Brandon Helms is a Retirement Investment Consultant-DCIO in Columbia Threadneedle Investments. For him, every day is about serving & impacting others. Brandon believes that when you add value to others, they become valuable to you so he focuses on providing solutions to other people’s problems and gives value by getting people to act on his expertise. Brandon is a believer, a husband of 15+ years, a father of 2 young boys, a 40 year old millennial, a mini-goldendoodle lover, a football & soccer fan, a part-time golfer, and a carb eater.

In this episode, Eric and Brandon Helms discuss:

• Getting through compliance challenges 
• Industry trends and their impact on retirement plans
• What is fee compression how does it affect services? 
• How advisors can find their unique differentiators 

Key Takeaways:

• Compliance isn’t easy, but you can make it work with you if you commit to being persistent. Courage, consistency, and patience are the key. It may take time, but you’re going to have to put the work in to get it done. 
• The two key themes in Brandon’s paper are these: the first is that investment decisions are now being made by a centralized team. Second, be cautious both on the advisor and plan sponsor side of new products that are coming into the marketplace. Be aware of some of the embedded revenue streams that may be included in these products. 
• Fee compression and reduced expenses are, at the end of the day, positive for business owners and employees since ultimately they are paying less. The tricky part is how the service providers in our industry navigate the changes. 
• Advisors must find out their unique differentiators within these categories: your brand, your unique expertise, and last but most importantly, how aligned you are with your client base. 

“In a sales process, it's all about you… but in the day, you're trying to help the organization solve its problems. [So make] it more about them and [help] them solve their problems.” - Brandon Helms

Connect with Brandon Helms:

Website: https://www.columbiathreadneedle.com/en/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helmsbrandon/ 

Connect with Eric Dyson: 

Website: https://90northllc.com/

Phone: 940-248-4800

Email: [email protected] 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/401kguy/ 

The information contained herein is general in nature and is provided solely for educational and informational purposes.

It is not intended to provide a specific recommendation of any type of product or service discussed in this presentation or to provide any warranties, financial advice or legal advice.

The specific facts and circumstance of all qualified plans can vary and the information contained in this podcast may or may not apply to your individual circumstances or to your plan or client plan specific circumstances.