Stonebridge Financial Group is pleased to announce that Jeffrey Kline, CRPS®, AIF®, has been named to the 2020 edition of the Financial Times 401 Top Retirement Advisers. The list recognizes the top financial advisers who specialize in serving defined contribution (DC) retirement plans across the U.S.
It marks the second straight year that Kline, a Senior Financial Advisor at Stonebridge, has been named to this prestigious list. The Lebanon Valley College graduate has worked for Stonebridge since 2007, with primary responsibilities that include managing the firm’s corporate retirement plan clients, relationship management and business development.
The FT 401 represents an impressive cohort of elite advisers. The median DC plan assets of this year’s FT 401 is $800 million. Financial advisers were required to manage $75 million or more in DC plan assets and have DC assets account for at least 20% of their total assets under management (AUM).
This is the sixth annual FT 401 list, produced independently by the Financial Times. The FT’s research partner, Broadridge Financial Solutions, provided unique data from its proprietary database to help identify qualifying candidates.
The FT also worked with the largest U.S. broker-dealers to obtain lists of advisers who met the defined criteria. Qualified advisers filled out an online application and were scored on several factors, including DC AUM, growth in DC plan business, specialization in the DC business, years of experience, industry certifications and compliance record. Selection is independent and objective, and no money is exchanged as part of the process.
The FT 401 is one in a series of rankings of top advisers developed by the FT, including the FT 300 (independent RIA firms) and the FT 400 (broker-dealer advisers).