Wealth@wor(k) this year opened at San Antonio’s Hyatt Regency Country Resort & Spa with big crowds and an even bigger announcement.
Trey Dowdy, chief financial officer at Advisor2x, greeted audiences on Monday morning with the admission that this year’s would be the final Wealth@wor(k) conference.
Dowdy announced the news before introducing the conference’s 2024 steering committee, which included Paula Friedman of McLean Asset Management Corporation; Lorie Jones of Fidelis Wealth Advisors; Scott Colangelo of Prime Capital Investment Advisors; Woodruff Sawyer’s Kristina Keck; Gordon Asset Management’s Todd Zempel; Fiduciary Decisions’s Craig Rosenthal; Janine Moore of HUB; and Oswald Financial’s Pam Brooks.
Moore, senior vice president and retirement practice leader at HUB, likened her experienced on the finishing steering committee to the months leading up to graduation. “It’s exciting, but also a bit sad at the same time,” Moore said while celebrating the conference’s laid-back style and high-energy crowds.
AI in wealth and retirement convergence
Wealth@wor(k) then kicked off with its first session of the day focused on how advisors can leverage new opportunities in the wealth and retirement space. “Why Convergence of Wealth, Retirement & Benefits at the Workplace is Growing Rapidly,” hosted by The Retirement Advisor University (TRAU) and The Plan Sponsor University’s (TPSU) Fred Barstein, asked panelists what successful practices they’re seeing to further this convergence.
Randy Long, founder and chair of SageView Advisory Group and a panelist for the session, noted that as more retirement plan advisors take on wealth management services and lessen their bandwidth, more struggle with how to engage participants.
As a result, more advisors are turning to artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “You have a lot of innovation with technology and AI—this path has taken a storm with wealth and retirement,” he said.
More clients are also requesting professionals offer the modern tool for wealth and retirement needs, seeing as more are already relying on AI for day-to-day tasks, physical safety, and medical history. “It’s been a demand for clients and participants who need help,” Long added.
Jania Stout, co-founder of Fiduciary Plan Advisors, a OneDigital company, added that while AI will bring a surplus of opportunities to the wealth and retirement convergence, it could further impact how future clients interact with human advisors. While the vast majority of Americans in 2019 said that technology should complement, not replace, the services of a human advisor, that may not be true for generations to come. “We’re starting to see that younger generations don’t care so much about having a human advisor,” said Stout. “We have to be ready for how we stay involved, especially when these 15 and 20-year-olds are older and are fine with not having that human interaction.”
Solving challenges with income solutions
The morning then pivoted to conversations around guaranteed in-plan income challenges, hosted by American Century Investments and led by Income America’s Matthew Wolniewicz. The session, “Guaranteed In-Plan Income Challenge Solved!” relayed findings from American Century’s latest Plan Sponsor and Participant Survey and offered solutions for advisors navigating retirement income challenges.
The survey revealed shocking findings on how participants interpret their investments, noting that 62% believe that target-date funds (TDFs) will provide income in retirement, and 36% say TDFs will provide a guarantee that they won’t lose out on money.
Lisa Buffington, vice president of Retirement Services with Marsh McLennan Agency, says the issue could be tied to how advisors are framing lifetime income to participants. Instead of positioning the tool as a product alone, shape it as an engagement strategy or an aspiration for participants to achieve. “It’s a conversation about the type of life they want to live in retirement,” Buffington said. “It’s also not a one-size-fits-all conversation. It’s one that needs to be flexible and shift and change as their experience in retirement changes as well.”
Matthew Eickman, chief legal officer at the Fiduciary Law Center, spoke about the fiduciary implications when comparing different lifetime income products and their fees, and how professionals and clients could lessen their fiduciary risk. For example, consider recording minutes and notes that show an “identification of need” for guaranteed lifetime income products, along with essential attributes and features.
“There are all sort of questions about whether plans should be paternal or not, but fiduciary work is somewhat grounded in nature,” he said. “You have an opportunity to impact so many people for some many years in the future. Right there is part of your legacy, so see this as an opportunity to leave your mark.”
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Wealth@wor(k) Heads to San Antonio
Amanda Umpierrez is the Managing Editor of 401(k) Specialist magazine. She is a financial services reporter with over six years of experience and a passion for telling stories and reporting news. Amanda received her degree in journalism and government and politics at St. John’s University. She is originally from Queens, New York, but now resides in Denver, Colorado with her partner. In her free time, Amanda enjoys running, cooking, and watching the latest drama show.
