Kicking Off the 3rd Quarter

As we quickly head into the 3rd quarter of 2008, at last week's Advisor Breakfast, we took a look at some new ventures and marketing opportunities that are coming up.

First: On July 1, 2008 American Funds is rolling out their new PlanPremier TPA platform. This multi-fund product will allow clients to utilize the best of American Funds along with various outside mutual funds, along with the tailored plan design and high level of service clients have come to expect with a TPA. This is particularly exciting for Wells Thomas, LLC as we are one of a handful of TPAs in Connecticut that have been pre-approved to work with this platform. For more information, please call or office to schedule a meeting with us and an American Funds representative.

Second: We are now in the midst of the latest document restatement process for all of our Defined Contribution Plans using Prototype or Volume Submitter plan documents. All of these must be restated to the EGTRRA document no later than April 2010. This is a great opportunity to meet with your clients and ensure that the plan design is appropriate for the current company make-up, as well as meeting the goals of the company owner(s) or key employee(s). Now is the perfect time to solidify your relationship with your existing clients by providing proactive services...and could be a great time to market to potential clients by using this as a way to review their current plan satisfaction.

Third: We are pleased to announce that Wells Thomas, LLC and New England Payroll Services, LLC will be offering a seamless, online data transfer program for our mutual clients. Currently we are in the design stages of the system, but the end result will significantly lessen the data entry time spent by clients in ongoing contributions as well as year-end data collection. Once a client enters the appropriate payroll information into New England Payroll Services, LLC's website (or directly with a payroll representative), contribution data files will automatically be generated and Wells Thomas, LLC will coordinate the transfer of the data to the appropriate custodian of the client's retirement plan. Our goal is to provide not only an easy way to consolidate data entry, but to also help our clients ensure they are meeting the deposit timing standards as mandated by the DOL (see article below on proposed deposit timing). More information will follow as we move forward with this exciting new venture.

We'd like to thank all of those who attended this quarter's meeting, and look forward to seeing you next quarter. Invitations will be sent out in early September with details on when and where the next meeting will be held.

ADVISOR BREAKFAST

• Interested in learning more about the American Funds PlanPremier TPA program?
• Want to know the lastest about the mandatory document restatement process, and how your clients will be impacted in the next two years?
• Do you have any general questions on retirement plan issues you'd like to ask?
• Or how about having an informal round table discussion with other investment advisors in the area to find out how they are handling issues?

Come join us for an informal discussion on these issues at our quarterly get-together. This time we'll be hosting the meeting in-house and providing breakfast.

So join us on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 at 8 am at our office. RSVP through the 'Comment' section below.

APPROVED AMERICAN FUNDS PLAN PREMIER TPA

We are pleased to announce that Wells Thomas, LLC has been approved to work with American Funds' PlanPremier TPA program. Effective July 1, 2008, this new TPA program will allow us to provide Third Party Administration on plans wishing to use American Funds' multi-fund product.

More information will be provided as we approach the launch date of July 1, however please feel free to call our office if you would like more details on this exciting new venture.

Wells Thomas, LLC Named Nationwide Pinnacle PPA

For the second year in a row, Wells Thomas, LLC has been named a Pinnacle PPA with Nationwide. This distinction provides our office with more direct service and support with Nationwide, and gives us advance insight into new systems and products on the horizon. Only a select number of Nationwide PPAs are awarded Pinnacle status, and we are proud of this achievement.

This year's Pinnacle Conference was held in Sarasota, FL, and once again Nationwide did a great job of providing great educational sessions, along with some classic entertainment. Among the highlights of this year's conference:

• We were provided with advance viewings of the new loan reporting system to be unveiled later this year. This system will allow for greater ease, and online requests and processing of participant loans. We were able to provide feedback on the layout, data and functionality of the system, as it is still under development at the moment. With this feedback Nationwide hopes to make the system as user-friendly as possible.


• Dr. Groppel spoke of the "Power of Full Engagement." It was an interesting hour about increasing your focus and energy levels in all aspects of life by focusing on the bio-physical habits we have (diet, exercise, growth and recovery time). Some very interesting points were made about how our moods and productivity are strongly tied to our energy level and overall health.


• Bridget Hagan (Nationwide's Associate Vice President of Government Relations) spoke at length about the trends on Capitol Hill that focus on retirement plans, including the Miller Bill, which is a proposal currently under consideration. Once again, the focus is being put on 'protecting' plan participants, and complete fee disclosure and investment education.


• And of course, the conference would not have been complete without the entertainment. Capping off this year's conference was a performance by Starship (with Mickey Thomas). Though Grace Slick and Paul Kratzner are no longer with the band, it was still a great walk down memory lane with the classics from throughout the long history of the band (including Jefferson Airplane and Jefferson Starship). They played everything from "White Rabbit" and "Miracles" to "Sarah" and "We Built This City", and many forgotten classics in between...capping off the night with a good cover of AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long".

I would like to thank our staff, and the advisors that we work closely with who use the Nationwide platforms, for their hard work and continued support and confidence in Wells Thomas, LLC. Together we hope to achieve this level again next year...