Deals & People August 19, 2016

Retirement Industry People Moves

Pension Resource Institute Hires Retirement Industry Veteran; John Hancock Retirement Names Chicago Regional Manager; Pinkerton Retirement Specialists Joins Triad Advisors; and more.
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Pension Resource Institute Hires Retirement Industry Veteran

Veteran retirement industry professional Steve Niehoff has joined the Pension Resource Institute (PRI) as chief operating officer.

With more than 20 years of experience in financial services, Niehoff has performed in operations, business development and compliance roles. He has served in the retirement plans industry throughout the past decade, and has also worked with non-qualified plans, health care plans, life insurance and annuities.

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“Steve’s real-world experience will be critical to assisting PRI with the development and rollout of our updated and expanded fiduciary compliance resources and with helping our member firms implement those solutions in an efficient manner,” says PRI CEO Jason C. Roberts.

“My goals in the next few months are to help PRI develop best in class resources to support the delivery of fiduciary services, streamline and strengthen our existing platform and accelerate the growth or company,” says Niehoff. “We have the right team to accomplish all three.”

NEXT: John Hancock Retirement Names Chicago Regional Manager

John Hancock Retirement Names Chicago Regional Manager

John Hancock Retirement Plan Services (JHRPS) has appointed Bridgette Rutter as regional vice president.

She will be replacing Jeffrey Ketwig, who has been promoted to national vice president of sales, a role that will see him focus on small-to-mid sized, open-architecture plans.

Rutter, who has more than 12 years of experience with JHRPS, will be responsible for sales and the development of relationships with financial representatives and plan consultants in the Chicago area. She will also focus on the under-$20 million market region.

“We are very pleased to have Bridgette taking on this important role on our core sales team,” says Kent Lepard, divisional vice president, JHRPS. “She has consistently been a top performer for us in Orange County, California, and now she is bringing her talents back to her hometown of Chicago.”

NEXT: Pinkerton Retirement Specialists Joins Triad Advisors

Pinkerton Retirement Specialists Joins Triad Advisors

Pinkerton Retirement Specialists has transitioned to the Triad Advisors’ broker-dealer and hybrid RIA [Registered Investment Adviser] multi-custodial platform.

“Triad understands our comprehensive way of doing business – it's a perfect cultural match," says Dan Pinkerton, CEO of Pinkerton Retirement Specialists. “We were also attracted to Triad's relationship with Ladenburg Thalmann, which gives us access to investment banking, initial public offerings, private placements and other sophisticated investment products that are only available to accredited investors.”

Triad Advisors, an independent broker-dealer, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services Inc.

Since its founding 29 years ago, Pinkerton has provided financial planning, wealth management and financial education services to a clientele ranging from high-net-worth individuals and families, to pensions, 401(k) plans and foundations.

“Pinkerton Retirement Specialists has consistently been recognized as one of the very top financial advisory firms in the Northwest, and among the leading independent firms in the nation,” says Nathan Stibbs, executive vice president at Triad Advisors. “We look forward to helping Pinkerton fulfill its vision for high-level client service and continuing on its steady growth trajectory."

NEXT: Financial Planning Association Hires New Public Policy Counsel

Financial Planning Association Hires New Public Policy Counsel

The Financial Planning Association (FPA) has hired Josephine M. Colacci as its new public policy counsel.

In her new role at FPA, Colacci will work with FPA Advocacy Director Karen Nystrom and will oversee the development and implementation of FPA’s public policies and advocacy strategies, specifically as they relate to current and proposed federal legislation and regulations that impact certified financial planner professionals. She will also serve as FPA’s primary liaison to the Financial Planning Coalition and to the FPA Advocacy Committee.

“I am thrilled that we are able to retain someone of Josephine’s background for this key public policy position,” says FPA CEO Lauren M. Schadle. “Advocacy at the federal and state levels have become much more of a priority for FPA over the past few years and I am excited to add her to the team.”

Colacci joins FPA after spending the past six years as director of government affairs for the International Association of Healthcare Central Service Materiel Management (IAHCSMM) in Chicago. Prior to that, she served as manager of government affairs for the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) in Denver. She also worked as the executive director and lobbyist for the Quality Healthcare Coalition in Englewood, Colorado.

NEXT: Voya Hires Two New Leaders

Voya Hires Two New Leaders

Voya Financial, a retirement products and services provider, has hired Miles Edwards as its senior vice president and leader of operations for its retirement business.

Michele White will join the company as senior vice president and leader of its Enterprise Contact Centers, effective September 6.  

In his new role, Edwards will be responsible for all functions supporting Voya’s corporate and tax-exempt markets retirement plan segments, as well as its retail phone-based investor channel and the Voya Financial Advisors broker-dealer operations.

Prior to Voya, Edwards served as senior vice president of the FASCore operations of Great-West Financial doing business as Empower Retirement. He led all administration and operations services. During his 20 years with Empower, Edwards oversaw various components including participant call center activities, transaction processing and plan implementation. He holds a master’s degree in business administration from Vanderbilt University and a bachelor’s degree from Bates College.

White will be responsible for strategy, processes and performance management across all customer service access points.

She comes to Voya from Mass Mutual Financial Group, where she most recently served as vice president of client services and senior leader of its West Coast operations. In this role, she managed an organization of more than 500 customer associates. White oversaw call centers, interactive voice response (IVR) correspondence, tax reporting and more. She earned a master’s degree in business administration from Western New England University and a bachelor’s degree from Charter Oak State College.

Edwards and White will be based in Voya’s Windsor, Connecticut, office and report to Nan Ferrara, senior managing director of Operations for Voya Financial.

NEXT: PCS Hires New Regional VP

PCS Hires New Regional VP

PCS, a fiduciary recordkeeper, announced that Karen Benewith has joined the team as vice president of sales for the Western region. Benewith replaces Jordan Migneault, who will return to the company's Philadelphia headquarters and serve as executive vice president of client experience.

"We are thrilled to have Karen Benewith join our sales team," said PCS CEO Mark Klein. "She knows the retirement plan business and she understands the needs of our adviser and plan sponsor clients. Our business approach demands the highest level of service and expertise, and Karen is a great fit."

Benewith has more than 20 years of experience in management, client services, and business development in a number of industries. She spent the last six years working as a retirement consultant with Schwab. Benewith holds FINRA Series 7, 66 and 9/10 securities licenses. She has also earned the Qualified 401k Administrator (QKA) and Qualified Plan Financial Consultant (QPFC) designations from the American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries (ASPPA), as well as the Accredited Investment Fiduciary (AIF) designation from fi360.

"I am excited for the opportunity to work for a quality plan provider that prides itself on offering a complete and sophisticated retirement solution,” says Benewith. “PCS has a great story to share and offers plan sponsors and advisers state-of-the-art tools and top-notch fiduciary support. Reputation and outstanding product offering were a huge factor in my decision to join PCS."

Data & Research August 19, 2016

Cutting Kids Off Can Boost Retirement

It may not be emotionally easy to do, but clients can notably improve their retirement outlook if they reconsider financial support given to their self-sufficient adult children.
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When children grow up and move away from home, they tend to take a load off their parents’ shoulders in the form of reduced daily living expenses.

Less mouths to feed and fewer people to look after means “empty nesters” will be left with some extra cash after their kids fly off, argues a new analysis from the Center for Retirement Research (CRR) at Boston College, but are they making the most out these earnings?

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According to CRR researchers, the short answer is “No.” Although a CRR study found that empty nesters do increase 401(k) contributions, these raises typically range from 0.3% to 0.7%, making them “extremely small” and unlikely to improve retirement readiness, depending on the data used to project expected contributions.

According to the CRR, “the increase, while statistically significant, is very small compared to that suggested by theory. For example, consider a household with two adults and two kids at home making $100,000 and contributing 6% of salary to a 401(k). The research studies that assume households follow an increased saving path would suggest that the couple move all the way to the 401(k) deferral limit of $18,000 in 2015, or 18% of earnings, for a 12-percentage-point increase. Yet the results showed, at most, only a 0.7-percentage-point increase.”

The study, related to this, found that many households are maintaining similar consumption levels after their kids move out, resulting in fewer resources at retirement and a living standard that will be difficult to maintain.

“Among the explanations offered for the lackluster increase in savings is empty nesters’ continued financial support of adult children,” says Carla Dearing, CEO of SUM180, an online financial planning service that focuses on women. “Picking up their grown kids’ expenses—student loans, insurance, auto payments, smart phone bills—is a generosity those who have not yet saved enough for retirement can ill-afford.”

NEXT: Reversing the Trend

Although it’s clearly problematic, telling parents to stop supporting their sons and daughters after the kids have become financially independent is not the easiest piece of advice to give, researchers admit. Dearing says it may be easier with the right approach. She uses the analogy of being on an airplane and being told to put your oxygen mask on first in case of an emergency.

“It’s in your children’s long-term interest that you be secure,” Dearing tells PLANADVISER. 

But even after cutting these expenses, the question moves on to whether participants will use that extra money wisely. Dearing stresses that employers and third-party administrators or advisers need to promote financial wellness programs that go far beyond basic education and instead tell people how much they need to save, “and what it could look like for their future.”

“What we’ve found is that people don’t want education,” says Dearing. “If they wanted a degree in finance, they would have gone out and gotten one. They want answers. They want solutions.”

OneAmerica, a financial services company based in Indianapolis, offers different tools to help investors visualize their retirement projections. One example is a “mock retirement” worksheet which individuals fill out to see what their income would be like in retirement if they start saving and cutting certain expenses, such as those going to support adult children.

“When people can see what it really means to them in black-and-white and on paper, it can make a very huge impact,” says Kara Clark, marketing director of retirement services at OneAmerica.

Clark explains that this is one way for parents to see where they can begin reducing or eliminating monetary support to their adult children. Digital tools can also be useful. Dearing points out that some research suggests plan participants either don’t want to talk about their money, or they would rather analyze their financial situations on their own before speaking to a financial adviser. She says online tools may assist people with examining their financial situations on their own.

To help people plan for retirement, OneAmerica offers a suite of videos, podcasts, tutorials and other personal finance tools for individuals. Sum180 offers an online interview and tools to generate individual plans.

NEXT: Updating Plan Design

Denise L. Preece, assistant vice president of field services, retirement services, at OneAmerica, stresses the importance of automatic enrollment and automatic deferral increases in plan design, as well as educating participants about catch-up contributions toward 401(k)s and Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), specifically Roth IRAs. 

“You need to have the right plan design in place in order for people at certain stages in life to take advantage of a few key things,” says Preece, noting that, in general, automatic and progressive plan design features are often met with enthusiasm and gratitude from plan participants, rather than pushback.

Dearing suggests that advisers also need to break through all the negative statistics about retirement savings.  She notes that most people approaching retirement are in their 50s and in their peak earning years giving them major opportunities to save more for retirement—especially after cutting expenses toward financially-independent children.

“One of the biggest messages for people in that age group [50 and older] is that it’s not too late,” Dearing says.

The CRR gathered its findings using tax data and the Health and Retirement Study. This annual panel survey of households aged 50 or older collects in-depth information on data such as income, pension eligibility and children’s statuses on housing and schooling.

The CRR research brief is available online here.

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