Plan Consultant Releases Fall 2013 Issue

Early in my career, I worked as a retirement plan wholesaler, occasionally conducting enrollment meetings for new participants. One such meeting took place at a nursing home nearly 20 years ago, where the 7:00 a.m. session was very lightly attended. However, I had the undivided attention of a young nursing assistant named Emily who asked to speak with me afterward.

Emily explained how she was from a humble background and was the first in her family to go to college, paying her own way by working nights at the nursing home. I was truly inspired by her work ethic, enthusiasm about what I had to share, and the genuine spark I saw in her eyes when I explained the simple yet staggering effects of compound earnings. I left our meeting confident that Emily would be successful in her chosen career — and a successful life-long saver.

Over the years, my brief meeting with Emily has stayed with me, though I tucked it away in the back of my mind. But lately, I think of her often as the news reminds us nearly every single day about our national retirement savings shortfall. In fact, a recent Senate study pegs the overall retirement savings deficit for Americans at an astronomical $6.6 trillion,1 which means the average person is far from having an adequate nest egg. So, now I think about the millions of “Emilys” out there and what we can do as an industry to help improve their retirement outcomes.

Currently, I work closely with many TPAs across the nation. And because they work mostly with smaller plans, I believe TPAs can make a significant impact on retirement readiness. Their smallplan clients are the “boots on the ground” at their companies; they don’t have large HR departments on which to rely.

Sponsors at small companies spend only a fraction of their time working on their retirement plans because they have so many other responsibilities. More times than not, they are looking for guidance from their TPA. I wondered what TPAs are currently telling their plan sponsor clients, and how open they would be to starting the retirement readiness conversation. So I reached out to a few of my trusted TPA partners to discuss retirement readiness from their unique perspective…

Read the full article, “Readiness by Design” by Deborah Rubin in the fall issue of Plan Consultant Magazine. Also in the new issue:

• “Fiduciary Challenges of Target Date Funds” by Tess Ferrara
• “The Expanding Alternative Universe in 401(k) Plans” by Steve Sullivan
• “Pension Risk Transfer Solutions” by Geoff Dietrich
• “ASPPA’s GAC Meets with Federal Officials” by Ronald J. Triche, Esq., APM

 

Tags: ASPPA, Deb Rubin, featured, Plan Consultant Magazine, Rubin, Third Party Administrators (TPA), TPA

Category: Latest News, Member Focus