Global Retirement Partners Advisor Alliance kicked off its summit in Phoenix on Friday morning with bad 401k jokes and good 401k information. It’s theme, “throwing wrenches” to disrupt the industry, came complete with props and a rotational table-top discussion format that provided something different (finally) on the conference circuit.
Referring to GPPAA as a club, CEO Bill Chetney began by flashing a slide to laughter of retirement ages of the past.
Year Retirement Age
1635 Death
1735 Death
1835 Death
1935 Age 65
“Even then, Social Security was a safety net for those who couldn’t work, not those who didn’t want to work,” Chetney said.
Noting the firm has 350 advisors, 25,000 plans and a few million participants, Chetney added “We probably need a chalkboard because it keeps growing so fast, but we’re well over $200 billion in assets.”
He then noted the “father of the 401k,” Ted Benna, and his recent criticism in The Wall Street Journal.
“We had 75 million people with bank accounts that didn’t have 6 months of savings,” Chetney said. “We came out with this 401k thing 30-plus years ago and people we’re wondering if the money was going in the boss’ desk drawer. Today we have open architecture, fee transparency, salary reduction, auto escalation, auto enrollment and so much that is on auto-pilot. So now this is a powerful story that’s come a long way.”
But there’s still a long way to go, he warned, which prompted a series of faux-hidden camera videos of client meetings, in which a client sat with an advisor and described their individual situation only to immediately be handed a cookie-cutter plan with the advisor shouting “next!”
“The question is what 401k specialists, as an industry, will do next, especially in the area of participant experience and outcomes,” he concluded, before introducing the next speaker to provide an answer, Joseph F. Coughlin, Ph.D, from MIT AgeLab.
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.
