Some like it hot, others not, as the GRP Advisor Alliance gathering kicked off Friday morning at the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego.
The annual event brings together a who’s-who of industry advisors, providers and executives for education, information and just a bit of fun.
The opening keynote started with history about the famed locale, with GRPAA managing partner Jim Owens ticking off a number of facts about the hotel, as well as the military presence in the area.
Noting the date of the property’s founding in 1887, he pointed to President Taft’s visit in 1915, and sent shivers to attendees when recalling the Kate Morgan mystery in 1892, in which a “pretty young woman in her mid-twenties checked into the hotel alone and was found dead five days later.”
While the coroner ruled her death a suicide, many had their doubts, and her ghost supposedly haunts hotel halls to this day.
GRPAA founder Bill Chetney then explained this year’s conference theme, modeled off of Malcolm Gladwell’s bestselling The Tipping Point.
“Rarely do large corporations innovate,” Chetney argued, before adding to laughter, “It’s small groups with real and direct interaction that spark ideas. That’s how we’ve structured the conference. You’ll come up with these great ideas and I’ll take all the credit.”
Noting the “big bucket items” he currently sees, he rhetorically wondered why the adoption of collective investment trusts is taking so long.
“CITs are something that had definitely not tipped, but what has? Financial wellness. Every large company is doing it. CFOs and HR departments realize that health and wellness issues cost a company money if not addressed, and that realization is now being made about financial wellness as well. Do it right, and you have happy, healthier and more productive employees.”
The clear majority of people are on their own with retirement planning, he added, “My family, for instance, gets financial education twice a year—when they sit next to me at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Most people didn’t know they needed a 401k until they had one, and it’s the same with financial wellness.”
Concluding with what he acknowledged was “kinda corny,” he noted the advancements in saving and participation rates brought about by auto-enrollment, auto-escalation and auto-investment, “but now we ‘ought to’ be talking to them about financial wellness.”
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.
