Woody Allen once said that 80% of success in life is just showing up.
Thom Shumosic says adopting that philosophy can help a 401k advisor go a long way toward getting plan participants and plan sponsors much more engaged with the process of saving and investing.
At his Friday morning presentation at the Fi360 Conference in Nashville, Shumosic, CFP, AIF, founder and president of MidAtlantic Retirement Planning Specialists in Wilmington, Del., said that in today’s “auto this and escalate that” world, a critical element has been missed by many 401k plan advisors.
Simply put, how do we get people who work for a living to save and invest effectively for the day when they either can’t or don’t want to work anymore?
Shumosic says you can build a bridge of trust with plan sponsors and participants by showing up—regularly. His firm rolls up its sleeves and gets out to see the people on a quarterly basis. The first week of every quarter, they are contacting every plan sponsor they have to get something on the calendar.
Then they show up, and take a proactive approach to deal with any questions or issues the sponsors or participants may have about not only the plan, but ancillary issues as well.
He says the quarterly visits inevitably lead to lots of side-meetings with plan participants who might be dealing with any variety of life changes.
“The one-offs don’t happen unless you’re showing up someplace,” Shumosic says. “Be prepared to answer everything–whatever questions they might have.”
Consistently delivering service like this, he says, is something you can’t replicate with an 800 number and a website.
And there are lots of topics you can address in quarterly visits, such as HSAs and their potential as a retirement benefit, beneficiary designations, Roth vs traditional IRA, TDFs and Social Security filing strategies.
Often his firm will do “lunch & learn” events where they can cover these kinds of topics that are often of great interest to many plan participants.
It’s all part of the platinum treatment that builds trust and loyalty, and can make a radical difference in the lives of plan participants and plan sponsors. It might even lead to some great referrals.
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.
