Small increases in retirement plan contributions can have a significant long-term impact, yet many participants struggle to fully understand what those changes mean for their future. Rather than focusing solely on percentages, advisors and plan sponsors are finding greater success by illustrating retirement savings growth in real dollar amounts — helping participants visualize how incremental increases today can potentially compound into meaningful retirement income over time.
At the conclusion of a recent TPSU program held at Wake Forest University’s downtown campus in Charlotte, Fred Barstein, Founder and CEO of TPSU and 401kTV, sat down with adjunct lecturer Andy Ingram of Capital Investment Company of Virginia and Selinda Capital to discuss participant engagement, retirement income innovation, and why plan sponsors continue turning to TPSU for fiduciary education.
During the conversation, Andy shared how visual contribution modeling and participant-focused infographics can help employees better understand the real-world impact of increasing their retirement savings. Instead of relying solely on percentages, he emphasized showing participants the actual dollar increases coming out of their paychecks — and what those contributions could potentially grow into over time through compounding.
He also discussed the importance of educating participants on Roth versus traditional contributions and highlighted how retirement plans are increasingly evolving toward more income-oriented solutions that mirror aspects of traditional pension structures — but without the long-term liabilities historically associated with defined benefit plans.
Read the Full Transcript Here:
Fred Barstein:
This is Fred Barstein, Founder and CEO of TPSU and 401kTV. I’m here with our adjunct lecturer, Andy Ingram, at Wake Forest University’s downtown campus in Charlotte, where we just completed a TPSU program. Welcome, Andy.
Andy Ingram:
Thank you for having me.
Fred Barstein:
Okay, so we’re going to ask you a few questions.
Andy Ingram:
Sure, let’s do it.
Fred Barstein:
Before we do, tell us about you and your firm.
Andy Ingram:
I’m Andy Ingram. My company is Capital Investment Company of Virginia, where I do retail investments and lifestyle planning for individuals. Also, under Selinda Capital, which is my RIA, we do 3(38) management, investment management, and consulting for 401(k) plans and defined contribution plans.
Fred Barstein:
So today we heard one of the plan sponsors is using infographics to show people — they say, “If you contribute this, this is what you’re going to have.” And you said you use that too. Can you explain that and how it works?
Andy Ingram:
I do, yes. One of the things that I don’t see a lot of recordkeepers use is something very simple that shows the dollar impact of increasing contributions — how increasing the dollars of contribution impacts their future savings and what those amounts could become through compounding.
So by breaking it down into $5, $10, $20, or $50 increments on the smaller side — and then you can get into $300, $400, or $500 increments — to show what that growth could look like 20 years from now, it really has an impact.
Participants can see it in real dollars and cents as opposed to percentages. Percentages don’t always resonate with them, but seeing the actual dollar amount coming out of their paycheck does.
Then also showing them how Roth contributions versus traditional pre-tax contributions will grow — and how Roth assets can potentially become a tax-free stream of income for them in the future.
Fred Barstein:
So I know this is your second TPSU. Why should a plan sponsor attend TPSU? What do they get out of attending?
Andy Ingram:
I think it can be boiled down into one statement: to learn about what they don’t know.
One of the things I consistently hear is, “We’re here to learn what we don’t know.” There’s a lot that many plans don’t understand — especially around needing a specialist advisor to help manage certain aspects of the plan.
They really should involve their advisor in all aspects of the plan — benchmarking vendors, benchmarking fees, helping evaluate plan structure and overall effectiveness.
The reason they would attend this is to understand where they are today, what they may not be doing, and what they should be auditing.
Are they handling their compliance files correctly? What’s the best plan design?
TPSU has done a great job of laying out what the ideal plan looks like. And today you also introduced the concept of the “perfect plan.”
I think in the future we’re going to see that perfect plan gain more momentum. As you said, adoption is still in the minimal single digits right now, but the concept is really compelling because it brings old-world pension-style concepts into modern defined contribution plans — without the liabilities companies traditionally had with pension plans.
With perfect planning comes retirement income, because without retirement income, we don’t really have a retirement plan — we have a savings plan.
Fred Barstein:
Great. Well, thanks for your time today. Thanks for being a lecturer.
Andy Ingram:
Thank you.
Fred Barstein:
And thank you for watching 401kTV.
