Grant Buntin

PLANADVISER: What motivates you to stay in the retirement/advisory industry?

Buntin: Early on, I thought I would get a sense of purpose from the technical side, working in spreadsheets and with numbers. I learned pretty quickly that is only a small part of it. As I have moved into a leadership role focused on education, what has kept me here is seeing individuals go from disarray or a lack of clarity about their finances and retirement to a state of confidence.

Most of us aren’t taught in school about personal finance. If we are, it is often minimal. We turn to our parents to learn, which can build a solid foundation. However, so many laws and strategies change over time, so that only gets you so far. We don’t lack the ability to understand retirement planning. We lack the access to someone willing to explain it without an agenda. This could be a one-on-one meeting regarding a Roth conversion or a group meeting in front of a whole company with auto-enrollment and not knowing the reasoning or the “why” behind it. Even if one person is positively affected that day, week or month, I can leave that interaction feeling fulfilled.

PLANADVISER: What advice would you give to someone entering the industry today?

Buntin: My advice would be to learn to educate effectively before selling. Our job in the retirement industry is to make a complex benefit feel manageable. That might be talking to a plan sponsor or a group of individuals in a plan. There is so much industry jargon that becomes so commonplace to use among coworkers. Being able to break it down into plain English is a really important skill. Whether it’s using metaphors to a topic they’re familiar with or drawing it out on a scratch piece of paper for a visual learner, educating is so important. Once you have that part of the job down, selling—if that is the path for you—becomes much easier.

I would also say to learn about behavioral finance—the “why” behind people’s money decisions. This comes with having those one-on-one conversations. It might be because of a recent experience a coworker or family member had. Experiencing those conversations will make you better equipped to relate and to assist an individual more than just saying a decision is right or wrong.

PLANADVISER: Who are your mentors or role models and what lessons have you learned from them?

Buntin: Kristi Baker has been my mentor and role model at work since I started working with her in 2021. Her drive to make a difference one small step at a time is infectious to be around. We all have to start somewhere, and Kristi not only knows that, but brings that mentality to the forefront of people’s minds. There is not a client, prospect or individual that Kristi will not make time to have a genuine conversation with, even on the busiest of days. I have been lucky enough to be witness to that for more than five years now.

One of my goals during my career is to leave the industry in a better place than when I started. While that is subjective and tough to measure, I can say that Kristi will accomplish that more than anyone else I have met during my tenure.

There is a laundry list of ways that she has accomplished that, but a few that I am focusing on are leading by example, encouraging others to think about what the future holds for you even if it’s scary, and celebrating small wins along the way.