How should retirement plan advisors be thinking about, and incorporating industry disruptors like technology, specifically as it relates to shifting demographics, regulation and financial wellness?
It’s the focus of “How Tech is Driving the Industry and Big Opportunities for Advisors,” the opening keynote session at the 2017 New England Wealth & Retirement Conference at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts on Thursday afternoon.
“Specifically, how is it empowering consumers to think and act differently?” said presenter Michael Domingos, vice president of corporate distribution and strategy with Prudential Retirement, in a pre-conference interview. “How is the trend shaping your business and, in particular, the financial wellness programs offered?”
Domingo noted that in the area of financial wellness, he’s seeing four major players emerge.
The first is what he referred to as “institutional advisors,” or those involved in the plan design and monitoring, “but not really interacting with employees, they’re more high-level.”
The second group are advisors whom he calls “leveragers,” or those involved with individual and plan design consulting based on participant needs and what’s offered from recordkeepers
The third group is the aggregators who might build out their own turnkey financial wellness programs, or employ a combination of “buy and build.”
The fourth and final group is the “consolidators,” or those that offer full, turnkey, end-to-end solutions, which Domingos noted understandably involves heavier lifting, but it’s a group that growing.
“These are not meant to define financial wellness, necessarily, but to serve as frameworks to discuss their impact,” he added. “I will challenge the audience to think about how (or if) they fit into one.”
The conference, which will take place Thursday and Friday, includes high-profile celebrity guests like Heather Abbott, Boston Marathon bombing survivor and motivational speaker; Legendary Patriots’ quarterback Steve Grogan; and, Pete Brock, former Patriot’s all-star (we’re sensing a trend).
A tour of the stadium facility closes out the event Friday afternoon.
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.
