For over 30 years, Allison Kaylor-Flink, Senior Vice President of insurance and benefits brokerage NFP, has operated under the essential belief that every hardworking American deserves a reliable way to save for retirement.

It was this conviction that  inspired her to pursue a solution in 2022 after colleagues at NFP noted that their cannabis clients couldn’t access reliable retirement plans. As she investigated further, Kaylor-Flink found that most 401(k) Plan service providers either limited services to CBD-only companies or shut down their plans and ejected companies with little warning.

Then, Kaylor-Flink met Kirsten Curry, founder and CEO of Leading Retirement Solutions in 2022. The pair saw eye-to-eye immediately, and quickly decided to partner to provide reliable, flexible, and compliant retirement plan services to this underserved industry.

“It’s about doing the right thing for people to have a savings vehicle,” said Kaylor-Flink. “And she and I just connected, like, ‘we see it the same way.’”

Likeminded Partners

NFP, an Aon company, had established itself as one of the top providers of group benefits and risk management consulting for cannabis companies, particularly in California and the Northeast. But, because federally-regulated financial institutions can be penalized for working with cannabis, retirement plans remained an elusive offering.

“NFP has been a pioneer in trying to find verticals and solutions to help these companies protect their risk and provide benefits to their employees,” said Kaylor-Flink. “We are one of the biggest providers of group benefits and risk management to cannabis, but retirement benefits were a gap.”

In discovering LRS, NFP found that Curry’s firm didn’t just offer a workaround for cannabis companies—they built legally-compliant and comprehensive solutions specifically designed for the cannabis industry, including a cannabis Pooled Employer Plan (PEP). In recognition of their collaborative potential, NFP and LRS formalized their partnership soon after.

Following their collaboration on several single employer plans, the partnership continued as NFP took on responsibility for overseeing and managing the investment menu as the ERISA 3(38) investment fiduciary for one of LRS’s cannabis pooled employer plans (PEP), which launched in February 2023. Meanwhile, LRS sponsors the plan, handles all administrative, compliance, and operational aspects, and maintains all necessary recordkeeping for compliance—taking a massive burden off cannabis leadership.

Maximum Flexibility, Low Risk

Kaylor-Flink praises LRS for their cannabis plan designs, particularly how the cannabis-focused PEP offers unprecedented flexibility. Unlike traditional pooled plans that force participants into firm structures, this solution allows companies to select their own plan design, choose their preferred advisors, and customize eligibility periods, vesting schedules, safe harbor provisions, and more.

“A lot of pooled programs say, ‘Here’s the box, this is what you get,'” Kaylor-Flink explains. “This program really asks: What works for you?”

While the cannabis 401K solutions offered through NFP and LRS’s partnership provide a strong foundation, companies can also layer in other trusted consultants for education and additional support if they prefer. 

This flexibility matters, because cannabis HR employees often wear multiple hats. The PEP structure provides critical compliance protections and administrative support for cannabis companies, as the third-party provider, in this case LRS, handles complex regulatory requirements like employee benefit audits and distribution qualifications—tasks that cannabis companies typically lack the expertise and capacity to manage themselves.

“It’s building a layer of protection for the organization, but it’s really making retirement plans more efficient and better run for the people using them,” Kaylor-Flink said.

Building Trust Through Stability

Stability is key for cannabis companies. Moving plans causes disruptions, and getting ejected can damage employee trust. That’s why Kaylor-Flink repeatedly refers her network to LRS.

“This is your employees’ money. Choose a provider that will take care of it the right way to protect not only your organization, but also your valued people,” she said.

LRS has proven that commitment through continuous improvement to their offerings. Over the years, they’ve added multiple procedural layers to enhance compliance and security, including securing a major provider as their trustee—a significant milestone that demonstrates the quality and legitimacy of their cannabis retirement solutions.

“I’ve learned so much from their approach to make sure they’re protecting their clients and their clients’ valued employees,” said Kaylor-Flink. “They do business the right way.”