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401(k) Fridays Podcast

The 401(k) Fridays Podcast features a weekly conversation with an expert guest to help employers and their service partners keep up with workplace retirement plan topics and trends. Listen today, improve your retirement plan tomorrow!
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Now displaying: February, 2018
Feb 23, 2018

This week we have one of my early favorites from the archives featuring my conversation with Jerry Patterson, the Senior Vice President of Retirement & Investor Services at Principal Financial Group.  Jerry is also a national speaker and writer on a broad range of financial topics and is a resident blogger for the Huffington Post where he focuses on financial wellness and overcoming human nature to attain better financial security outcomes.  We focus what employers should know about what it means for their employees to make the transition into retirement. 

One of the biggest things they have to come to grips with is how they are going to live without a “paycheck” for the rest of their life.  While this is a highly personal and individual decision, if you are their employer at the time, the decision about when and if they are ready to make the transition into retirement can have a big impact on you and your organization!  Jerry generously shares his experience, research and advice on how participants get tripped up by admiring a balance, not understanding fixed and variable expenses and falling victim to retirement drift.  We also spend time talking about strategies employers may explore to help their employees with decumulation, or converting the balances they have accumulated over their years into a stream of income. 

Be sure to check back next week as we will have a new episode exploring The Factors to Factor in on Factor Investing!

Guest Bio

Jerry Patterson has been a presence in the financial services industry for more than 25 years where he held a number of diverse and senior roles at some of the nation’s largest financial institutions.  Patterson currently serves as senior vice president, Retirement & Investor Services with the Principal Financial Group where he leads the company’s annuity, individual investor services, and broader retirement income efforts.  Key areas of focus in his current role include driving better retirement outcomes through more effective retirement plan designs, behavior-based education and engagement strategies, getting more Americans to understand and embrace the power of guaranteed retirement income, and addressing the unique and different needs of emerging Millennials and retiring Baby Boomers. 

Patterson is a national speaker and writer on a broad range of issues and topics, including financial and estate planning, behavioral finance, healthcare, wellness, Millennials, Boomers, and retirement.  He is a resident blogger for the Huffington Post where he focuses on financial wellness and overcoming human nature to attain better financial security outcomes.  He can be followed @JerryWPatterson.

Patterson is an active participant in a number of industry and community organizations focused on retirement security and the arts.  He is currently an active board member for the Insured Retirement Institute, Ballet Des Moines, and Des Moines Social Club.  Patterson’s education and early career focus was on accounting and law and he is a member of the Kansas and Missouri bars. 

401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview

Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your workplace retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over 100 prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

Feb 16, 2018

Maybe this shows my age, but whenever I get thinking about surveys my mind immediately goes to The Family Feud and their often repeated catch phrase of “our survey said…”.  Today, we dont’ have the family feud, but I do have Joshua Dietch, group manager of Retirement & Financial Education at T. Rowe Price to share input from their results of their 3rd Annual Retirement Savings & Spending Survey.  Their work caught my attention as it had some great insights on retirement trends and behaviors that are good for employers to be aware of, but also because their focus this year was on Gen Xers.  Millennials and Baby Boomers seem to get all the attention these days! So for selfish reasons, it was nice to see the focus and some good data on what’s going on with generation!  Since I already gave this away in the title, we do cover a broad range of trends and topics that hit all generations, but it is clear that Gen Xers are at a critical juncture for retirement planning and Josh shares how you can better focus on serving this group, again thinking selfishly for my generation, based on their recent findings.  

Guest Bio

Joshua Dietch is vice president and group manager of Retirement and Financial Education at T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. Joshua joined T. Rowe Price in 2017 and is responsible for leading a team of researchers and writers who create retirement and personal financial planning thought leadership in support of T. Rowe Price’s individual investor, retirement plans, intermediary, and institutional businesses. He has over 20 years of experience in financial services, having held a number of senior industry roles including: Head of Retirement and Institutional - Strategic Insight; Managing Director - Chatham Partners; Director, Product Marketing and Management - ADP Retirement Services; and Associate Director, Institutional Markets - Cerulli Associates. In addition to his responsibilities at T. Rowe Price, Joshua is a member of the Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association’s (DCIIA) Executive Committee and is Chair of its Retirement Research Board. He earned a B.A. in history from Bates College and is a series 7 registered representative.

401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview

Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your workplace retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over 100 prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

Feb 9, 2018

Honestly, I’m not sure I even gave our guest the chance to unpack his suitcase from his trip to Washington D.C.!  I am happy to welcome Sam Henson, Director of Legislative & Regulatory Affairs at Lockton Retirement Services back to the podcast!  Our conversation is timely in that he provides great input on President Trump’s first year in office, what impact it has had on workplace retirement plans and a few ideas on things to come and where we go from here.  We also touch on a few issues that are being actively debated in Washington such as Open Multiple Employer Plans, State Retirement Plans and what seems like the never-ending soap opera of the Fiduciary Rule. As usual, Sam not only provides great perspective but keeps the conversation moving and interesting! 

Guest Bio

As a Senior Vice President and Director of Legislative and Regulatory Affairs for Lockton Retirement Services, Sam Henson oversees national IRS/DOL/ERISA compliance services for all clients and more than 100 associates nationwide. Sam serves as a subject matter expert on ERISA compliance, DOL/IRS activities, and the legislative landscape. Prior to joining Lockton, Sam spent almost 10 years with the U.S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration, where as a Senior Investigator, he conducted more than 100 complex civil and criminal investigations of employee benefits plans, service providers, and fiduciaries. Sam also supervised enforcement efforts for benefit plans funded by prevailing wage laws under the Service Contract Act and Davis-Bacon Act. Sam currently serves on the Policy Board of Directors for the American Benefits Council, Board of Directors for DCIIA, and the Governing Council of ISCEBS, as well as being a member of ASPPA. Sam has been a nationally featured speaker and writer on numerous fiduciary topics.

401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview

Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your workplace retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over 100 prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

Feb 2, 2018

One of my favorite things these days is to explore new topics on the podcast!  Today in my conversation with Dena Ayala, the President & CEO of Spencer Reed Consulting we dive into the role workplace retirement plans play in an employers ability to recruiting talent.  This is a pretty timely episode based on the current historically low unemployment rate and the war for talent that has been going on in many industries and geographies around the country.  Dena provides great input on what questions she gets from candidates about an employers 401(k) plan during the recruiting process, her observations on some things she sees employers doing well and where they can improve in their recruiting efforts and I also gave her the opportunity to share some insights from her 20 years of experience working with employers of all shapes and sizes that takes us out of the realm of retirement plans.  

Guest Bio

Dena Ayala is the President & CEO of Spencer Reed Consulting, So Cal's finest recruiting firm. Dena’s passion is people. She prides herself in living a purpose-driven life and positively impacting those around her. She has worked in the recruiting and human resources field for 18 years, supporting thousands of people advancement within their careers. She just completed her term as the President of San Diego HR Forum, the largest HR network in San Diego.  Through SDHRF she is actively contributing to community awareness, strategizing to raise the viewpoint of HR professionals, providing networking & peer support.  She is also on the board and a supporter of Women In Technology International, a worldwide organization dedicated to the advancement of women in business and technology.

401(k) Fridays Podcast Overview

Struggling with a fiduciary issue, looking for strategies to improve employee retirement outcomes or curious about the impact of current events on your workplace retirement plan? We've had conversations with retirement industry leaders to address these and other relevant topics! You can easily explore over 100 prior on-demand audio interviews here. Don't forget to subscribe as we release a new episode each Friday!

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