A Moment of Reflection

New Year's Eve...a time to reflect upon the past, and look forward to the new...

As I look back at the past 18 months, I am very proud of the direction Wells Thomas, LLC has taken, and I feel the journey ahead will bring out the best in us yet. I am ever thankful to my staff for all of their hard work and dedication to their clients. Not only is the experience of my staff impressive, but the comments I get from clients about the relationships they are building with our staff is a cornerstone of our service model, on which we will continue to build.

The past year has also seen some expansion on the services and activities we have become involved in. In March we began a series of quarterly meetings with local investment advisors, with the intent of providing simple, yet vital, information they can use in supporting their clients' retirement plan needs. I am happy to say that we have already lined up multiple sponsors for 2009, and will continue these quarterly meetings in the coming year.

In a similar vein, I began doing presentations for local broker/dealers and investment advisory firms in Connecticut. These question and answer meetings have topics ranging from "how to sell a retirement plan" to issues of plan design and administration, all with the purpose of providing knowledge and support to investment professionals interested in working with retirement plans. As a non-producing Third Party Administrator, the bulk of our referrals come from investment advisors, so we wish to actively support them in all of their needs for retirement plans.

Other highlights of the year include:

* Rolling out our new website (www.wellsthomas.com), which allows our clients to have greater and easier access to plan data
* Working to develop a relationship with New England Payroll Services, LLC, a payroll company in Hamden, which will streamline data transfers for mutual clients
* Testifying before the Connecticut Commerce Committee at the State Capitol regarding retirement plan matters
* Bringing on new members of our staff to strengthen our position as a local TPA
* Being named one of the select TPAs in Connecticut to offer the American Funds Plan Premier program
* Being selected as one of the few TPAs in the country to become a Strategic Administrator with Nationwide Trust Company

In closing, though there are a multitude of people I would like to thank for their ongoing support and work with Wells Thomas, LLC, I would like to take a moment to thank a special few:

My staff: Nancy, Frank, Margaret, Laurie, Lori, Terri, Tracy and Kris
My family for their support in this wonderful adventure
Those who have continued to support Wells Thomas, LLC with referrals, including: Bonnie, Mike, Glenn, Heidi, Lori, Kevin, Michelle and Roland, to name just a few
And finally, to all of my friends, old and new...

Thank you,
Sean