Speaking Truth to Build Trust
Rodney Balbuena’s bilingual skills serve him exceptionally well. As a member of Southern California’s Hispanic community, he understands what it takes to build trust and increase savings among the employers and employees he serves.
“It’s not as formal, and they don’t need to see anything shiny and flashy,” Balbuena, Managing Director with SageView Advisory Group, explained. “A lot of the Spanish-speaking community prefers just to talk through these types of financial issues. They don’t all have email addresses (that they use with regularity), and they don’t always have an expert-level grasp on the latest technology trends.”
It’s a challenge, he added, but taking the time to walk them through the necessary steps is a critical ingredient in building that trust, as well as building the 30 plans and $1.5 billion in assets that now comprise his book of business.
“I believe in retirement savings because it’s important and not talked about enough.”
A vendor-side veteran of the retirement plan space, Balbuena started as an enroller with Manulife Financial before positions with John Hancock and MetLife. Continued consolidation, along with a growing realization that he was only as good as the product he represented, led to a try as an advisor to make a greater impact on participant outcomes. It worked, and he hasn’t looked back since.
“It’s the reason I do what I do,” Balbuena said. “I realized early on that people who speak Spanish don’t really have a true resource and historically are more challenged by saving. Here I am 25 years later, and now I’m an advisor. I believe in retirement savings because it’s important and not talked about enough. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t schedule one-on-one meetings because that’s so important in successful saving.”
He pointed to a waste management client as an example. It had 300 employees, approximately 50% of whom were Spanish-speaking, and less than half of its employees contributed to its 401(k) plan.
“They were happy getting a 3% employer profit-sharing contribution, and for them, it was enough,” he explained. “They thought they would be set for retirement, but I had to walk them through it to show them it was not enough.”
Over five years, he raised it to a 75% participation rate and doubled the deferral rate.
“There is a segment of the employee population that is not going to contribute or couldn’t afford to, but the ones that were in saved more, and we convinced many who were not in the plan to participate. A big part of it was sitting in their lunchroom in one-on-one meetings.”
Like the Hispanic community overall, many employees were from Nicaragua or Mexico and didn’t trust the countries’ financial systems. Seeing Balbuena regularly helped build that trust.
“This client does business the old-fashioned way,” he concluded. “They’re blue-collar, look you in the eye, shake your hand, and it’s a deal. The company itself was loyal and rarely replaced its vendors. Once they gave you their trust, it included access to key managers to set up meetings at some of their other locations. That was the difference; establishing that consistent level of trust within the system itself, and they then began to trust me.”
Rodney Balbuena, CPFA, is Managing Director with SageView Advisory Group.
Listen to Rodney Balbuena on the 401(k) Specialist Podcast
With more than 20 years serving financial markets, John Sullivan is the former editor-in-chief of Investment Advisor magazine and retirement editor of ThinkAdvisor.com. Sullivan is also the former editor of Boomer Market Advisor and Bank Advisor magazines, and has a background in the insurance and investment industries in addition to his journalism roots.
