In Episode 19 of Gray to Great, Dan Dal Degan sits down with Matt Compton, AIF, CRPC, Partner, Retirement and Wealth Services at Alera Group. Matt spent over eleven years at Principal Financial Group on the record keeping and administrative side before transitioning to plan advising in 2019, and that background shapes everything about how he serves clients today. He and Dan explore what it really means to be a plan advisor, how integrating retirement benefits into the broader employee benefit relationship creates better outcomes, and why day-to-day plan oversight matters as much as the investment process.

Matt also shares what COVID taught him about building a service model, how his team develops talent, and the advice he would give his younger self. This episode is worth the listen for advisors at any stage of their career.

More About Matt:

Matt Compton, AIF, CRPC, is a Partner, Retirement and Wealth Services at Alera Group. Before joining Alera Group in October 2023, Matt spent over six years at Brio Benefit Consulting, an Alera Group company, serving as Director of Retirement Services and later Partner, Retirement Solutions. Prior to that, he spent over eleven years at Principal Financial Group, building deep expertise in record keeping and plan administration across defined contribution, defined benefit, and nonqualified deferred compensation plans.

That provider-side foundation shapes everything about how Matt approaches plan advising today. Since transitioning to the advisory side in 2019, he and his team have grown their retirement practice from approximately $70 million to over $1.4 billion in assets under advisement. Matt has been recognized as a PLANADVISER Top Retirement Plan Adviser, and his team has earned national accolades including Plan Adviser of the Year and the Excellence in Operations Award.

Chapters for Podcast:

00:00 – Introduction to Matt Compton

02:29 – The Importance of Record Keeping Retirement Plans

07:02 – Transitioning from Record Keeping to Advisory Services

11:19 – Building a Holistic Approach to Employee Benefits

15:29 – Navigating Complexity in Retirement Planning

19:56 – Advice for Young Professionals in the Industry

Disclosures:

Matthew Compton and Alera Group, Inc., are not affiliated with or endorsed by, Great Gray Trust Company, LLC.

Great Gray® and Great Gray Trust Company are service marks used in connection with various fiduciary and non-fiduciary services offered by Great Gray Trust Company, LLC.