ALBANY BASED RETIREMENT PLAN ADVISORY FIRM IS RECOGNIZED AS FINALIST FOR NATIONAL HONORS

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1 Contact Mark Temple Managing Director, Institutional Retirement Plans Retirement & Benefit Partners, Inc (office) FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 6, 2014 ALBANY BASED RETIREMENT PLAN ADVISORY FIRM IS RECOGNIZED AS FINALIST FOR NATIONAL HONORS Albany, NY Retirement & Benefit Partners, Inc., one of the nation's premier institutional retirement plan consulting firms, reports that the firm has been named as a Finalist for PLANADVISER/PLANSPONSOR magazine 2014 Multi-Office Adviser Team of the Year and as a TOP100 retirement plan adviser for the third time by these publications. The PLANADVISER Top 100 Advisers is an annual listing of the retirement plan advisers and adviser teams that stand out in the industry in terms of a series of quantitative measures. According to PLANADVISER, the Top 100 Advisers list for 2014 recognizes outstanding individuals, teams and multi-office teams according to a variety of quantitative measures, including the dollar value of qualified plan assets under advisement (AUA) as well as the number of plans under advisement as reported directly by nominees. It also draws attention to those who have at least 20 percent of their practice focused on 403(b) plans, 457 plans, defined benefit plans (DB), or non-qualified plans. Advisers are asked to submit their information in one of three categories: individual adviser, adviser team and multi-office team. An individual adviser is a single adviser with one group of clients; a team is a group of two or more advisers in one office location who collectively serve one group of clients, sharing relationships and sales and using the same client support team; a multi-office team is a group of two or more advisers across multiple office locations who share support staff and follow the same guidelines and procedures to serve their clients. 1of5

2 This year s qualification standards which rise nearly every year were quite high. Individuals had to have 65 or more plans or at least $500 million in AUA; teams needed to advise at least $1.5 billion in assets or a minimum of 125 plans; and multi-office teams needed to oversee $2.5 billion in plan assets or 200 or more plans. Methodology To be considered for this list, advisers had to either submit information and references or be nominated and enter the award process for 2014 PLANSPONSOR Retirement Plan Adviser of the Year individual, team or multi-office team. Plan Adviser of the Year Award nominations were solicited online from retirement plan advisers, their employers and/or broker/dealers, and employers with retirement plans, as well as from working partners of the advisers, such as investment vendors, accountants, attorneys and pension administrators. Nominees were then asked to complete a form, providing various details about their practice, some of which appear here. Advisers could also, for the first time, submit such information unsolicited, although not to be considered for the awards. The PLANSPONSOR Retirement Plan Adviser and Adviser Team of the Year awards are based on both qualitative and quantitative factors. The most successful lists are drawn solely from a smaller set of quantitative factors and information supplied by the advisers themselves. "We enthusiastically congratulate these advisors and advisor teams on this important industry recognition," said Bill Chetney President of LPL Retirement Partners. (Retirement & Benefit Partners, Inc. is a member firm of LPL Retirement Partners.) "The acknowledgment of a number or our advisors, by a leading publication in the retirement industry, reinforces our belief that LPL Retirement Partners is a destination of choice for America's independent retirement plan advisors. We are also proud of the outstanding solutions and support we provide to these advisors and their organizations to assist them in managing and growing their businesses and, most importantly, serving their clients' retirement plan needs." Mark Temple, Managing Director of Retirement & Benefit Partners, commented, "We are pleased to be recognized again this year by PLANADVISER/PLANSPONSOR magazines, two of the leading publications in the industry. Every year the standards for recognition get higher, so our repeated inclusion in the TOP100 list, not to mention our nomination for Multi-office Team of the Year, is tremendously gratifying. We are more committed than ever to serve as a co-fiduciary, ERISA consultant and investment adviser to our clients and advocating for an approach to retirement readiness that continues to place the interests of employers and employees ahead of financial services firms." 2of5

3 Temple's Albany, New York based Retirement & Benefit Partners, Inc. has been repeatedly recognized as one of the TOP100 Retirement Plan Advisers by PLANADVISER/PLANSPONSOR magazines. The firm is the only retirement plan advisory firm in Upstate New York to be recognized in multiple years (2009, 2012 and 2014). Retirement & Benefit Partners is a Registered Investment Advisor and independent consulting firm dedicated to the retirement plan market. RBP provides consulting services to hundreds of employers with over $1 billion in plan assets across the Northeast. RBP maintains offices in Albany, Syracuse, Danbury, CT, Providence, RI and Great Barrington, MA. In a financial services market flooded with generalists and brokers, Retirement & Benefit Partners distinguishes itself by providing: Exclusive Focus on Institutional Retirement Plan Clients 20+ Years of Experience Comprehensive, Independent & Objective Advice Serves as an Investment Fiduciary to its clients Best Practices Which Seek to Avoid Conflicts of Interest & Legally Committed Only to Client s Best Interests Fees are Explicit, Free from Revenue Sharing Arrangements & Compliant with ERISA Fee Disclosure Requirements Services include: Investment Advisory Fee Benchmarking & Provider Search Assistance with Plan Design & ERISA Compliance Group & Individual Employee Investment Education Employee Communications Launched in 1993, PLANSPONSOR/PLANADVISER magazines are the nation's leading authority on retirement issues and benefits programs. PLANSPONSOR.com provides comprehensive news and commerce services dedicated solely to helping employers and financial advisors navigate the complex world of retirement plans and benefit programs on behalf of their employees or clients. PLANSPONSOR and PLANADVISER magazines are published by Asset International, Inc., which is located in Stamford, CT. 3of5

4 Retirement & Benefit Partners, Inc. was also chosen in 2009 and 2012 for inclusion in the TOP100, while the managing director of the firm, Mark D. Temple, AIF of Slingerlands, was selected as a finalist for Plan Adviser of the Year in 2009 by PLANSPONSOR magazine. As Managing Director of Institutional Retirement Plan Consulting for Retirement & Benefit Partners, Temple manages all aspects of the firm s consulting operation. Temple has over 20 years of proven institutional retirement plan experience, having spent 15 years managing the corporate retirement services unit of First Albany Corporation. He also worked at State Street Bank, American Express and Bank of America, where he ran their New York consulting division. The effort and expertise demanded of employers by the federal government with respect to retirement plans seems to grow exponentially each year. Fee disclosure is now mandated and we are pleased that it is finally being implemented. Unfortunately, it is still very difficult for employers and employees to fully comprehend how much they are actually paying to their brokers, investment companies and other vendors that are feeding at the trough of their retirement plan. Fees have been disguised or hidden so well for so long that the annual AARP survey reveals that 70% of American workers actually believe that their 401(k) plan is free. Despite this beneficial mandate, employers are understandably confused as to what they must do with this newfound information, which in some cases means that they must fire their broker or provider. Needless to say, much of our time is spent helping employers, from small businesses to large medical practices or law firms, construction or manufacturing companies with thousands of employees, understand their duties and their legal exposure in a time of increasing litigation. We re dedicated to serving only the best interests of our clients and make the commitment, a rare one in this business, to serve as an investment fiduciary to our clients. Once they understand that we are both sitting on the same side of the table and that we aren t selling financial products to earn fat commissions, the suspicion disappears and a longstanding advisory relationship often begins. The data does not lie, the average American worker is not prepared for retirement. They don t save enough money each week; they don t save for long enough; they pay too much in fees; they don t invest in a diversified manner; they don t receive enough help in investing and they frequently don t even earn benchmark performance for their investments. We are committed to changing that paradigm. 4of5

5 -30- Notes: *PLANSPONSOR awards - Selected based solely on quantitative factors, including plan assets and number of plans as reported directly by nominees. *Securities offered through LPL Financial, Member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advice offered through Independent Financial Partners (IFP), a registered investment advisor. IFP and Retirement and Benefit Partners are separate entities from LPL Financial. 5of5