2013/3/4 - LPL Financial Launches Worksite Financial Solutions Platform

SAN DIEGO, March 4, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- LPL Financial LLC – the nation's largest independent broker-dealer*, a leading RIA custodian, institutional service provider and a wholly owned subsidiary of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: LPLA) – today announced the launch of the Worksite Financial Solutions platform. The platform is focused on new solutions that will enable retirement plan sponsors and advisors to better address the needs of plan participants throughout their financial lives, from the date of hire to separation and beyond.

The Worksite Financial Solutions platform reflects the vision of LPL Financial Retirement Partners, the retirement plan-focused division of LPL Financial, for the future of the retirement plan advisory services industry, and encompasses the Employee Transition Solution, which launched in May of 2012. LPL Financial expects the rollout of the new platform to be completed in April.

The core goal of the platform will be to provide an alternative to the current fragmented system of participant advice, in which most workers receive only rudimentary financial education and a menu of investmentoptions, rather than the personalized financial advice and guidance they need to adequately plan for the future.

The Worksite Financial Solutions platform will introduce new tools enabling plan sponsors and advisors to better serve plan participants across the full spectrum of the retirement preparation process via three key areas of focus:

• Providing more in-depth advice on retirement plan investments throughout workers' careers;
• Helping employees assess their own financial wellness; and
• Enabling employees to identify and implement the most appropriate solutions for their needs upon separation from an employer's plan.

The platform will also serve to better align the needs of participants, sponsors and advisors throughout this multi-year process, helping workers truly prepare for retirement while creating new opportunities for plan-focused financial advisors.

Bill Chetney, Executive Vice President of LPL Financial Retirement Partners, said, "Since our acquisition by LPL Financial, we have actively leveraged our enhanced resources and scale to completely re-invent the world of retirement plan financial advice. The current model for providing retirement advice to plan participants is simply inadequate, and does not enable workers to manage and grow their retirement plan assets across the full spectrum of their financial lives. With the Worksite Financial Solutions platform, LPL Financial is taking steps to provide workers the advice they need for retirement, while at the same time creating new opportunities for our affiliated retirement-plan focused financial advisors."

Barbara Delaney, Principal of StoneStreet Equity, LLC in Pearl River, New York, a retirement-plan focused financial advisor with $2.5 billion in  assets under advisementaffiliated with LPL Financial, said, "The Worksite Financial Solutions platform shows how LPL Financial is taking a new and innovative approach to the problems facing thousands of American workers and plan sponsors across the country. With the new framework they have announced today, LPL Financial is stepping up to make real advice more widely available to plan participants, while opening enormous opportunities for retirement plan-focused advisors to work with a large, underserved segment of clients nationwide."

Specific tools offered through the Worksite Financial Solutions platform will include the following:

• Employee Advice Solution.  The platform will enable the delivery of custom-tailored participant advice through an online service offering that gathers information on each participant's financial picture through a detailed "on-boarding" process. Based on this information, participants can elect to receive personalized advice through the system or manage their accounts on their own. Participants can opt to receive advice all the way through retirement, as well.
  
  This online platform will feature full integration with LPL Financial's reporting and monitoring tools for plan advisors. Participants will receive account reviews and updates from the plan advisor, facilitating a closer relationship between advisors and plan participants.

• Employee Education Solution.  The educational services component of the Worksite Financial Solutions platform will include an online financial wellness center powered by Financial Finesse, which will enable participants to develop a clear view of their own current financial situations and needs and provide them tools to support their individual improvement in areas of concern. Plan sponsors will be able to view aggregate data from participant wellness assessments as part of the integrated plan-level reporting they receive from their LPL Financial advisor.
  
  The educational component of the platform will also help to build stronger relationships between plan sponsors, participants and advisors by providing advisors with pre-approved marketing materials and educational workshops designed to facilitate ongoing, in-depth dialogue with plan participants about their financial needs which are tailored to the gaps identified through the survey process mentioned above.

• Employee Transition Solution The Worksite Financial Solutions platform will also incorporate the Employee Transition Solution, which LPL Financial launched in May 2012 to educate retirement plan participants, and where appropriate, transition retirement plan accounts for separating employees. This program provides retirement plan-focused advisors powerful new options to grow and strengthen their businesses.

Mr. Chetney concluded, "As we seek to tackle the serious challenges facing plan sponsors and participants in today's retirement environment, LPL Financial is excited to propose new solutions that will help move the industry forward. The Worksite Financial Solutions platform will enable plan sponsors, advisors and participants alike to better understand and prepare for the retirement landscape, and will help American workers to maximize one of their most valuable assets – their savings in employer-sponsored retirement plans."

About LPL Financial
LPL Financial, a wholly owned subsidiary of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: LPLA), is the nation's largest independent broker-dealer (based on total revenues, Financial Planning magazine, June 1996-2012), a top RIA custodian, and a leading independent consultant to retirement plans. LPL Financial offers proprietary technology, comprehensive clearing and compliance services, practice management programs and training, and independent research to over 13,300 financial advisors and approximately 700 financial institutions. In addition, LPL Financial supports over 4,500 financial advisors licensed with insurance companies by providing customized clearing, advisory platforms and technology solutions. LPL Financial and its affiliates have approximately 2,900 employees with primary offices in Boston, Charlotte, and San Diego. For more information, please visit www.lpl.com.

Securities and Advisory Services offered through LPL Financial. A Registered Investment Advisor, Member FINRA/SIPC

*Based on total revenues, Financial Planning magazine, June 1996-2012

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking statements relating to the launch of the new Worksite Financial Solutions Platform.  The words "anticipates," "believes," "expects," "may," "plans," "predicts," "will" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words.  Forward-looking statements are not guarantees that future results, plans, intentions or expectations expressed or implied by LPL Financial Holdings Inc. or its affiliates will be achieved. Matters subject to forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties which may cause actual results to be materially different than those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements.  Important factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, changes in general economic and financial market conditions, effects of competition in the financial services industry, changes in the number of our financial advisors and institutions, and the other factors set forth in Part I, "Item 1A. Risk Factors" in LPL Financial Holdings Inc.'s 2012 Annual Report on Form 10-K, which is available on www.lpl.com and www.sec.gov.

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Media Contacts
Matthew Griffes / Chris Clemens
Haven Tower Group LLC
(206) 420 1525 or (206) 402 5853
cclemens@haventower.com or mgriffes@haventower.com

SOURCE LPL Financial LLC