services.
"Holistic wealth management goes beyond its core elements," he said. "It adds retirement, insurance, trust and estate, tax, sometimes real estate advisory, sometimes tax management. What NFP is doing is taking steps in that direction, which is a general trend in the industry. I think it's a great move."
By consolidating and clarifying NFP’s wealth management services, the company also hopes to attract new talent to its wealth management sectors.
“Packaging it together and being able to concisely demonstrate how we’ve grown these businesses becomes a kind of lever to highlight what we’re building for other professionals who might want to join us,” said LaMena.
"Getting great talent is really hard right now," Seivert said. "Bringing the brands together won’t necessarily change that, but it could improve their growth and if you’re growing faster, you’ll not only need more talent, you’ll be more attractive to new talent."
With 130 wealth advisors, financial planners and investment managers serving over 11,300 individuals and families, and 1,100 institutions and nonprofits, NFP is already of the largest RIAs in the nation. The firm is also one of the largest qualified retirement plan advisers in the U.S., with 150 retirement advisors providing consulting services to over 2,100 companies.
“We’ve been very active in expanding our wealth management segment, through acquisition, organically, and by adding talented professionals,” said Goldman. “[And] we have every intention of continuing that momentum.”
As of March 31, 2022, NFP claims more than $45 billion in assets under management across both wealth management platforms and approximately $400 billion of plan assets on its retirement platform.
Wealth & Retirement services brought in $88.1 million in revenues in the first quarter of 2022, while Property & Casualty and Benefits & Life brought in $186.7 million (35% of total revenues) and $259.1 million (48.5%), respectively.
