The Boat Behind the Name
In 1893, Hazen Burton and Arthur Dyer built a sailboat on Lake Minnetonka with one mission: to create a revolutionary sailboat built to perform. No ballast. No dead weight. A boat designed not to plow through the water, but to fly on top of it. Lighter, with less friction, and faster than anything else on the water. The Onawa never lost a race. More than 130 years later, her design still influences modern sailboat racing. That’s the standard we built this firm around.
The benefits and retirement advisory world has a friction problem. Too many business owners are stuck with legacy advisors who set up a plan years ago and haven’t been heard from since. Agencies are being swallowed by mega-brokers where service has been replaced by a focus on margins. Plans go unreviewed. Phones go unanswered. Employees are handed benefits they don’t understand and owners are left managing complexity that was supposed to be solved.
Onawa Group exists to change that. We partner with business owners to strip out the administrative burden, design plans that are simple and effective, and make sure the people inside your business actually understand and appreciate what they have. We answer the phone. We work with urgency. And because we’re business owners ourselves, we understand what’s actually at stake.
Our Founder
am Rogers spent over a decade as a competitive sailor, from his roots on Lake Minnetonka to international competition. Through regattas in Italy and St. Barths and races in Newport and San Francisco, he sailed by his motto: “Preparation. Training. Results.”
He built Onawa Group because he saw a gap. Small and mid-sized businesses deserve the kind of thoughtful, responsive retirement plan and benefits advising that’s increasingly hard to find as the industry consolidates around larger firms chasing margins instead of providing quality service.
Sam is a Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA) and is based in Excelsior, MN.
Why We Started Onawa Group
Across the financial services industry, smaller firms are being acquired by private equity and large brokers at a steady pace. The priority shifts from client relationships to the bottom line. Responsiveness drops, and plans are treated with less care and detail.
We created Onawa Group because small- and mid-sized businesses in the Twin Cities deserve better than that. As Minnesota retirement plan advisors, we know that employers are trying to attract talent, protect their people, and build something lasting. They shouldn’t have to settle for a firm that treats their account as a line item.
How We Work
Every engagement starts with a thorough discovery process. We discuss your business structure, goals, employees, and where you want to be in 10 or 20 years. That groundwork shapes everything from retirement plan design to employee benefits planning to succession strategy.
From there, we design plans that meet the business’ goals, are efficient to implement, and are genuinely understood and appreciated by the employees they’re built to serve. After implementation, we regularly review your plan and remain available when questions come up.
Our clients are small business owners, and so are we. We understand the weight of the decisions you’re making because we’re making similar ones ourselves.
Our Founding Principles
Onawa Group works with small- and mid-sized businesses to simplify their retirement plans, benefits, and succession strategy. We remove the complexity so owners can focus on running their business, not overpaying for outdated, overpriced, and underperforming plans.
Less Friction, More Performance
The Onawa was built to operate above the water, not through it. We apply the same thinking to your business — stripping out the complexity so your plans perform the way they should.
Service Is Not Optional
Responsiveness, urgency, and genuine relationships aren’t differentiators in our mind; they’re the baseline. We answer the phone, follow through, and show up prepared.
Keep It Simple
The best plan is one that works cleanly, fits the business, and makes sense to the people it serves. There are no complex, convoluted plans here — just trusted solutions.
We’re Business Owners, Too
Our clients face the challenges of running a business every day, and so do we. That shared experience makes us better advisors and partners.
Proudly Minnesotan
We’re Twin Cities financial advisors headquartered in Excelsior, MN on the shores of Lake Minnetonka, where the Onawa first raced in 1893. We work with small- and mid-sized businesses across the Twin Cities, greater Minnesota, and throughout the Midwest. We provide a range of services from retirement advising to succession planning to benefit plan designing.
Frequently Asked Questions About Onawa Group
Onawa Group helps small business owners design and manage several key financial programs, including:
- Retirement plan design and administration
- Employee benefits strategies
- Executive benefits planning
- Wealth transfer strategies for owners
- Business succession strategies
- Exit planning
These solutions are tailored to align with the business’s long-term goals and its leadership’s objectives.
Large financial firms and brokerage organizations often prioritize scale and financial metrics over personalized service. Onawa Group takes a different approach by prioritizing responsiveness, relationships, and long-term partnership with clients.
We design efficient, understandable solutions and maintain close communication with the businesses we serve.
Retirement plans and employee benefits can become overly complex and burdensome for businesses to manage. Our benefits consultants and retirement planning advisors simplify plan design and administration so employers can spend less time on paperwork and more time running their companies while still providing meaningful benefits to employees.
Because the firm itself is built by and for business owners, Onawa Group understands the challenges leaders face when managing employees, planning for retirement, and preparing for future transitions. As financial advisors for business owners, we work with you to design practical solutions that support productivity, company culture, and long-term business value.