Client Service February 2, 2021

15th Anniversary of RPAY: Chepenik Financial Services

Jason Chepenik says advisers need to continue to have the courage to try new ideas.

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Jason Chepenik

Since being named the 2019 PLANSPONSOR Large Team Retirement Plan Adviser of the Year, Chepenik Financial in Orlando, Florida, has experienced “significant changes,” says Jason Chepenik, managing partner.

“Our company, along with our RIA [registered investment adviser], of which I was a founding partner, was acquired last January by OneDigital, one of the country’s largest benefits firms. We continue to focus on retirement plans and wealth management, but under the auspices of OneDigital, we now connect the dots between health and wealth. We also were a family business and are now part of a large financial services firm.”

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While many others have been stressed by adjustments to work setups necessitated by the pandemic, Chepenik says not having to travel for in-person meetings with clients and participants has freed up his time considerably and given him a work/life balance he could never have imagined.

“I now have more time to reach out to family and friends and have more meaningful conversations with our clients about what we are trying to accomplish for the many participants we serve,” Chepenik says. “So, in that respect, 2020 was one of the best years our practice has experienced, even though it came with hardships.”

Chepenik Financial also took on several new clients last year, leading the practice to add a sales member and a client service staff member.

Chepenik says that whereas other practices seek out clients with the greatest assets, he seeks out companies with the most participants, 500 to 1,000 or more employees, because it gives him an opportunity to improve the retirement outcomes for more people. “That is one of the things that continues to keep me excited about this business,” he says.

Chepenik also says his practice’s service model has changed. “We have evolved from simply educating participants to offering more one-on-one individual meetings where we provide true advice,” he says. “Another big change has been servicing clients in a virtual world. Our conversations with clients have also changed in a positive way to discussing managed accounts and customized solutions. We really want to find out from our sponsors what is important for them to offer in their plan, and, in some cases, help clients rethink the purpose of their plan. In this sense, the events of the past year have allowed us to broaden out the conversations we have with clients in more meaningful ways. In the past year, many of our clients that had resisted automatic enrollment or stretch matches embraced them. Many are becoming much more aggressive with their plan design to effect better outcomes. More of our clients are now willing to step up to the plate.”

Just before the pandemic hit, Chepenik Financial was preparing to provide a variety of student loan solutions to its clients, but with furloughs and layoffs occurring, the conversation quickly pivoted to emergency savings, he notes.

Chepenik says it is not surprising to him to see other practices be acquired by large financial services and employee benefits firms such as HUB International, Mercer and OneDigital.

“The bigger firms, like OneDigital, are going to continue to add services and make it more challenging to enter the space,” he says.

Chepenik says he is very optimistic about the future of the retirement plan industry.

“I continue to see lots of plans that aren’t working efficiently or with the purpose they are supposed to deliver,” he says. “Thus, there are great deal of opportunities for us to help these companies, plus we now have more tools with which to serve participants, including health and financial welfare programs.”

Chepenik says he is also discussing environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing with many of his clients.

As to how retirement plan advisers can improve defined contribution (DC) plans and participants’ retirement readiness, Chepenik says they need “to have the courage to try new ideas like automatic emergency savings accounts and to continue to push each other to innovate. We also need to continue to find better ways to manage the message: ‘Save as much as you can.’ Last year, we used four action phrases to get this point across: Save for your future. Spend time with family and friends. Invest in your total well-being, and donate to make the world a better place.”

In Practice February 1, 2021

Transformational Trends

2020 was an extraordinary year, in ways we likely have yet to fully understand, and 2021 is proving to be a worthy successor. Join us for a one-day digital seminar on March 24, where we will explore key lessons learned from this extraordinary time for the retirement planning industry.

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2020 was an extraordinary year, in ways we likely have yet to fully understand, and 2021 is proving to be a worthy successor.

The pandemic highlighted economic discrepancies as unemployment and food lines grew while the stock market saw record highs. Changes to offices and client service models were made for safety. Meanwhile, new legislation and regulations kept many in the retirement industry busy, amending their plans and practices, and will provide for new opportunities such as pooled employer plans (PEPs) in 2021. Join us as we examine and discuss four elements of business operations with the potential to transform your practice this year.

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Sign up for the event here. Additionally, there are a few speaking spots left for interested advisers. If you are interested in speaking on one of these topics, contact John Manganaro (john.manganaro@issgovernance.com). 

Opening Remark & Keynote: Addressing the K-Shaped Recovery and Persistent Economic Inequality

Since the global financial crisis of 2008 and 2009, U.S. households in aggregate have come a long way in strengthening their balance sheets. Yet, the distribution of wealth here is highly unequal—about as unequal as it has ever been. Each household in the top 1% of wealth distribution has, on average, $25 million in assets, including nearly $10 million of equities. The next 9% of the distribution holds an average of $3.5 million each, supported by more than $1 million of pension entitlements, including defined contribution (DC) and defined benefit (DB) plans. In marked contrast, the bottom half of households has only $20,000 of net worth, on average, less than 0.1% of the assets of a household at the top. Such figures may not seem professionally relevant to financial service executives, who tend to be well-compensated, but in fact they are. This keynote address will present the facts about economic inequality in the U.S., with the goal of engaging advisers and financial professionals in the critical dialog about solving this vexing and longstanding societal challenge.

Panel 1: What 2020 Taught Us About Selling

LIMRA SRI [Secure Retirement Institute] data show that, in the last three years, only 51% of “core” plan advisers, 40% of “medium” advisers, and 30% of “occasional” advisers have sold at least one brand new plan. Core advisers are defined as those making most of their income advising defined contribution (DC) plans, while medium advisers earn between 20% and 49%, and occasional advisers less than 20%, of total income in the DC marketplace. This panel will ask what sales lessons have been learned over the last year and help advisers identify where and how they should conduct their business development efforts.

Panel 2: Building a Talented Team

What are the best strategies for securing new talent? What experiences have advisers had recruiting young people from colleges and other professions? What are the keys to attracting an experienced and dedicated partner with a shared vision for the future? How do you identify the right staff to take on management roles and become the next generation of leaders? From what new types of skills and talents can advisory firms most benefit?

Panel 3: Can PEPs, MEPs and In-Plan Lifetime Income Be Profit Centers?

Much has been said about the SECURE—or Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement—Act and its support of pooled employer plans (PEPs) and in-plan lifetime income solutions. Many expect that such solutions will help overcome some of the key challenges hindering the U.S. retirement system—namely issues of access and sustainable spending. But what does the rise of these solutions actually mean for an adviser’s business? Are they likely to become important profit centers? Perhaps an occasional area for advisers to address? Or will such solutions more likely be served up—and profited from—by other providers, such as recordkeepers or asset managers?

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