Jenna Spurrier

VP, Investment Advisor, Thurston Capital

Business at a Glance

PLANADVISER: How has your retirement plan practice evolved over the past three to five years?

Spurrier: When the meeting attendees are on the clock, it’s important the meetings are direct, efficient and effective. We have fully pre-printed, customized packets for each attendee and provide translated documents when possible. We then offer “open hours” during which participants can meet with us off the clock before or after their shifts for more personal or detailed questions. With talk-to-text, writing by hand is quickly becoming an antiquated ability! Plus, with diversity of languages and countries of origin, even forms printed in native languages can take up valuable time “on the clock.” So the time we spend preparing for the meetings has probably tripled in the last five to seven years.

We merge all data into each customized packet, which allows us to spend 30 minutes or less in each meeting. Each participant reviews what is pre-printed and can make changes if needed, rather than having to fill out completely blank forms. This also helps ensure legally married participants only choose the spouse for primary beneficiary until a notarized form is presented later.

PLANADVISER: What outcomes matter most to your clients—and how do you measure whether you’re delivering them? (e.g., participation, deferral behavior, retirement readiness, fiduciary confidence)

Spurrier: Our clients prioritize meeting their fiduciary responsibilities as plan sponsors. They want to ensure all eligible employees have the opportunity to sit down with an adviser, ask questions, review information in paper form and be provided historical data regarding each participant’s performance, elections, beneficiaries and log-in credentials. We measure this by the percentage of eligible participants who attend, enroll and increase contribution rates at the annual meetings.

Another valuable tool for measuring success is the increased average deferral rate allowed for the highly compensated employees in non-safe-harbor plans. Owners and decisionmakers are never upset when the average deferral percentage increases year-over-year!

PLANADVISER: How do you engage participants across different life stages and income levels? Include frequency, delivery methods, and how your services are paid for.

Spurrier: The capabilities and national rating of the website and phone application of a plan provider or third-party administrator is very important to us. We prioritize companies with easy-to-view and easy-to-translate mobile sites and phone applications. Smartphones cost more than computers, and the majority of the country has a smartphone but no computer or printer. E-sign and security that is secure, but also easy to use across a broad audience, is important. We have many locations in which cell phones are not only not allowed, but signals are blocked altogether, and only the company Wi-Fi is permitted in the break room. Having two-factor verification options other than text is important for us to be able to assist during annual meetings.

PLANADVISER: What participant behaviors are hardest to change—and how are you addressing them? (e.g., low deferrals, leakage, disengagement, financial stress)

Spurrier: The most difficult behaviors to change are:

• Selling what goes down in value and buying what goes up in value
• Only contributing “up to the match”
• Trying to “time the market”