Hub woos small businesses with pooled retirement plan option

The firm's pooled employer plan gives small business owners the chance to offer workers 401(k)s at lower costs.

Hub is looking to extend its reach among American small business owners with the launch of a new retirement plan option. The Chicago-based insurance broker has unveiled the Hub Retirement Select PEP, a pooled employer plan geared toward independent businesses that employ fewer than 100 workers.

The plan – which Hub is offering through its wealth management arm, Hub Retirement and Private Wealth – gives small business owners the opportunity to offer their employees 401(k) retirement plans at a lower cost, and with less complexity and a reduced administrative burden.

Hub is offering its PEP under the auspices of the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022, which offers tax incentives for small businesses to establish a retirement plan.

That legislation builds on similar tax incentives originally introduced in the SECURE Act of 2019, which planted the original seeds for PEPs as a way to address US workers’ retirement-readiness challenges by helping to close the gap in retirement plan coverage.

According to new research from Prudential Financial, American workers’ financial confidence has remained “below average” for the past two years.

By allowing multiple employers to join together, Hub says its pooled employer plan lets small business owners benefit from better service and lower costs associated with scale, as well as having access to support from full-time investment professionals that’s similar to what large companies receive.

Joe DeNoyior, president of Hub Retirement and Private Wealth. said the new pooled retirement plan option also reduces the degree of fiduciary risk independent entrepreneurs would normally associate with offering an employer-sponsored retirement plan.

“Hub is committed to helping expand the opportunity for all Americans to save for their retirement,” said DeNoyior, who assumed leadership of the company’s wealth management unit two years ago.

“With Hub Retirement Select PEP, clients have another option to offer a competitive retirement plan to their employees that ultimately helps them attract talent and help employees achieve financial security and overall financial wellness,” DeNoyior said in a statement.

Sallus Retirement, an independent pooled plan provider, will serve as the lead fiduciary for the new PEP. Ubiquity Retirement + Savings, an independent retirement plan provider and record keeper, is also working with Hub on the PEP.