401(k) Specialist Podcast

Artificial intelligence is a hot topic everywhere these days, including the financial services industry. We check in with artificial intelligence early adopter Liz Davidson, founder and CEO of Financial Finesse, who tells us about their award-winning AI-powered virtual financial coach named Aimee, and how AI really is turning into a game-changer for many retirement plan advisors. Financial Finesse...

The workplace retirement plan industry’s premiere event is just days away, with top professionals set to descend upon Nashville April 7-9 for the 2024 NAPA 401(k) Summit . We get a preview of the big event from two of the key people in charge of putting it together in Nevin Adams and John Sullivan, the former and current Chief Content Officers for the American Retirement Association. In addition t...

The 401(k) has been under attack on multiple fronts lately. Between calls for eliminating their tax advantages to prop up Social Security to Bernie Sanders pining for a return to pension plans, and momentum seeming to build for the TSP-like “Retirement Savings for Americans Act” that many in the workplace retirement market believe would constitute unfair competition from the federal government, it...

Unlocking the Door to Broader Adoption of Guaranteed Lifetime Income in 401(k)s: Matt Gray and Todd Levy Guaranteed lifetime income remains a hot topic in the workplace retirement plan market and there are plenty of factors at play these days that are helping these solutions gain traction—and more widespread adoption—in 401(k) plans. Matt Gray, Assistant Vice President, Workplace and Middle Market...

Ohtani’s ‘Retirement’ Strategy, NQDC Plans and 2024 Stock Trends with ‘401(k) Lady’ Jeanne Sutton Baseball’s biggest star Shohei Ohtani made headlines recently by signing the largest individual contract in the history of sports when he inked a 10-year, $700 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Interestingly, he deferred $68 of the $70 million per year in a move that could save him nine figur...

Catching Up with 'Annuity Yoda' Tamiko Toland Guaranteed in-plan lifetime income solutions is a hot topic in the workplace retirement market these days, and we wanted to hear from one of the foremost experts on these products in “Annuity Yoda” Tamiko Toland. After stints at TIAA and CANNEX, the thought leader in retirement and annuities in the individual and institutional markets last ye...

The Year Ahead with John Hancock Retirement CEO Wayne Park As the new year opens, our first podcast of 2024 features a look at what to expect in the workplace retirement market from a high-level leader in John Hancock Retirement CEO Wayne Park. With oversight over all aspects of John Hancock Retirement’s business, Park is an ideal person to shed insight on topics that will impact the workplace ret...

IBM sent shockwaves through the retirement industry recently when it was revealed that the tech and computing giant is halting its 5% 401(k) match in favor of a 5% contribution to a new, portable, immediate-vesting pension called a “Retirement Benefit Account.” Joining us to discuss this move and its wider implications within the retirement industry is someone who knows the defined benefit market...

2024 SECURE 2.0 Insights with Principal’s Lance Schoening As we head toward 2024, more and more provisions of the landmark SECURE 2.0 retirement reform legislation package are coming online, including some provisions that have lots of people in the industry really excited. One of those people is Lance Schoening, Director of Policy at Principal, the sponsor of today’s podcast. As the person respons...

IRI’s Jason Berkowitz: Why Biden’s Fiduciary Rule Gets it Wrong While the American Retirement Association is among those saying “fair” when it comes to the Department of Labor’s new proposed retirement security rule released last week that seeks to update the definition of an investment advice fiduciary under ERISA, many insurance-based organizations are crying “foul” over the controversial propos...

Talking DOL Retirement Saving Priorities with EBSA Head Lisa Gomez It’s been about a year since the Honorable Lisa M. Gomez was sworn in as the Assistant Secretary of Labor, and quite a busy year it’s been for the head of the Employee Benefits Security Administration, which is responsible for administering, regulating and enforcing provisions of ERISA. She joins the 401(k) Specialist Pod(k)ast to...

When you want to gain insight about what’s going on in the retirement industry, you want to talk to someone who’s in the loop and immersed in the business. We can’t think of someone who fits that description better than Jania Stout. 401(k) Specialist’s “ Top Advisor by Participant Outcomes ” in 2020 is now the Senior Vice President, Retirement + Wealth, at OneDigital , where she brings over 22 yea...

Capitol Hill Retirement Reform Update with Invesco’s Jennifer Flitton With 2024 quickly approaching, it’s a good time to check in on the status of retirement reform efforts and progress in Washington D.C.—particularly as the industry prepares for a variety of SECURE 2.0 provisions scheduled to kick in come January. To learn where things stand on a variety of key retirement issues, this episode of...

Andrew Biggs Explains Why There is Really Is No Retirement Crisis In an environment where Americans are repeatedly told by mainstream media that they are facing a serious retirement savings crisis because they aren’t saving enough, there’s one person who repeatedly stands up to refute these claims. Andrew Biggs, Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a former Deputy Commissioner of...

Building Client Relationships with Advisor Derek Fiorenza Derek Fiorenza, C(K)P, CPFA, AIF, PPC, MSBA, is wired a little differently than the typical retirement plan advisor. He joins us to explain the somewhat unique approach he has to building client and participant relationships. Fiorenza, who serves as the Vice President, COO and CCO of Summit Group Retirement Planners in the Philadelphia area...

Lifetime Income Solutions in 401(k)s Allianz Life’s Joe Hendrickson and AmericanTCS’ Brian Lenz Discuss Market Momentum In-plan guaranteed lifetime income solutions, such as annuities, have received plenty of attention in the wake of the SECURE Act of 2019 and 2022’s SECURE 2.0 legislation, which made it significantly easier to add these types of solutions into 401(k) plans. Here to talk about how...

Fred Reish’s DOL Fiduciary Rule Update The retirement industry will be keeping a close eye on the Department of Labor in August in anticipation of proposed regulation regarding its fiduciary rule, and whether or not a retirement plan-to-IRA rollover recommendation made by an advisor who is a fiduciary to a plan or participant constitutes a fiduciary act, necessitating the use of Prohibited Transac...

Retirement Advisor Marketing with Rebecca Hourihan We were curious to learn more about what 401(k)-focused advisors are doing with their 401(k) marketing efforts these days, and what kind of investments in time and resources they are making in efforts to grow their business. For answers, we checked in with Rebecca Hourihan , Founder and Chief Marketing Officer with San Diego-based 401(k) Marketing...

Exploring the Mid-Cap Market with Invesco’s Justin Livengood Our guest today makes the argument for why mid-caps as an asset class belong in a properly diversified defined contribution plan investment menu, and explains why most 401(k) participants are probably not aware of just how overly exposed they are right now to just a handful of the biggest companies. Here to explain it all is Invesco’s Ju...

The rapid emergence of artificial intelligence and Chat GPT specifically has raised a bunch of fresh questions about the role it will play in financial advice, and how it will impact the work and role of financial advisors moving forward. High-profile advisor Michael Kitces—the “Chief Financial Planning Nerd” at Kitces.com , Head of Planning Strategy at Buckingham Wealth Partners, Co-Founder of th...

Why Financial Advisors Need Personal Branding: Sheri Fitts Anyone who attends a retirement industry event knows there’s a pretty good chance Sheri Fitts is speaking at it. Today we’ve got the well-known branding consultant and founder of Sheri Fitts & Co. with us to talk about the need for and importance of personal branding among 401(k)-focused financial advisors. Sheri also tells us about an...

Why Advisors Need to Consider Value Equities in DC Plan Investment Menus Now: Invesco’s Kevin Holt After underperforming growth for years, value equities finally had their time in the sun in 2022. While both value and growth stocks declined last year, growth stocks fell much further than value thanks in large part to rising interest rates. In this edition of the 401(k) Specialist Pod(k)ast, Invesc...

EIG’s John Lettieri Refutes ARA Claims of Proposed Bill’s Challenge to Private Retirement Plan System When American Retirement Association CEO Brian Graff told attendees at the recent NAPA 401(k) Summit in San Diego that a new bill expected in Congress soon could mark the beginning of a “year’s long battle” over the future of America’s retirement system, the charged rhetoric didn’t sit too well wi...

Talking Guaranteed Lifetime Income Solutions with Allianz Life’s Michael De Feo Guaranteed lifetime income in retirement plans is a hot topic these days, with study after study revealing that Americans want to know more about it and view these products as a good fit to help them reach their financial objectives. While 401(k) plan sponsors are showing increasing interest in adding guaranteed income...

5 Big Issues with Small 401(k) Plans: Rebalance’s David Ranney Small-business 401(k) plans face a lot of specific issues and challenges that don’t necessarily impact larger retirement plans. This week we’re focusing squarely on some hot-button issues specifically related to small 401(k) plans, and to help us do that we’re joined by an expert in the field, David Ranney , who joined the team at smal...