Inspira Simplifies Structure, Targets More Holistic Market Approach

Inspira Financial, formerly Millennium Trust, will be doing outreach to plan advisers with a more streamlined structure, executives say.

Inspira Financial, formerly Millennium Trust Co., has a new structure to go with its new name.

Millennium Trust acquired Payflex from CVS in 2022, adding health savings accounts and consumer benefit administration services to its self-directed individual retirement services, including automatic rollovers. This January, it officially took on its new name of Inspira Financial, with streamlined operations in two main business lines: retirement and wealth; and health and benefits, according to Bryan Levy, Inspira’s managing director of consumer-directed benefits.

Want the latest retirement plan adviser news and insights? Sign up for PLANADVISER newsletters.

“We took the rebranding as a way to reset, internally and externally, how we come to market,” Levy says. “This gives us the foundation that justifies a lot of what we have been doing and shows that we are not just part of a complete breakfast, but can bring the full meal.”

Inspira began in 2000 providing its IRA and automatic rollover services to plan sponsors and recordkeepers, becoming the country’s largest independent provider of auto-rollovers. The new, holistic approach to the market comes in part from Inspira’s other acquisitions in recent years, including Payflex, Benefit Resource Inc., ProFlex and Maestro Health, the consumer directed benefits business from third-party administration technology company Marpai. Collectively, the acquisitions added capabilities such as health savings accounts, flexible spending accounts, emergency savings funds, commuter benefit plans, COBRA administration and other consumer-directed benefits.

Prior to the restructuring, Levy says, the team felt it was going to market with several similar products and features in a way that was “starting to get clunky.” The more streamlined approach, he says, helps show the market how the firm’s various offerings provide a “more holistic retirement and wealthy journey,” both in the workplace and outside of it.

Adviser Connections

Inspira’s new brand and structure are intended to reach more plan advisers and advisory firms with the goal of increasing partnerships, says Peter Welsh, its managing director of retirement and wealth.

“It used to be plan advisers were funds, fees and fiduciaries, but that isn’t the case anymore,” he says. “There has been an evolution in the workplace that is prompting advisers to need more skills in their toolbox. … One of our key initiatives in 2024 and beyond is to engage with advisers.”

That is an add, Welsh says, to the firm traditionally focusing on relationships with recordkeepers, plan sponsors and TPAs. Inspira can play a role both in ongoing and new plans, but also in servicing terminated plans through its rollout solutions—an area many advisers are not inserting themselves into managing, Welsh says.

Levy notes that Inspira is also more frequently being brought in for requests for proposal on the health and benefits side, at which point the firm will often introduce other areas in which a plan sponsor may be interested, such as emergency savings or commuter benefits.

“We’re not just there to displace another vendor, but to open up the aperture for what [a company] may not have historically done,” he says. “We start out involved in their existing services and then bring in new offerings that are emerging when in the market.”

Workplace Focus

Levy says that, about five years ago, different players in the market all started to engage more in workplace solutions, from the big defined contribution recordkeepers to insurers to payroll providers and banks. He says Inspira can now be a single partner connecting employee benefits, wealth and retirement, but in a system that can be customized to the employer.

“You don’t have to choose who you link with when you work with us,” he says. “We are fluid to help whatever … the customer and plan sponsors is looking for.”

When it comes to emergency savings, Levy notes that, for the moment, out-of-plan savings options are more realistic for most employers. In the long term, however, he expects in-plan sidecar savings will take a larger market share because those accounts can provide a cushion that then gives participants security to put other money aside for retirement.

“It’s kind of your permission slip to talk about retirement,” he says. “Once you have emergency savings, then you can have that detailed plan about retirement. “

Levy also weighed in on the IRS and Department of Labor’s recent guidance and calls for comment on auto-portability of a worker’s savings to go from one qualified savings plan to another. He notes that, while Inspira supports the proposal, there is already a system to prevent leakage by automatically porting savings into an IRA.

“Auto-portability is built on the back of auto-rollovers, and our role is foundational here,” he says. “The new proposal doesn’t solve leakage because [the automatic rollovers keep savings] in a qualified vehicle and connect the account balances of the very disengaged, terminated account back to the saver.”

Correction: Story updated to correct that Inspira acquired Maestro Health, a division of Marpai.

 

Vanguard Targets ‘Max Savers’ With New Financial Wellness Tool

The firm’s Retirement Savings Maximizer provides guidance toward additional tax-advantaged options if a saver is projected to hit the maximum elective deferrals in their defined contribution plans.

 

The Vanguard Group has rolled out a savings nudge in its retirement calculator platform targeted at participants who are nearing or have reached their retirement plan contribution limit.

Dina Caggiula, head of participant experience at Vanguard, explains that the Retirement Savings Maximizer, which the firm has been rolling out for the past month, is meant to help participants save to the IRS 402(g) limit or beyond.

Never miss a story — sign up for PLANADVISER newsletters to keep up on the latest retirement plan adviser news.

The online tool is built into the recordkeeping platform and includes a calculator that allows a participant to enter their current income, allowing Vanguard to provide a projection of how much that person should be saving for retirement, as well as for other goals like a new home or college education. Along with these projections, the participant also has access to financial education materials and advice services.

The IRS limits the amount of retirement plan elective deferrals a participant can exclude from taxable income each year. The 402(g) limit for 2024 is $23,000, an increase from the 2023 limit of $22,500. This limit applies to 401(k) plans, 403(b) plans, SEPs and SIMPLE IRAs.

“Largely why we built the [Retirement Savings Maximizer] tool was [because] we have 16% of our participant base that’s hitting the 402(g) limit every year or coming within $5,000 of doing so,” Caggiula says. “We did a lot of research on that population, and what we found was that where they’re saving after the 401(k) pre-tax source varied significantly, and many were unaware of how they can save in a tax-maximized way.”

Caggiula says the Retirement Savings Maximizer will be available to all plans and participants that use Vanguard as a recordkeeper. However, Caggiula explains that the tool will be marketed heavily toward “max savers” who are nearing the 402(g) limit or toward those who have already hit the limit and are looking for advice on where else they can save beyond their retirement account. These savers tend to have a longer tenure with Vanguard and have been in their plan for at least 10 years.

Caggiula says these savers also tend to have larger balances, with the average greater than $400,000.

“They are an audience that is frequently engaging with our digital experience and are also more engaged with reaching out to our contact center and are more interested in our advice solutions,” Caggiula says.

She adds that more than 40% of Vanguard’s max savers tend to hit the IRS limit within the first three-quarters of the year, which is why the firm is rolling out the tool early this year.

“We’re helping guide participants after [they’ve] maybe hit the limit in their pre-tax [retirement plan] to see if there is [a health savings account] available [to contribute to] or if there is an after-tax [Roth] plan available to them,” Caggiula says.

Vanguard’s tool recommends a “tax-advantaged savings hierarchy” with up to five steps participants can follow to become a “max saver.” These steps include:

  1. Meet your employer’s retirement match;
  2. Contribute the maximum amount to a health savings account (if you are eligible to do so);
  3. Max out 401(k) pre-tax or Roth contributions;
  4. Make 401(k) traditional after-tax contributions; and
  5. Consider saving in an IRA outside the retirement plan.

Caggiula says this is one of the first times Vanguard has built a solution that guides participants to save beyond a 401(k) plan and to consider other options like an HSA or IRA. She said this focus emphasizes the importance of thinking about participants’ “full financial picture” to help them achieve a successful retirement beyond just their defined contribution plan.

“At the highest level, we believe that to truly help participants reach retirement success, we have to address those competing priorities that are getting in their way,” Caggiula says. “We want to make sure that we’re thinking about the spectrum of different needs that participants have, so that we can send them the personalized guidance and tools that they’re going to need to succeed.”

«