
Longevity Risk Remains Even as Life Expectancy Rebounds
We may be excited to be living longer, but can our retirement strategies keep up? New research shows that financial advisors may need to reassess how they discuss retirement target date planning with clients.

Optimize Resources to Decrease Disruption from Uncertainty: A 360 Approach to Future Proofing
Uncertainty in the financial services industry is not something financial advisors can control, but they can prepare for it. There’s no need for something new. Traditional methods of optimizing resources will work well for businesses regardless of size. Here’s how.

Client Surveys: Find The Right Software for Your Company
For many in the financial services sector, the options for client surveys are clunky, costly, chaotic, or confusing. When it comes to online survey companies, advisors may find that the aspects that drive the popularity of some programs can make them inappropriate for their business. We researched feedback about these customer survey programs to assess the qualities financial advisors were most likely to need. Here are our results.

Student Loan Changes May Impact Retirement Saving
Major changes to student loans could be coming to an employee near you. While payment options may be reduced for borrowers, plan sponsors looking for avenues to help those participants still have many options.

Three Focus Areas for Plan Sponsors on Benchmarking
Employers know that a strong benefits lineup attracts and retains quality employees. They also know those employees are the best asset their company has. But they might not know what they don’t know: how those costs and fees compare to their competition. It can be hard to know what points to look at when comparing plans. Yet benchmarking is essential to plan management.

Hold on to Your HSA Horses: Challenging the Narrative that Education Alone Will Increase Employee Investments in HSAs
The prevailing wind when it comes to encouraging employees to invest their HSA funds is to increase education. But that does not mean sponsors have to sail into it. Instead, they may want to factor in sharp rises in health care spending and continuing needs for emergency funds when drafting internal communications.

Risk tolerance in the real world: Using the Recently Volatile Market to Help Clients
An essential part of investment planning has always included drafting a strategy to account for a client’s level of risk tolerance. Yet, assessing risk tolerance has always been balanced on two imprecise supports. Advisors may want to consider whether their clients who are considering drastic changes are reacting to a volatile market or if one of the imprecise supports of risk tolerance measurement has slipped.

Practice Pointer: It Helps When the Help is Specific
The volatility in the market, and the whipsawing reactions to it, have ushered in an email maelstrom of offers of help. Why aren’t more clients responding? It could be that clients don’t know how to respond to offers to help that aren’t specific. In this practice pointer, we review how advisors can lighten their clients’ loads in seeking help by offering specifics.

Fiduciary Duties as a Stabilizing Force in a Volatile Market
Can advisors help their clients manage investing anxiety in today’s volatile market by reinforcing their duties as fiduciaries? We think so. Here’s an overview of how advisors can detail their commitment to protecting their clients’ bests interests.

What Counts as a “Recession” and Why Your Plan Participants Are Probably Getting This Term Wrong
Lately we’ve noted an uptick in the word recession. It isn’t the frequency of its use that concerns us, it’s the placement. Lately, the use of the word recession has been popping up more in the general media. While we know that talk of recession is a strong indicator of investor confidence concerns, it’s a complicated topic. Getting it right is important.

Are the Kids Still Alright? Retirement Readiness Based on More Than Vibes
New research indicates a gap between how well retirees perceive that they are doing against how well they actually are financially. In the past survey responses of retirees showed high satisfaction even though objective measures told a different story. Plan sponsors may want to increase participant education programming to help with the gap areas identified in new research.

DOL’s Fiduciary Rule: Signs That It Isn’t Coming Back
The Department of Labor (DOL’s) beleaguered fiduciary duty rule lingers on in federal court litigation, but there are signs that the dispute (as well as the Rule) may not be around for long.

When It Comes to ESG, Plan Sponsors Need to Follow News Not Noise
There are several levels to the news on ESG. For plan sponsors not all of the forthcoming information is necessarily news to use. We suggest focusing on the news about lawsuits on fiduciary duties and ESG rules for plan sponsors.

Puzzling Through the Pieces: Finding Possible Themes and Conflict in the Changes at DOL
Instead of taking changes at the DOL as single item issues, it might be more useful to see how all the changes interact. Often, legislators and regulators want changes to interact like a puzzle; each piece interlocking to form a larger picture. But sometimes when many policies are changed at the same time, conflicts emerge that can put those supposed to be following them into the proverbial spot between a rock and a hard place.

Retirement by Any Other Name? Associations with the Word “Retirement” Could Shift
Many plan sponsors report lags in enrollment and retirement activity among plan participants. While some statistics show that new tricks and tips have impacted participation in retirement plans, enrollment may still lag. It is possible that the way employees think about retirement in general could be behind the lag in active retirement investing.

Long Term Care: It is Time to Talk, More
Many retirees are not well positioned for the health care challenges they may face in retirement because they did not take advantage of long-term care insurance. While many saving for retirement have begun optimizing savings through Health Savings Accounts, they may not understand how those accounts can be used for long-term care insurance premiums when they do retire.

Leadership Interrupted - Leading Teams During Tough Times
Political turmoil may be rocking the markets and your firm’s office. How can advisors lead their teams during tough times? Five tips that work.

San Francisco v. EPA and the Safeguards Rule: Caution Ahead
A Supreme Court ruling curtailing the EPA’s rulemaking for outcome-based regulation could change cybersecurity rules for financial advisors. Well, maybe. We discuss the details by reviewing the Court’s decision and the federal framework for financial institution cybersecurity safeguards.