The Business of Being in the 401(k) Business: Path Forward For Independence?

The business of being in the 401(k) business has been one of our more popular themes on the podcast.  Today, should be no different.  My guest Tim Wulfekuhle, President of Northwest Plan Services and I dive into the topic of independent recordkeepers.  We start with some thoughts about different types or categories of recordkeepers, what the litmus test for an independent recordkeeper is, how in a rapidly changing environment for service providers they are positioned and what does scale mean.  Tim also shares thoughts on consolidation trends, bright shiny objects, capturing employer and employee attention when you don't have a household brand name and what the future of the retirement business could look like. Guest Bio Tim Wulfekuhle is President and CEO of Northwest Plan Services, Inc. (NWPS), which is a non-producing retirement plan recordkeeping and administration firm headquartered in Seattle.  NWPS provides services to all sizes of clients, from start-ups to Fortune 100 companies.  He has over 30 years of retirement plan recordkeeping, administration and consulting experience and has been an owner of NWPS since 2002. Prior to joining NWPS, Tim was the Director of Retirement Plan Administration Services for Howard Johnson & Company. Throughout his career he has specialized in large, complex defined contribution relationships and has been the lead consultant for numerous national clients. Tim holds a Bachelor's in Mathematics from Washington State University. 401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over 175 prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!