You bump into Elon Musk while attending the Broadridge Fi360 Solutions Annual Conference in Austin, and he informs you he’s looking for a new financial professional to oversee Tesla’s retirement plan.
“Hammons offered three main points of what effective advisors do.”
“What do you differently?” he asks, wanting the elevator pitch. It was an interesting thought experiment to begin Taylor Hammons’ presentation on Tuesday morning.
Hammons, the Head of Retirement Plans with Kestra Financial, told attendees how to deepen and strengthen their retirement plan relationships while establishing trust by asking the right questions.
Answers from the audience to his hypothetical Musk question included, “You’ve come to the right place,” “Fiduciary protection through a comprehensive suite of services,” and “I work directly with plan participants.”
Great, Musk responded, “I went to a restaurant last night, and they told me the same thing. I don’t want broad and macro; I want micro and specific.”
Hammons offered three main points of what effective advisors do: Prudent selection of plan providers, working with the plan committee to ensure reasonable fees, and helping participants make the right decisions.
“I use a car analogy and my 16-year-old daughter,” he said. “I help select the right car, gas it up, and teach them to drive.”
Taking each in turn, he began with provider due diligence, speaking to the review and recommendation of a provider and an explanation of bundled vs. unbundled administration.
“Next, plan level advice identifies and explains 3(21) and 3(38) services, as well as the investment due diligence process and frequency,” he explained.
Lastly, participant-level assistance includes the annual employee enrollment and education meetings, one-on-one interactions with participants, help with in-plan decisions, and financial wellness support for out-of-plan decisions.
He also discussed wealth management services, concluding that “we need to be more than just the 401k plan advisor to truly help participants with retirement outcomes.”
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.
