It was Friday-Funday for the Excel 401(k) 2020 Digital Series, with Jania Stout being named 2020’s Top Advisor by Participant Outcomes (TAPO) honoree and guest speaker Anthony Scaramucci sharing his unique take on the presidential race during the “virtually live” awards session on Friday.
Stout, managing director and co-founder of Hightower Fiduciary Plan Advisors, was revealed as 2020’s top TAPO by Meghan Jacobson of exclusive TAPO sponsor J.P. Morgan Asset Management.
“Thank you all for naming me as this year’s winner, but I think that everybody that was a finalist this year is a winner because we are all in this together,” Stout said after the live announcement.
Other 2020 TAPO finalists included:
- Tom Brown, Blue Water Capital Management
- Gerald Wernette, Rehmann Retirement Solutions
- Joe Brummel, Strategic Retirement Partners
- Larry Deatherage, Retirement Benefits Group
- Austin Gwilliam, GRP Financial
- Jane Hagen, Tri-Star Trust
- Douglas Parker, Sage Rutty & Company
- Jake Rushton, TrueNorth Wealth
- Eduardo Gimenez, Raffa Retirement Services
- Jeffery Acheson, Advanced Strategies Group
- Jonathon Schultheiss, Gate City Advisors
Stout, who has been a leader as far as advisors effectively utilizing technology to aid plan sponsors and participants—particularly in the form of digital one-on-one participant meetings—emphasized that the “shiny objects” are important, “but you’ve got to have the humans behind it. We all have to join arms and continue to push it.”
She also said advisors need to keep pushing providers—be it recordkeepers or asset managers—to continually think outside the box.
“I thought that after automatic enrollment and auto-increase, what more were we going to do? And look at where we are today,” Stout said. “We’ve got student loan programs we’re involved in and health savings accounts and then you’ve got all this really cool video and technology we use to engage participants.”
You can read more about Jania Stout’s award-winning practice here.
Scaramucci bullish on Biden
Anthony Scaramucci, Founder and Managing Partner of SkyBridge Capital who briefly served in the Trump White House, told virtual attendees of Friday’s awards session he thinks Joe Biden has the edge in November’s election not just because of where the polling is right now, but because of where the sentiment is.
“I would say that the vice president has the edge right now… but 45 days from the election “is like 500 years in Trump World,” Scaramucci said. “No one knows what’s going to happen. Anybody that thinks they can call this election is misguided.”
Still, that didn’t stop him from prognosticating for the Excel 401(k) 2020 Digital Series audience.
“My objective opinion is it’s Joe Biden’s race to lose,” he said, primarily for three reasons: President Trump’s mishandling of COVID-19; Trump’s combative personal style; and the economy getting “wrecked.”
“Those three things are going against Mr. Trump,” Scaramucci said, before adding what’s going for Trump are that he’s polling better than Biden on the economy, and “people do vote with their pocketbook.”