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Retirement Plan Advisors
Retirement Plan Advisors was founded in 2000 in Chicago as an independent registered investment adviser focused entirely on employer-sponsored retirement...
Retirement Plan Advisors
Retirement Plan Advisors was founded in 2000 in Chicago as an independent registered investment adviser focused entirely on employer-sponsored retirement plans. The firm operates as a fiduciary under ERISA sections 3(21) and 3(38), assuming formal responsibility for investment selection and monitoring on behalf of plan sponsors. Its client base includes corporate retirement plans, government entities, and the individual participants within those plans. RPA structures its services around three fiduciary functions: plan design and implementation, recordkeeper search and ongoing oversight, and onsite participant advisory services. The firm does not operate a proprietary fund family; instead it constructs participant portfolios from third-party investment solutions, emphasizing personalized asset accumulation and income-generating strategies. Its geographic footprint spans the Midwest and Gulf South, with advisory teams located in St. Peters, Missouri; Janesville, Wisconsin (serving Madison and Milwaukee); Northville, Michigan (metro Detroit); and Metairie, Louisiana (metro New Orleans), supported by an operations hub in Jefferson City, Missouri. CEO Josh Schwartz and Senior Investment Analyst Alex Gault, CFA, lead the firm's investment and participant-engagement efforts. In early 2026, Schwartz emphasized the firm's use of participant-level data to drive personalized engagement and stronger retirement outcomes, while Gault published RPA's 1Q26 market commentary outlining the firm's economic outlook for the year. The firm also maintains a content operation that addresses participant financial planning topics including retirement strategy after job loss and second-home purchasing. RPA's structural distinction lies in its status as a non-aggregator fiduciary: it does not pool client capital into proprietary pooled vehicles nor act as a fund-of-retirement-funds. Instead, each plan sponsor relationship is served directly by a regional advisory team, with investment authority exercised at the plan level rather than through centralized model portfolios. This architecture creates a succession and governance model where advisory relationships are locally held, contrasting with the centralized asset-management approach common among larger retirement-platform providers.
General information
Firm type
Bank / Wealth / Trust
Year founded
2000
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Chicago
Corporate office
29 E. Madison Street, Suite 500, Chicago, IL 60602, United States
Additional offices
Jefferson City, MO · St. Peters, MO · Janesville, WI · Northville, MI · Metairie, LA
Principals
Josh Schwartz
CEO
Alex Gault
Senior Investment Analyst
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at Retirement Plan Advisors?
CEO Josh Schwartz leads the firm, with Senior Investment Analyst Alex Gault, CFA producing quarterly market commentary and investment outlooks. Day-to-day plan-level investment decisions are made by the firm's fiduciary teams under its ERISA 3(21) and 3(38) authority, not by a centralized investment committee operating a single house view.
Is Retirement Plan Advisors a fiduciary, and what does that mean for plan sponsors?
RPA serves as both a 3(21) and 3(38) fiduciary under ERISA. A 3(21) fiduciary advises on investment selection while the plan sponsor retains final decision authority; a 3(38) fiduciary assumes full discretion and responsibility for investment management, reducing the sponsor's liability. Using RPA as a 3(38) effectively transfers ongoing investment monitoring and selection duties to the firm.
Does Retirement Plan Advisors offer proprietary investment funds or products?
No. RPA does not manage its own mutual funds, collective investment trusts, or proprietary vehicles. The firm constructs participant portfolios using third-party asset accumulation and income-generating investment solutions, selected to match each client's unique circumstances — a non-proprietary posture that distinguishes it from insurance-owned or fund-manufacturer-affiliated retirement platforms.
How does Retirement Plan Advisors engage plan participants directly?
RPA delivers onsite participant enrollment, guidance, and advisory services through regional advisory offices — currently five locations across Missouri, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Louisiana. The firm's model emphasizes in-person, high-touch engagement rather than purely digital or call-center-based participant servicing, a legacy of its approach since inception in 2000.
What geographic markets does Retirement Plan Advisors serve?
The firm maintains a Chicago headquarters and five regional offices: operations in Jefferson City, Missouri; advisory teams in St. Peters, Missouri (metro St. Louis); Janesville, Wisconsin (serving Madison and Milwaukee); Northville, Michigan (metro Detroit); and Metairie, Louisiana (metro New Orleans). No international offices are disclosed.
Does Retirement Plan Advisors disclose assets under advisement or management?
No. RPA does not publicly disclose an AUM or AUA figure on its website, LinkedIn, or in accessible regulatory filings that can be confirmed to a primary source. The firm's scale is therefore undetermined without direct disclosure.
How is the firm's participant data capability used, and is it a differentiator?
CEO Josh Schwartz stated in early 2026 that participant-level data empowers more personalized engagement and helps plan sponsors drive stronger retirement outcomes. While specifics of the data infrastructure are not publicly disclosed, the firm positions participant data analytics as central to its advisory model rather than a default recordkeeper-provided feature.
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