Can you help me prepare for a speech?

[Dave Baker]

Hi gang,

I've been asked to make a presentation in early August, and here's the description:

"Listen to ... Dave Baker ... share his thoughts on where the retirement industry has been and how technology will impact our work lives in the future. This is intended to be an interactive session so be sure to collect your thoughts and questions beforehand."

I'm having some trouble getting traction on the project.

What would be most useful to you as a practitioner? A list of new technology products and services that you could implement now, in order to improve business processes and your bottom line? Other angles?

[Tom Poje]

well, for where the retirement industry has been, I did a Karoke a few years ago. enough bullet points there to get things started for a discussion, perhaps.

since your system won't let me attach a mid file I renamed it to .xls, so you would have to rename back to .mid

but it's the best I can do to beat your system.

(Statler Bros, Do You Remember These)

I think I wrote this when e-file2 first came out and people were complaining how much easier the paper froms were, but I don't think many feel that way now.

10 year cliffs, class year plans, and the rule of 45,
Five to fifteen year vesting really made those plans alive
Laid off just before you’d vest, but that’s the way it goes-
Ah, do you remember those?

No EGTRRA, no USERRA and what the heck is GUST?
No top heavy requirement was placed upon the Trust
No self-direction, default funds and why disclose the fees
Ah do you remember these

Fifty-five hundred C or R, there’s No e-file 2
hand filled forms sent in by mail, that’s all that we need do
And we filled out many forms, the Schedule Ts and Ps
Ah do you remember these

HCEs and the 1/3rd rule, the multiple use test
PIA offset DB plans, they seemed like the best
No Cash Balance, no DB-K, nothing like an E-Bar
Can you remember back that far?

No catch up limits, Roth deferrals, EPCRS
Things were easier back then, but now we’ve got a mess
Segment rates and funding yield curves have added to our woes
Ah, if we could forget those

SIMPLE plans, and SHNECS and SHMACs, New Comparability
Way back when those things were not part of reality
no nondiscrim, no 410-b, we didn’t dream of GATT,
ah do you remember that?

Combo plans had 415-e rules to think about
the1.25 multiplier was often left in doubt
and owners could not take a loan, even if they did say please
ah, do you remember these?

30 thou was the limit; 25 percent of pay
comp reduced by deferrals, for us that was ok
for us old folks, those were the rules, they were our ABCs
Do we, do we remember these? Yes, we do, Ahh how we remember these!

doyourememberthese.xls

[MWeddell]

I saw at a 2013 summer Vanguard conference statistics that surprised me regarding what a low percentage of participants were accessing Vanguard's website via smartphones and tablets. In other words, the speed of participants adopting those technologies specifically for retirement plans was slower than I would have thought. I'd guess that one could contact Vanguard to get their most updated statistics on that.

I think the most important change is going to be individualized guidance / advice / account management. I know we think that's already happened, but there is more to come with the integration of HSA savings opportunities & individual tax consequences into the more common 401(k) material.

[Tom Poje]

having sat in on a Dave presentation years ago I'd be curious just what other bells and whistled he will use to do the audience.

Have a safe and enjoyable 4th!

[Dave Baker]

Thanks, Michael! Excellent points. Can you tell me more about how Towers Watson is helping clients to implement individual advice, especially how technology is being applied?

Tom, I love your lyrics! Happy 4th. I think I'll be spinning the grindstone for the speech.

[MWeddell]

Thanks, Michael! Excellent points. Can you tell me more about how Towers Watson is helping clients to implement individual advice, especially how technology is being applied?

I don't usually go out of my way to advertise my own company's services, but if you're going to ask me a direct question, how can I refuse? I rejoined Towers Watson in January 2014, as you seem to know.

We have been talking to clients about an analytical service called FiT Age, which calculates for each participant the age at which the participant is projected to be able to afford to retirement while maintaining his/her pre-retirement standard of living through his/her remaining life expectancy. By expressing the result as an age, not as a big lump sum amount of needed retirement savings, we think it is more tangible to employees and therefore more likely to trigger them to take action. A bigger difference is that it integrates wellness behavior, retirement savings behavior, HSA savings, retirement benefits, and participant demographics at the individual level. (Makes me wonder whether employer stock purchase plans will be incorporated at some point too.)

FiT Age is really two services. First, an analytical service for employers that can be used to shape plan design and communications initiatives. Second, a participant-level communication that communicates FiT Age and then gives customized suggestions for how to improve one's FitAge. The exciting thing from participant's viewpoint is that often the most effective suggestion is not "save more and have smaller take-home paychecks" but instead can be save more efficiently.

[Tom Poje]

ok, maybe I am the only curious mind, but

how did the talk go?