In the exclusive Q&A, 401(k) Specialist Editor-in-Chief Brian Anderson speaks with Pete Welsh and Jeff Thoms, both managing directors at Inspira Financial. Fresh off their Las Vegas appearances at the 2025 NAPA 401(k) Summit and the PSCA National Conferences, Pete and Jeff join us to talk about what they’re seeing in the evolving financial wellness landscape and how Inspira is doubling down on integrated solutions for retirement and wealth and health and benefits.
401(k) Specialist Editor Brian Anderson: Pete, you spoke at the NAPA 401(k) Summit about retirement trends, and Jeff, you gave a presentation on health savings accounts at the PSCA National Conference. Let’s start there. Pete, tell me about your session at the NAPA 401(k) Summit, which focused on smart moves to provide better service to retirement plan sponsors and plan participants. What are some of the key topics you covered in the session?
Pete Welsh: First, it’s great to speak with you again, Brian. At the NAPA Summit, I discussed retirement-plan management issues that may require advisors’ guidance and assistance. For example, ensuring that retirement plans have a mandatory cash-out policy that’s timely administered helps mitigate dormant small-balance accounts and high administrative fees. I pointed out that rolling over all former employees’ account balances that are $7,000 or less—including balances that are less than $1,000—significantly reduces the probability of uncashed checks. I also discussed how advisors can play a key role in retirement plan terminations.
401(k) Specialist: Jeff, your session at the PSCA conference was about maximizing the potential of health savings accounts: Please highlight some of the strategies you shared.
“Employers are increasingly trying to drive adoption of HDHPs, so plan sponsors really need to understand how to leverage HSAs and a few other complementary benefits.”
Jeff Thoms
Jeff Thoms: I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you, Brian. During my session, I discussed how plan sponsors can help employees stow and grow money in health savings accounts. The tectonic shift to high-deductible health plans (or HDHPs) over the last 20 years means that more than half of U.S. employers offer HSAs to their employees. Employers are increasingly trying to drive adoption of HDHPs, so plan sponsors really need to understand how to leverage HSAs and a few other complementary benefits.
401(k) Specialist: What opportunities exist for advisors to better leverage HSAs and other nontraditional tools as part of a holistic financial strategy?
Thoms: Advisors are becoming increasingly aware that HSAs can be a leg of the retirement stool and compete for a share of employees’ wallets. Embracing HSAs as part of their consulting strategy will allow advisors to have a seat at the table with respect to using HSAs as a tool in retirement planning.
In recent years, there has been a trend at conferences to include topics beyond funds, fees, and fiduciaries. The industry recognizes that the workplace is probably the best place for workers to receive education, products, and services that promote holistic financial wellness.
401(k) Specialist: So Inspira really did double down on financial wellness in Las Vegas, making a big promotional splash at both the NAPA and PSCA conferences. How is the company living up to being a leader in health, wealth, retirement, and benefits solutions, and what’s resonating most with clients right now?
Welsh: Perhaps more than our competitors, Inspira Financial is really leaning in to provide a comprehensive set of products and services that our clients can avail to the businesses and people they serve—ensuring better outcomes for all, regardless of whether it’s automatic rollovers, emergency savings accounts, health savings accounts, plan administration services, or other services Inspira offers.
Thoms: Inspira Financial also works with leaders in the health and benefits and advisor sectors to help them understand the evolving nature of this merging of health and wealth. Leaders need to understand how employees view these two areas as intertwined and need to embrace and deploy plans and approaches that further their organizational goals in concert with where things are naturally headed.
401(k) Specialist: You’re now about 15 months into the Inspira rebrand and integration, bringing all of the company’s businesses together under one roof. Give us a pulse check on how the rebrand has helped the business. What impact has the rebrand had internally and externally, and how has it positioned the company for growth?
“At a high level, the rebrand has helped the marketplace and our partner organizations view us as a single entity.”
Pete Welsh
Welsh: At a high level, the rebrand has helped the marketplace and our partner organizations view us as a single entity. For a year and a half, we were consistently asked to specify whether a product or solution was part of Millennium Trust or PayFlex, which were the two brands associated with our retirement services and benefits solutions, respectively. That period is over; we are now one brand. This has allowed us to have what I think are more holistic conversations with partners. We can talk about everything that Inspira Financial offers without using two different names.
Thoms: In addition, the rebrand allows us to promote that regardless of whether you’re considering products under retirement and wealth or health and benefits, they’re all financial services. Moreover, we now have a foundation for a one-stop shop for retirement, wealth, health and benefits.
401(k) Specialist: How has bringing the various business lines together under the Inspira Financial name helped you deliver a more seamless experience for partners, plan sponsors, and participants?
Welsh: We have simplified things tremendously. Many companies do business with us on both the retirement-and-wealth side and the health-and-benefits side. Before rebranding, we appeared as two or more distinct companies. Now we have one name. Our partners are also beginning to realize they can have more holistic conversations with us because of everything we offer.
Thoms: I’ll add that having all the business lines under one brand allows us to help our partners offer integrated solutions under one brand. For example, Inspira Financial provides a more holistic approach to retirement savings now that IRAs and health savings accounts are under one roof.
401(k) Specialist: Let’s take a quick look ahead: What are you most excited about in the coming year at Inspira Financial? Are there any new tools, technologies, or partnerships in the works that retirement advisors should keep an eye on?
Welsh: In retirement and wealth, I am very pleased with how we are engaging advisors and consultants. Many advisors knew of us but hadn’t actually worked with us. Additionally, we’re increasing our engagement with third-party administrators and rolling out white-label IRA solutions for certain partners. I am very excited to see where all of this leads.
“We recently acquired First Dollar, which equips us with a modern, flexible, and expandable platform to administer our health and benefits products.”
Jeff Thoms
Thoms: We recently acquired First Dollar, which equips us with a modern, flexible, and expandable platform to administer our health and benefits products. This new platform significantly expands our ability to provide to our partner organizations everything from a simple referral relationship to a completely white-label embedded platform for health savings accounts. It’s very exciting technology, and we’re excited about the promise it holds.
401(k) Specialist: Let’s talk about retirement plan advisors. How are you working with advisors today to help them deliver more integrated solutions, especially around health savings accounts and retirement planning?
Thoms: As I mentioned earlier, Advisors are becoming increasingly aware that HSAs can be a leg of the retirement stool and compete for a share of employees’ wallets. Embracing HSAs as part of their consulting strategy will allow advisors to have a seat at the table with respect to using HSAs as a tool in retirement planning.So advisors should increase their knowledge of health savings accounts and how they fit in with the goal of diversified retirement planning.
401(k) Specialist: Now I’d like to talk a little bit about the small- to medium-sized business market, which remains a huge opportunity in this space. Are you seeing any shifts there in terms of interest in financial wellness or integrated solutions?
Welsh: As you know, change comes slowly in the smaller end of the market, but eventually, small and medium-size businesses will try to hop on trends adopted by larger businesses. We have seen a slight increase in interest in emergency savings programs but not in-plan emergency savings accounts. We believe that providing an emergency savings account alongside a retirement plan is a great way to help individuals achieve financial wellness.
401(k) Specialist: What trends are you seeing in participant behavior or employer demand that are reshaping what financial wellness looks like today?
Welsh: Right after the pandemic, employers reviewed all of their benefits to ensure they were more appealing during a competitive job market. Things have cooled down a bit in that regard in the past 12 months or so, but employers still desire to ensure they’re meeting their employees’ needs in an affordable way.
Thoms: I believe that the continued adoption of HDHPs will steadily erode the traditional separation of health benefits and retirement benefits. Plan sponsors and plan advisors need to recognize the opportunity of a solution that helps employees navigate these two areas, not as independent topics, but as one unified conversation.
SEE ALSO:
How Company Mergers Affect Retirement Plans with Inspira Financial’s Pete Welsh
Q&A with Inspira Financial’s Pete Welsh: Navigating Merger-Related Retirement Plan Considerations
Veteran financial services industry journalist Brian Anderson joined 401(k) Specialist as Managing Editor in January 2019. He has led editorial content for a variety of well-known properties including Insurance Forums, Life Insurance Selling, National Underwriter Life & Health, and Senior Market Advisor. He has always maintained a focus on providing readers with timely, useful information intended to help them build their business.