In Star Wars lore, Order 66 was a secret order by Chancellor/Emperor Palpatine for the clone troopers to kill the Jedi as traitors to the Republic. In the retirement plan space, I jokingly claim that this will be the Order when larger plan providers who have ownership stakes in registered investment advisors, will try to take plans from the advisors who referred them business.
While third-party administrators (TPAs) get larger and own interests in advisory firms, it’s nothing new. We have had producing TPAs in the past who did that, we have had mega-sized mutual fund companies do that as well, stealing business from their very own platform to move it to another of their platforms. It’s nothing new, it just seems newer because of the constant mentions of retirement plan consolidation. As Bill Belichick would say, “Do your job.” If you are an advisor, showcasing that you are an invaluable member of the fiduciary process for the plan sponsor, will make it more difficult for you to be replaced.
