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Life

The universe is not as it appears. Neither are retirement plan service providers.

This past week, NASA unveiled images from the James Webb Space Telescope. These pictures have delighted, awed, and amazed us with images of deep space and the immeasurable number of stars, galaxies, and constellations in the earliest and deepest reaches of the universe. Immeasurable indeed! Astronomers tell us that if you held a grain of sand up to the sky at arm’s length, that tiny speck is the size of Webb’s now famous first image. It occurs to us that the universe of retirement plan service providers is quite similar. Everyone’s heard of the large recordkeepers, the Milky Ways and Andromedas of our industry: Fidelity, Vanguard, Empower, and the like. Perhaps more interesting are the smaller, more focused, and attentive recordkeepers that dot the spacescape. Here you’ll find NWPS. NWPS is certainly not a household name. When we ask most retirement plan advisors if they’ve heard of NWPS, we are treated to blank stares and stammers. Ask an advisor or client who has worked with NWPS however, and you’ll hear a galaxy of compliments: stellar, awesome, outstanding, capable, helpful, responsive. The list really does go on. We work with clients who are delighted that their NWPS consultant gets back to them the same day

NWPS Co-Sponsors the 2022 Broadridge Fi360 Solutions Conference!

Several hundred retirement plan industry professionals gathered in Austin, Texas last week to discuss the latest trends and important topics impacting the retirement plan market today. Industry giants such as ERISA attorney Fred Reish, Editor-in-Chief of 401(k)Specialist, John Sullivan and sales & marketing brand sage, Sheri Fitts shared their perspectives on everything from ESG investing, in-plan annuities, cryptocurrency, to SECURE 2.0 and so much more. The agenda was robust, relevant, and timely. The headliner was none other than Daymond John of NBC’s Shark Tank who reminded the audience that “responsibility must be taken, not given.” The “Retireholics” (have you seen these guys?) were also on hand providing their usual brand of levity and raucousness. NWPS co-sponsored the event and conducted a highly informative session on Demystifying 3(16) Services. Scores of questions were posed to the panel by audience members. Contact us to receive a copy of the presentation. Equally important to the agenda was the opportunity to visit with retirement plan veterans from every major discipline in the industry: advisors, custodians, recordkeepers, DCIOs, ERISA attorneys, middleware FinTechs, insurance companies, and brand consultants. So many professionals gathering to further the noble effort to provide plan sponsors and their participants the very

NWPS COVID-19 Update

First and foremost, our thoughts and prayers are with the individuals and families most affected by the COVID-19 outbreak, and our profound gratitude goes out to the medical first responders and the every-day, hard-working Americans who are delivering our food, stocking the shelves and manning the gas stations. At NWPS, we take our responsibilities to our clients, plan participants, and staff very seriously. During this COVID-19 pandemic, our top priority is keeping everyone on our team healthy so they can continue to perform their jobs while doing our civic duty to help slow the pace of infection. With that in mind, we have implemented a plan that ensures, from your perspective and the perspective of your plan participants, it will be business as usual, and we are committed to keeping the quality of our services and our responsiveness at the level you expect from us. Rest assured that contributions are being processed, phones are being answered and distribution checks are being sent. Because of our careful planning, we are confident we have the infrastructure and processes in place to be successful. We will keep you posted as new events develop, but in the meantime, don’t hesitate to reach out to us if

Nashville 401k Race for Financial Fitness

At the recent NAPA industry conference, NWPS helped sponsor the Nashville 4.01k Race for Financial Fitness™.  This race was locally sponsored by Avondale Partners, a perennial PLANADVISER Top 100 Retirement Plan Adviser (and NWPS partner) and proceeds benefited Junior Achievement of Middle Tennessee. The concept of the 4.01k Race for Financial Fitness™ was launched by Jason Chepnik and his Smarter Tomorrow Foundation™ in 2015.  The Smarter Tomorrow Foundation™ is on a mission to give every kid from every community a fair shot at a strong financial future.  By spearheading the 4.01K Race for Financial Fitness™ and other initiatives that promote financial education for the next generation, the foundation will empower kids across the nation to take charge of their finances and their life.  Since 2015 more than $250,000 has been donated to financial literacy programs for children. We were delighted to participate in this worthy cause, even to the point of running through a deluge of rain.  Pictured above (left to right) Jordan Sibler, Avondale Partners; Steve Glasgow, Avondale Partners, Tom O’Brien; NWPS and Erich von Bereghy; NWPS. Thanks to Jason Chepnik for founding this worthy cause and Avondale Partners for hosting and sponsoring in Nashville.

Thanksgiving Hero – Grilled & Smoked Turkey

Because it’s Thanksgiving! Last year we had family in for Thanksgiving so we had to cook dinner. Throwing caution to the wind, I decided to try not one, but two new (to me) methods of cooking the turkeys. (This is a somewhat risky strategy because as you know the turkey is the linchpin of Thankgiving dinner – so I was more than a little nervous. I grilled one bird on the Weber, and smoked the other on the Traeger. Drumroll please . . . They came out great. We ate right on time – 4:00 PM and both birds were very well cooked. The smoked turkey on the Traeger took about 5.5 hours. The turkey on the Weber only took 2.75 hours. I cooked both to an internal temperature (instant read thermometer) of 170 degrees and then took them off. Preparation was simple. Two 15 lb fresh organic turkeys (from the local food co-op) brought to room temperature and then dressed with a simple rub of olive oil, salt, pepper and finely chopped fresh sage, rosemary and thyme. I chopped up some apples, drenched them in the rub and put them in the cavities – just for flavor. (No stuffing.) For cooking, I ran the Traeger on