PLANSPONSOR - January - February 2024 - 35

meetings through payroll stuffers or a
video, engagement will be a struggle. "
Doing a group meeting first is " mission
critical, " he says, because it more effectively
raises people's awareness about
their own financial issues enough to
recognize that they would benefit from a
one-on-one conversation.
" If the one-on-one meeting is voluntary,
but we do a group meeting first and
the employees know about the one-onones,
we maybe see 35% of the workforce in
a year, " Arends says. " Then the next year,
we may see another 35% of the workforce
do a one-on-one. " -Judy Ward
Motivating Investment Interest
SEAN BJORK of Bjork Asset Management
is asked what works to motivate employees
to engage in an investment customization
process. " It's almost like going back to the
future: What's effective is the plan adviser
putting 'feet on the street' [beforehand] and
going back to the break-room talks at our
clients like we did 20 years ago, " he says.
" For people to have the comfort level of
having a human being who will help them
with this has been very effective. "
That approach works best for a plan
leadership
whose
genuinely
believes
that participants sometimes can need
a different investment mix to achieve a
successful outcome. " It's a committee
that's open to: There's no one right way-
there are multiple ways to help people
achieve success, " he says.
When similarly asked how to stir
participants' interest
in the investment
customization process, Keith Kotfica of
Edelman Financial Engines says his firm
has done substantial work to find the
answer-and it is usually not to approach
people specifically about their investment
allocation. " What's most important is tying
people's [life] events to how that makes
them think about other things, such as
their retirement savings, " he says. " I'd say
foremost among those events is a milestone
birthday that [could seem to be calling for]
an action someone needs to take. "
For example, it could mean the person
turning 62 and deciding whether to start
taking Social Security at the earliest
possible time. Edelman Financial Engines
sees significant interest in engaging when
the participant is contacted in advance of
a milestone birthday-e.g., six months
before. " The second big motivator we've
found is a change in someone's compensation
as a result of a job change, " Kotfica
says. " The third is a life change in terms
of having children. "
As to differences in interest based
on participant age, Jennifer Doss of
CAPTRUST says she has not seen particular
demographics stand out for wanting
one-on-one
personalized
investment
advice. Rather, clients' participants tend to
seek it when specific things happen, such
as when they get a promotion and raise, or
as the year's end approaches.
" The interest
in engaging is more
event-driven and time-driven than demographic-driven, "
she says. More 25-yearolds
will likely be motivated by the opportunity
to talk to an adviser about their
budgeting issues as they try to save to
buy their first home than the opportunity
to have a meeting focused primarily
on their retirement account's investment
allocation, she says. But the more general
conversation may end up leading to the
participant seeking a personalized allocation
recommendation.
Personalized investment recommendations
often come out of one-on-one
conversations that begin on much broader
topics that a participant is thinking
through, Edelman Financial Engines
has found. " When people talk to us, their
motivation is not necessarily to talk specifically
about online advice or managed
accounts, " Kotfica says. " Often, they want
to talk about their life, their challenges,
and their overall financial goals. " -JW
PLANSPONSOR.COM January - February 2024 35
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