The Magic of Local Events

A few years ago, Jason Chepenik, managing partner of advisory firm Chepenik Financial in Winter Park, Florida, became aware of the growing attention the industry was giving to financial wellness, and of his own conviction it was highly important. “There are so many financial tools and programs in the marketplace,” he recalls. “I was looking for one we could create that would be unique and fun, to put a stake in the ground on our own financial wellness spin of things.”

Chepenik considered the fact that National 401(k) Day takes place the first Friday after Labor Day in September and that National Save for Retirement Week is the first week of October. “When we learned that April is National Financial Literacy Month, that’s when we decided to consider April 1, or 4/01” to showcase financial wellness, he says. Thus was born a fun run: the 4.01k Race for Financial Wellness. To highlight the importance of saving in a 401(k) plan, the 4.01k Race takes place on April 1 at 4:01 p.m. over 4.01 kilometers, instead of the usual five. The first race was held in 2015 in Orlando, Florida, attracting 350 runners and raising $50,000 for charity.

To attract that many people right out of the gate, Chepenik says, he reached out to all of his clients and service partners, including recordkeepers and third-party administrators (TPAs), asking them to participate. The race’s beneficiary, Junior Achievement of Central Florida, was also instrumental in getting the word out, he says, particularly as “its board of directors is a ‘Who’s Who’” of the area.

Because high schools in Florida are required to give juniors and seniors 10 hours of education on financial literacy, the money the race has raised for Junior Achievement goes toward creating educational materials. Chepenik Financial also worked with an Orlando marketing and branding company, Think Creative, to promote the event.

“In Orlando, to have 350 people show up for any event is a big deal, and we received many kudos from the people who came,” he says.

Expanding the Mission

In 2016, a second city came on board through the auspices of Channel Financial in Minneapolis. Jim McDonald, a partner in the firm, says he learned about the opportunity through  having become friends with Chepenik at industry events. “We wanted to give back to the community and develop a branding message to get our name out there,” McDonald says. Like Chepenik Financial, Channel Financial’s initial race raised an impressive $60,000.

Channel’s first two races, in 2016 and 2017, also benefited its local Junior Achievement chapter, Junior Achievement of the Upper Midwest, McDonald says. However, the group’s efforts at promotion trailed behind what the Florida group was accomplishing, so this year, the race will benefit the Special Olympics of Minnesota, he says. Minnesota Junior Achievement was already holding “bowlathons” in local cities that raise substantial funds, so that competed for the group’s attention, he explains. For any advisory practice looking to kick off a 4.01k Race for Financial Fitness or, in general, to create a marketing program linked to philanthropy, he stresses finding a charitable partner that will be committed to promoting the event.

Kansas City, Missouri, was the site of its first 4.01k Race, last April, with Bukaty Financial Services of Overland Park, Kansas, as the advisory group sponsor. Firm President Vince Morris says he was impressed with what Chepenik “was trying to accomplish and saw an alignment with our own mission in the marketplace. The 4.01k Race plays into the narrative of pairing physical wellness and financial wellness. It’s hard to be healthy if you are constantly stressed by finances, so we think this event resonates with people.”

Bukaty’s race benefits Junior Achievement of Greater Kansas City. “We always look for charities and community involvement that focus on children and the financial world, and Junior Achievement is a perfect blend of that,” he says. “Hopefully, by educating children about finances, it will have decades of positive impact on their lives.”

As of last year, the race was run in six cities, and Chepenik expects three more this April. Next year, he hopes to expand to 18 cities—and to dozens more in the years ahead.

To date, the race has generated $250,000 in donations for Junior Achievement.

BlackRock and broker/dealer (B/D) Triad Advisors have signed on as national sponsors for this year’s race, Chepenik adds. Each city has between 25 and 50 local sponsors, as well, which also helps to promote the event.

Broadening the Philanthropic Effort

Last year, Chepenik raised additional funds to hire financial expert Jean Chatzky to serve as “financial wellness coach” and kick off the event the night before at a wine reception. Following the race, Chepenik holds a “Wellabration” party to give attendees and sponsors a chance to mingle.

As part of his plan to engage more cities, Chepenik created a race-specific website, www.401krace.com, and the Smarter Tomorrow Foundation to serve as a template platform to enable other retirement planning practices to get involved. “It is a 501.3c charitable foundation that serves as a platform to help raise money” for additional races, Chepenik says. Running each race costs approximately $25,000. However, an advisory practice and its charitable beneficiary each have to pay $2,500 to come on board. The intention here, Chepenik says, is to get them to have skin in the game.

Chepenik has trademarked the Smarter Tomorrow Foundation name, as well as Wellabration. “The primary fundraising happens on the local level. The foundation raises advisers’ awareness of their need to give back to the community,” he says.

The net result has been, not only are the participating retirement planning advisory practices doing good by promoting financial wellness, Chepenik says, but they are raising their local profile and, potentially, attracting new clients. He also notes that the race is covered by the local media in each city where they take place.

Besides putting the name of the advisory practice in front of potential clients, Chepenik says, the race may also help a firm attract talent—Millennials interested in giving back to their communities.

He encourages other advisory practices to consider creating their own local event by looking into the unique needs of their own community.

Art by Uijing Kim