Plan Sponsors Under Pressure: Enhancing Retirement Benefits to Attract Top Talent
As the retirement landscape evolves, plan sponsors are increasingly under pressure to enhance their offerings and improve employees’ financial well-being. The surge in baby boomer retirements, combined with the complexities of modern retirement planning, highlights that traditional approaches may no longer suffice. Employers now focus on innovative retirement plans as a strategy to attract and retain top talent. Advisors are playing a key role by offering more comprehensive solutions that help businesses navigate regulatory hurdles and create standout retirement plans in a competitive marketplace.
Bill Peartree, President of MMA and a retirement industry veteran, observes that employers now expect more from their advisors, beyond basic services. Advisors are increasingly called upon to offer educational tools that help employees make better financial decisions. This shift in expectations underscores the growing importance of expert guidance in mitigating risks and delivering value for both employers and employees in the rapidly changing retirement landscape.
Read the Full Transcript Here:
Fred Barstein:
Greetings. This is Fred Barstein. I am the CEO and founder of TPSU and 401kTV. I’m here at Cal State San Marcos just outside of San Diego, where we just completed a TPSU program. And I am here with one of our adjunct lecturers. Bill Peartree. Welcome, Bill.
Bill Peartree:
Thank you, Fred. Good to be here with you.
Fred Barstein:
Okay if we ask you a few questions?
Bill Peartree:
Absolutely.
Fred Barstein:
And before you introduce yourself I want our audience to know, Bill is one of the longtime iconic advisors in our industry. So we’re very, very fortunate to have him, part of the big agency called Marsh McLennan on that. So just a little bit about yourself before we get into our interview.
Bill Peartree:
Sure. Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for having me again. I’ve been with Marsh Mac for almost 22 years now. I’ve been in the industry for about 34 years. I’m the managing director of retirement services for MMA and really responsible for the western part of the United States. In addition to that, I’m also a part of our national strategy team for retirement services at MMA.
Fred Barstein:
So you’ve been here long enough and I’ve been in the industry almost as long as you, not as long. It seems like plan sponsors are waking up and getting a little bit more interested. Are you seeing that? And if so, what do you think the effect is going to have on the industry?
Bill Peartree:
Yeah. No, we are definitely seeing that and I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that there are 10 million baby boomers retiring every month.
Fred Barstein:
Right.
Bill Peartree:
And they’re looking at their workforce and identifying that it is an aging population for many and they haven’t done enough to really fulfill and satisfy the retirement side of things and helping people become independently wealthy enough to afford retirement. As far as the impact I think that’s going to have, and I would turn this into a positive, is I think that advisors are going to play a more instrumental role in helping not only plan sponsors put together programs and packages for their employees but also put tools and resources in the hands of the employees. That being said, I think employers’ plan sponsors are going to demand more from their advisors.
Fred Barstein:
Right. More than the triple Fs.
Bill Peartree:
More than the triple Fs by a long shot. And one of the first things we do when we commence any relationship is we really assess the knowledge level, the team, that we’re going to be working with.
Fred Barstein:
Yeah. Good.
Bill Peartree:
So that we can put together educational campaigns not to just shove it down their throat, but give them small bites of information they need to make good decisions.
Fred Barstein:
Right. I’m always shocked when I say half the people in the room got their job because somebody walked in their office one day and said, “Good luck. You’re in charge of the retirement.” It’s just shocking.
Bill Peartree:
It is amazing.
Fred Barstein:
But it’s changing.
Bill Peartree:
Just learned that firsthand from this group here.
Fred Barstein:
That’s right.
Bill Peartree:
Yeah.
Fred Barstein:
It’s all of it.
Bill Peartree:
Well, I think employers also, Fred, just don’t understand the exposure that they have by having somebody that isn’t educated in this field.
Fred Barstein:
Right. And it’s also about recruiting and retention and having a best plan that’s better than somebody else, because you can’t just be paying people more and more and more benefits, pay a big…
Bill Peartree:
No doubt.
Fred Barstein:
Final question. What do you think the benefit of a plan sponsor attending a TPSU? What do you think they get out of it? This si your first program.
Bill Peartree:
That’s a great question. Just looking at the group that we had today, it seemed like there were a lot of collaboration going on. We had the breakout sessions which I think was great. And people were taking a lot of notes throughout the entire program today which I think is great. And if you look at just the interaction that we had with them you can tell that they’re thirsty for information, and they want to continue to enhance their knowledge level of the retirement services arena and help mitigate any sort of risk or exposure they might have.
Fred Barstein:
Right. So that’s great. Well, thank you for your time today.
Bill Peartree:
You bet. Thank you.
Fred Barstein:
Thank you for being a lecturer. And thank you for watching 401kTV. Please stay tuned.
