In today’s digital world, we all have a lot of data and personal information stored online – information like e-mails, phone numbers, personal contacts, and even financial asset values and information. Most of us trust companies (like banks, financial institutions, social media, and tech firms) to manage and protect this information and provide us with it in a matter of seconds. This raises some concerns about “who has access to this data,” and how can they protect it.

On August 16, 2022, the Retirement Advisor Council recognized Wiley|Wilson, as an honoree of its Financial Wellness Excellence Awards. This recognition was presented at the Retirement Advisor Council’s 2022 Annual Planning Meeting in Des Moines, IA. Connie Burnette of Wiley|Wilson accepted the award on behalf of her team and was recognized for her thoughtful leadership and dedication to providing the best possible employee financial wellness program to her organization.

We sat down with some of the team members of AFS and here's how they answered the following questions...

1. What advice would you give your younger self?
2. What's the worst piece of financial advice you're ever received?
3. What's the best piece of financial advice you're ever received?
4. What does AFS stand for? (wrong answers only)
   

Bethesda, MD — Alex Assaley and Kevin Phillips of AFS 401(k) Retirement Services recently participated as delegates to the National Association of Plan Advisors’ (NAPA) Annual DC Fly-In Forum, an exclusive gathering of the nation’s leading retirement plan advisors.

What is our Employee Benefits Symposium?

Since 2006, we have challenged our partners and clients to think differently about the employee benefits landscape.

A little excerpt on the first 100 trading days of 2022 from Bespoke, my favorite market newsletter: 

“While everyone knows that the U.S. equity market has performed horribly in 2022, did you know that it has actually been the second-worst first 100 trading days in a year since the five-day trading week began in late 1952? Through early trading today (5/25), the S&P 500 is down 17.3% YTD, which ranks second only to 1970 for the worst start to a year when the index declined 23.7% in the first 100 trading days. Not only that, but this year has seen the worst start on record for both the Nasdaq (since 1972) and the Russell 2000 (1979), which have declined by 27.9% and 21.4%, respectively.”

After reading that, my first thought was: Are things really that bad to warrant what, collectively, is the worst start to a year in stock market history?

We have relayed this message in the past: Wall Street hates uncertainty, and, right now, we seem to have an unlimited supply of it – uncertainty regarding inflation, uncertainty regarding Fed policy and interest rates, uncertainty surrounding when the supply chain will remedy itself, uncertainty regarding whether the Federal Reserve can engineer a soft landing for the economy, and uncertainty regarding China’s ability to control the virus and keep its economy running, which continues to compound the world’s supply chain issues. All of these uncertainties are on top of the unknowns surrounding Russia and the war in Ukraine. 

AFS 401(k) Retirement Services is thrilled to publicize that our lead adviser, Alex Assaley was named a top retirement plan advisor by PLANADVISOR.

Since 2013, this designation has been awarded to the top 100 retirement plan advisers and teams based on quantitative measures such as the most plans and assets under advisement. This year, PLANADVISER made a significant change, limiting how large a team could be for consideration—eliminating national-type firms that traditionally had met the eligibility for a “Mega Team”.

Many organizations who aren’t acquainted with financial wellness programs have a tough time understanding how it can benefit their employees, and that’s ok. We all begin at different stages. However, if you’re reading this article, then hopefully you’ve already seen the positive effects a program can have on your employees. So, we then ask you, when was the last time you evaluated your financial wellness program provider or advisor? Here is a mini-guide with questions to ask to ensure you are in good hands with your financial wellness benefit offerings.

As retirement plan advisors, we’re often asked about how to evaluate a financial advisor so here are five questions from our team to ask yourself and ensure your current advisor is adequate for your financial life. The beginning of the year is a perfect time to check in on your financial life to ensure you are on target with your financial goals and initiatives. A respectable advisor will have you feeling confident in how your financial life is progressing, and assessing your financial life goes together with evaluating your advisor.