In my last article for AdvisorOne, I talked about the three most common traits I've seen in highly successful retirement plan advisors. Though unique in their personalities and businesses and how they operate those businesses, they all possess similar qualities that have led to their success. The advisors and industry professionals I see who are truly successful at what they do complement their vision with an ability to execute their vision brilliantly. They are often the ones who develop a practical and useful service and put the right team in place, leading them in a way that encourages and fosters creative, problem-solving thinking. They're the ones who stay focused on the areas where they do their best work and they're the advisors whose businesses are able to grow quickly because they don't get held up by politics or operational processes that hinder the innovative processes. 

Trisha Brambley of Retirement Playbook Inc. stands out in my mind as one of these professionals. She not only possesses an ability to recognize market trends far ahead of most of her peers, but she knows how to execute on them by leveraging her acquired skills, expertise and personality traits.

Trisha was not only a key member involved in implementing the country's first 401(k) plan, working with its accredited creator, Ted Benna, but she spearheaded one of the first retirement plan advisory firms in 1995. She has been named one of the most influential advisors in the country many times in her career, including making the Top 100 Retirement Plan Advisors list four years in a row, Top Retirement Plan Consultant, and Top 300 most influential people in the retirement industry four times. She speaks on many national forums that focus on retirement plan issues, including the Profit Sharing Council of America and the Center for Due Diligence and served on the DOL's ERISA Advisory Council for three years, preparing DOL recommendations on target date fund analysis, stable value issues and participant financial education. She even served as Vice Chair of the Council in 2008 and as Chair for the study of stable value funds in 2009. She's done so much in the industry it would probably take me fifty more pages to get it all down on paper.