Products November 23, 2021

Itzoe Launches Getre(k)ruited.com Industry Networking Platform

Josh Itzoe says the idea for his new venture—a networking and hiring platform focused on firm culture and professional preferences—came from conversations he has had since selling his stake in Greenspring Advisors.

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Back in April, Josh Itzoe backed away from Greenspring Advisors, the registered investment adviser (RIA) firm he founded in collaboration with Pat Collins.

In a recent conversation with PLANADVISER, Itzoe admitted to taking a few months to “sit on the couch and recuperate” after nearly 16 busy years at Greenspring, but he says he quickly began to feel bored and restless, leading him to consider what might come next.

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His first project was to launch a fiduciary-focused consulting endeavor called FiduciaryWor(k)s, a service that helps retirement plan sponsors manage risk and drive better outcomes for employees in the areas of fiduciary responsibility and workplace retirement savings. Now, he has launched a new industry networking and job search platform called Getre(k)ruited, which is designed to help connect retirement plan services providers (i.e., advisers, recordkeepers, third-party administrators [TPAs], etc.) with talent that shares their personal and professional values.

As Itzoe explains it, the Getre(k)ruited platform allows job seekers to search for opportunities by filtering though some 30-plus predefined company values, as well as according to company type, location, job function (advisory, investment management, marketing, operations, etc.), workplace model (in-person, remote, hybrid, etc.) and work status (full-time, part-time, hourly, contract, etc.). Some of the values coded into the platform include the following:

  • Accountability Is Critical
  • Apprenticeship/Mentorship
  • Awesome Work Environment
  • Clients/Customers Come First
  • Committed to Personal Growth
  • Community Involvement
  • Extra Perks
  • Fast-Paced Environment
  • Flexible Work Arrangements
  • Good for Parents
  • Long-Tenured Employees
  • Open Communication
  • Promotes from Within
  • Tech-Forward
  • We Love Interns
  • We Pay Well
  • Work/Life Balance

“The genesis of the idea came from several conversations,” Itzoe explained. “Specifically, three different people came to me over the past six months or so, asking me about what it was like to work in the retirement business and how they can find new opportunities. They picked my brain about what my experience has been and what my advice to them would be. I coached them through some of this stuff and gave them recommendations, and I also let them know that I could help make introductions. Lo and behold, these three people got some great jobs, and it was such a gratifying experience.”

Beyond working with individual job seekers, Itzoe said, the platform is also meant to help employers. In signing up for the platform, employers must select their eight top values from the list of 30-plus. 

“If we can help companies understand their own unique values, and then help top talent to be able to search for jobs and companies that have core values that match their preferences, it’s going to be a win-win scenario,” Itzoe said.

Itzoe said the platform will be built out in the weeks and months ahead to help participating companies showcase their culture and their values.

“At Greenspring, we used social media and we used our web presence both to address prospective clients but also to address prospective hires,” Itzoe explained. “That was always something we were focused on, and it really helped us to be successful, and I think other firms can emulate that.”

Itzoe said another forthcoming feature on the platform will be a repository for internships and entry-level positions, meant to help the next generation enter the industry.

“I believe we can help to build out a new type of talent pipeline,” he said. “The younger generation is really big on values and culture and purpose—even more than us veterans.”

Data & Research November 22, 2021

Employees Favor Retirement Plans That Substitute Annuities for Bonds

A survey also found nearly half of employees prefer to have a mix of investments and lifetime income over either traditional pensions or investments alone.

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The majority of employees would welcome retirement income options within employer-sponsored defined contribution (DC) plans, according to a study from the Alliance for Lifetime Income’s Retirement Income Institute.

The study found many employees prefer to have a mix of investments and lifetime income over either traditional pensions or investments alone. Nearly twice as many study respondents prefer a plan that offers a mix (49.5%) to a system that uses only investments (26.5%) or only a pension (24%) to provide income in retirement.  

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The study found pension-only retirement plans are most popular among participants with less formal education, participants with lower retirement savings, Black participants and participants who believe they are less likely to live beyond the age of 75. Investment-only plans are most popular among participants younger than 35, men, those with savings of between $100,000 and $499,999, those who have income between $100,000 and $199,999, and do-it-yourself investors.

Participants who most prefer a mix of investments and pensions are those who are age 55 and older, those with income less than $50,000, women, Hispanic participants (of any race) and respondents with high investment literacy.

Survey respondents were given the ability to select allocations among stocks, safe investments such as bonds and an instrument that provides guaranteed lifetime income, with the total allocation adding up to 100%. Overall, participants placed 35.5% in stocks, 31% in bonds and 33.5% in guaranteed lifetime income.

To better understand why three-quarters of respondents value access to guaranteed lifetime income in retirement (including those who favored a pension or a mix of investments and lifetime income), the researchers asked, “Once you retire, which of the following is the most important attribute of a retirement savings plan?” The answer most frequently selected by respondents (31%) was their ability to understand how much they could safely spend. Slightly less than a quarter of respondents value an opportunity for growth and protection against a drop in value during a market decline. About one in eight believed that low expenses and a large number of choices were the most important attributes of a retirement savings plan.

Substituting Annuities for Bonds

More than four out of five respondents had a positive opinion of retirement plans that substitute annuities for bonds: 21% indicated that they would be highly likely to prefer a retirement plan that substituted guaranteed income for bonds, and 60.3% said that they would be somewhat likely to do so. Only 19% were either not very likely or not at all likely to prefer a retirement plan that substitutes annuities for bonds.

“Since insurance regulation requires investment in bonds to meet expected future income obligations paid to annuitants, it is appropriate to view income annuities as a component of the fixed-income allocation within a retiree’s investment portfolio,” the researchers said in the study report.

Study respondents were also asked about deferred annuities, which allow an employee to buy dollars of fixed future retirement income at a lower price than if they wait until retirement age to buy income. Eighty-five percent indicated that they would be very interested (24%) or somewhat interested (61%) in doing so.

“While prior studies have found evidence of consumer interest in lifetime retirement income, no study has surveyed defined contribution plan participants to carefully gauge demand for a range of possible annuitization options,” says Michael Finke, Alliance fellow and Frank M. Engle Distinguished Chair in Economic Security at The American College of Financial Services. “This research aims to take a deeper look at how participants would design their ideal portfolio, which can help employers better understand their needs.”

The study report, “Participant Attitudes Toward Guaranteed Income in a Defined Contribution Plan,” is available here.

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