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Feature

Wise Rhino’s Dick Darian on Opportunities and Threats in DC Plans



While RPAs and wealth managers have long been considered separate practices, retirement planning advisors are turning to wealth management in search of new clients while expanding their own expertise and why RIAs are starting to use DC plans as a way to find more Wealth Management clients.

In this episode, Fred Barstein, contributing editor for RPA Edge, is joined by Dick Darian, founder and CEO of Wise Rhino Group. They dive into RPAs and wealth management, discussing the differences while considering the opportunities for new business and clients.

Dick and Fred discuss:

  • Why RIAs should care about DC plans – what opportunities exist and more importantly the threats to their business if they ignore them.
  • What RPA aggregators like Captrust are doing to build relationships with participants and capture rollovers more efficiently.
  • The impact of state and potentially federal mandates on DC plans
  • Can Wealth Advisors survive under a single vertical, or is it better to consider a second vertical in retirement to help grow your business.

Connect with Dick Darian:

Connect with Fred Barstein:

About our Guest:

Dick spent 8 years on the executive committee of BlackRocks DC business and focused on the firm’s DCIO business. Before joining BlackRock, Dick was a founder and managing principal at National Retirement Partners (NRP), focusing on advisor firm recruiting, practice management and marketing. NRP was sold to LPL in July 2010.

He began his career in the retirement industry at Mutual Benefit Life in 1983 where he led the development and distribution of one the industry’s first 401(k) products. Dick joined Williams, Thacher and Rand (WTR), a NYC based benefit consulting firm in 1986 to build and manage the firm’s institutional retirement consulting group. Dick led the development of a thriving qualified plan consulting practice as well as an industry leading TPA recordkeeping operation. WTR was sold to ADP in 1995.

In 1996 Dick moved to the product distribution side of the business joining ReliaStar Financial, a Minneapolis MN based insurance company. There he helped develop, manage and distribute an early generation open architecture full service retirement product. Reliastar was sold to ING in 2001.