In Practice October 18, 2023

2023 PLANADVISER National Conference On Demand

Recorded sessions offer expert perspectives on communicating with staff and clients, enhancing your practice and marketing strategies, and solving retirement savings and income challenges.

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2023 PLANADVISER National Conference On Demand

Connecting with Clients

Fireside Chat: The Psychology of Financial Planning

Gain insights from psychology and cognitive biases that explain why investors can become their own worst enemies. Hear how understanding behavior can be the key to helping participants reach their financial goals. Speakers: Dr. Sonya Britt-Lutter, Director of Financial Health and Wellness, Texas Tech University’s School of Finance and Alison Cooke Mintzer, Publisher, ISS Media


People Savvy: Betsy Allen-Manning

Betsy Allen-Manning, a renowned leadership speaker and corporate culture expert for fast-growing companies, breaks down personality styles so you can work better with others and get the results you want. Studies show that 85% of success in life is due to people skills, yet they are some of the most difficult skills to develop. In this interactive presentation, Betsy took the audience through an engaging experience of how different personalities prefer to communicate, connect, be influenced, make decisions and resolve conflict.

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Telling Your Story

Learn how to build your narrative and market yourself in today’s competitive retirement plan advisory marketplace with Rebecca Hourihan, Founder and CMO 401(k) Marketing, LLC.


Creating High-Impact Video Content

Learn how to use video to market yourself as an expert source of knowledge and deepen your connections with clients. Jodi Daley, Founder, West End Productions, shares tips and practical exercises.


Social Media Workshop

Learn how to build or enhance your presence on social media. Practical solutions for brand-building, targeting audiences and engaging connections will be explored. Hear how to take advantage of available social media tools.



Plan Advisement Trends and Innovations

Emerging Horizons: The Why Behind Convergence of Wealth & Retirement — What it Means for your Business

The convergence between wealth management and retirement consulting firms has continued to accelerate, and large wealth acquirers are joining the fray. Using the lens of “Why”, we explore what this means for retirement consulting firms and how this pivotal shift offers new viewpoints and growth paths that can reshape how you see and position your business. Speakers: Rob Madore, Vice President, MarshBerry and Alex Ortolani, Editor, PLANADVISER Digital


Seeing Opportunity in Change Sponsored by T. Rowe Price

Inflationary pressures. Ongoing market volatility. Legislative developments. If plan sponsors can expect anything, it’s the unexpected. But with change come opportunities for plan advisers to help plans and participants achieve better outcomes through financial wellness, retirement income, and retirement-focused investments. Discover the new challenges and opportunities emerging in the retirement industry—and what plan advisers can do to support the ongoing evolution of their clients’ plans. Michael Doshier, Senior Defined Contribution (DC) Adviser Strategist, T. Rowe Price


Rethinking Retirement: Current State, Challenges, and Future Opportunities

Comprehensive data from the ISS Market Intelligence Brightscope DC plan database reveal retirement savings gaps and opportunities for advisers to button up the gap. Hear how SECURE 2.0 creates a tail wind for growth for advisers and asset managers. Viraaj Kumar, Associate Director, ISS Market Intelligence, also presents ISS MI Brightscope and Discovery Data findings about where defined contribution assets live and where they are headed and a real picture of investment vehicle use in DC plans.


Guaranteed Lifetime Income: The Participant’s Point of View, Sponsored by Allianz Life

Interest in guaranteed lifetime income is growing, but plan participants want more than just a reliable stream of monthly income. Flexibility, accessibility, and other personalized features are paramount to helping participants achieve outcomes aligned with their unique priorities. This session highlights our latest research, plus four case studies demonstrating how an in-plan annuity can help drive positive outcomes for a diverse range of plan participants. Presenters: Joe Hendrickson, Vice President, Strategy & Relationship Management, Allianz Life Insurance Company and Mark Paulson, Vice President, Hedging, Allianz Investment Management



Practice Management

SECURE 2.0: Putting it into Practice Sponsored by ADP

Some provisions from the SECURE 2.0 Act are already in effect — and many are still on the way — helping to expand access to employer-sponsored retirement benefits and increase retirement readiness for more American workers. SECURE 2.0 added many substantial incentives for employers to adopt or enhance a retirement plan and several changes that will help employees save for retirement. As with any legislation, employers and employees continue to have questions surrounding the changes and the impact on their retirement planning and payroll, including new compliance elements. Speaker: Ron Ulrich, Vice President, Product Consulting and Compliance, ADP Retirement Services


Lesser-known Plan Administration Tips Fiduciaries Need to Know

Pete Welsh, Managing Director, Head of Retirement Services offers tips covering plan amendments, plan terminations, auto portability and emergency savings. Sponsored by Millennium Trust Company


Total Benefits or Retirement Only

Increasingly, retirement plan advisers are being asked to help with the total benefits experience—as attracting and retaining staff and employees’ overall financial wellness are top priorities for plan sponsors. In addition, the focus shift to decumulation in retirement has plan sponsors asking for Social Security and Medicare education, as well as ways to help employees plan for health care expenses in retirement. Learn about the evolution of the personalized employee benefit experience and how advisers can get in on this service model.


Driving Participant Engagement

A retirement plan sponsor and adviser share methods they’ve used for successfully getting participants to engage in retirement and financial planning.


Getting Junior Staff up to speed

Get practical suggestions for team structure and management and how to help junior staff learn and grow.

Data & Research October 18, 2023

US Retirement System Matches Worldwide Average With C+ Grade

The US scored 63 on an overall index for pension coverage value, 23 points behind the No. 1 spot held by the Netherlands, according to a Mercer and CFA Institute report.

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The U.S. retirement system’s overall index value, measuring the quality of a country’s retirement plan system, came in at about average when ranked against other countries around the globe, according to the Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index 2023.

When ranking across three overarching categories for retirement savings success among countries, the U.S. scored 63, or a C+, on a scale of 0 to 100, almost matching the worldwide average value of 62.9, according to the annual study. In 2022 the U.S. ranked 20th out of 44 countries, while this year it ranked 22nd out of 47 countries.

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The overall index value is based on three weighted sub-indices—adequacy (40%), sustainability (35%) and integrity (25%)—to measure each retirement income system. Adequacy looked at areas such as benefits, system design, savings and government support. Sustainability examined pension coverage, total assets, demography and other areas. Integrity encompassed regulation, governance and protection.

The U.S. system scored 66.7 on adequacy, 61.1 on sustainability and 59.5 on integrity. The worldwide average scores were 64.8 on adequacy, 54.2 on sustainability and 71.9 on integrity.

The U.S. retirement income system comprises a Social Security system with a progressive benefit formula based on lifetime earnings, adjusted to a current dollar basis, together with a means-tested top-up benefit and voluntary private pensions, which may be occupational or personal. Mercer reported that overall index value for the U.S. system could be increased by raising the minimum pension for low-income pensioners, improving the vesting of benefits and reducing pre-retirement leakage.

Other systems with comparable overall index values to the U.S. included Colombia (61.9), the United Arab Emirates (62.5) and Hong Kong (64.0). Meanwhile, systems scoring the highest were the Netherlands (85), Iceland (83.5), Denmark (81.3) and Israel (80.8), each receiving an ‘A’ grade.

The Netherlands’ system received the highest index value in 2023, as the system provided quality benefits, supported by a strong base of savings from the population and sound regulation, according to Mercer. The firm stated that the Netherlands will continue to be a successful system despite the country currently undertaking significant pension reform, moving from a mostly collective benefit structure to a more individual, defined contribution approach.

“Any comparative ranking of systems is likely to be controversial as each system has evolved from particular economic, social, cultural, political and historical circumstances,” the researchers noted. “This means there is no single system that can be transplanted from one country and applied, without change, to another. However, certain features and characteristics are likely to lead to improved financial benefits for the older members of society, an increased likelihood of future sustainability of the system, and a greater level of community trust and confidence.”

Mercer and the CFA Institute recommended reforms to improve the long-term outcomes of retirement income systems, including:

  • Increasing coverage of employees, including non-standard workers, and the self-employed in the private pension system. This includes recognizing that many individuals will not save for the future without an element of compulsion or automatic enrollment;
  • Increasing the state pension age and/or retirement age to reflect increasing health-adjusted life expectancy, both now and into the future, thereby reducing the costs of publicly financed pension benefits;
  • Promoting higher labor force participation at older ages, which will increase the savings available for retirement and limit the continuing increase in the length of retirement;
  • Encouraging higher levels of private saving, both within and beyond the pension system, to reduce future dependence on the public pension while also adjusting the expectations of many workers;
  • Introducing measures to reduce the gender pension gap and gaps that exist for minority groups;
  • Reducing leakage from the retirement savings system prior to retirement, thereby ensuring that the funds saved, often with associated taxation support, are used for the provision of retirement income; and
  • Improving the governance of private pension plans and introducing greater transparency to improve the confidence of plan members.

The 15th annual Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index was released by Mercer and CFA Institute. The report compared 47 retirement income systems, covering 64% of the world’s population.

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