One-on-One Meetings
Best practices for making the most of the time.
Reported by Judy Faust Hartnett
Wes Collins, senior manager, participant advice services at CAPTRUST Financial Advisors, in Raleigh, North Carolina, says allow for at least a 30-minute conversation. “Anything shorter than that, you can’t accomplish a lot. The more time we allow, the more robust those conversations are. At the same time, the more time, the fewer people you can see. With a 30-minute consultation, we can see 13 or 15 participants in one day.”
CAPTRUST uses an online scheduling system to connect with individual participants after the sponsor client has set the date. “We give clients a communication to send out with the scheduling link. With a system such as this, advisers can see if sign-ups are full, for instance; do they need to think about providing additional time or driving people to our advice desk as an alternative?” Collins says.
“On the other side is knowing your client. We revert to using hard-copy sign-ups when not everyone uses a computer, such as in manufacturing jobs. We’ll check in with the contact to see how things are going,” he says. “It’s all about communication.”
Manual Rosado, president of Spectrum Investment Advisors, in Mequon, Wisconsin, strongly suggests that meetings be scheduled during the work day, as attendance will be low otherwise. Plus, he says, “There has to be ongoing scheduling communications throughout the event, and a plan sponsor employee has to own the process. [He] can guide the participants, and trust is already built in.”
Further, Rosado says, “We want to understand from the client what type of atmosphere we’ll be in, what the expectations are, what our look and feel should be: Should we be coming in with a suit and tie or with polo shirts? We want to educate and empower individuals; therefore, we want to talk to them and not in an overly complicated way.”
The meeting documentation begins with the adviser collecting data from the participant—and the person’s spouse, if possible—to be used as a baseline, Rosado says. Having the spouse attend the meeting allows for more comprehensive advice, as the couple may each have a defined contribution (DC) plan and/or outside accounts to discuss.
Participants are asked to bring their statements or passwords so, during the meeting, the adviser can review their savings and allocations and then implement or agree upon actions, Collins says. But, “As often as we remind participants to bring that stuff, they don’t. We then either try to reset their passwords or try to get their recordkeeper on the phone, but this cuts into the appointment time.”
Then starts what ideally will be an action-oriented, one-on-one conversation, which can enable account access, a password reset, contribution change, beneficiary update, outside asset discussion, and investment rebalance/reallocation.
At Spectrum, Rosado says, advisers use an online worksheet that includes current, as well as recommended, allocation numbers. The adviser and participant work together to make the suggested changes. At the end, “we scan the worksheet document so the conversation can be picked up where it was left off at the next meeting, and send a summary of the conversation as a keepsake for the participant.”—Judy Faust Hartnett
Art by Mar Hernández