National Football League owners and players hired PFM Asset Management to manage and advise several defined contribution retirement plans, said the NFL Players Association, Washington, on Tuesday.
The firm manages the assets in the $1 billion NFL Player Annuity Program, and provides investment advice for the $1.6 billion NFL Player Second Career Savings Plan and the newly created NFL Player Capital Accumulation Plan, which allows players to self-direct annuity investments. All three plans are based in Baltimore.
PFM proposed “a number of enhancements and improvements to the current structure” of the Second Career 401(k) plan, tailored to players’ short careers and their ability to draw from the annuity program as early as age 35, said a statement from the firm.
John Spagnola, PFM managing director and co-head of the multiasset portfolio group, is a former NFL player with the Philadelphia Eagles, Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks.
“I am ecstatic about having a former player in that significant role,” said Miki Yaras-Davis, NFLPA benefits director, in an interview.
PFM currently has $93.5 billion total in assets under management and administration.
PFM replaces Michael Lipper of Lipper Advisory Services, who retired at the end of 2014 after 20 years as plan adviser. Mr. Lipper, the first person hired after the defined contribution plan was formed in 1993, “did an excellent job of building from the ground up a 401(k) plan that fit the career and life span of the NFL player,” Ms. Yaras-Davis said.
