In Practice May 1, 2012

Turn the Retirement Conversation to Boomers’ Personal Concerns

Boomers mostly ignore intangible digital assets when planning retirement, a report shows.  
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Online presence and activity figure little in Baby Boomers’ retirement plans, according to research from the Bank of Montreal (BMO) Retirement Institute.

Nearly all North Americans (99%) reported using at least one personal online tool, and 85% said they use at least one financial online tool. From PayPal to Facebook to accounts at Amazon, eBay and other online retailers, almost everyone has a digital presence, according to “Estate Planning in the 21st Century: New Considerations in a Changing Society.”

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“When we think of estate planning, it’s often focused around the more traditional aspects, such as leaving money for the children or to charities,” said Tina Di Vito, head of the BMO Retirement Institute. “However, we need to start incorporating emerging trends, such as advancements in technology.”

Boomers have embraced technology and are going online in ever-increasing numbers. User-friendly features such as larger screens on smartphones and easily enlarged small text on multitouch tablets have enhanced Boomers’ ability to join the wired world.

One significant difference between wired Boomers and their tech-savvy younger counterparts is their bank balances. Older Boomers (age 55 to 66) are the largest group of online spenders, and they spend more money on technology than any other demographic.

The surge in older consumers who have a personal, professional or financial presence online and the scale of their involvement have created millions of intangible digital assets, from social media to online stock trading.

 

 (Cont’d)

By and large, more than half of survey respondents with digital property said they believe it is very important or somewhat important to put contingencies in place for their personal and financial digital assets, yet the majority (57%) said they had made no provision in their estate planning to address passwords and access to financial accounts or social networks. The most common answer (50%) was “I didn’t think of it.” Slightly more than a third of respondents (37%) said they didn’t think it was necessary. Just 8% said their legal professional didn’t bring up the subject.

People may be unaware of the consequences for not making provisions. A spouse or heirs may not have access to the passwords for online bank and investment accounts. In case of incapacity, they may not even know of the existence of stock options that are about to expire.

It’s not just the financial value of digital assets that are at stake. Such assets (photo collections or extensive music files) often have emotional value and risk being lost if they are overlooked in the estate planning process. Without the appropriate provisions, many e-mail providers will deny family members access to the account of the deceased because of nontransferable clauses in the terms of service. Privacy and respect can be compromised. In the case of LinkedIn, unless the account is frozen, friends and colleagues will continue to receive recommendations for connections after the individual is gone.

Digital assets and the notion of leaving a digital legacy is a new frontier. Because of the inherently intangibility of these assets, there is still little precedent in the field of digital estate planning. Nevertheless, the importance of creating a digital estate plan is sure to increase as the adoption rate of emerging technologies continues to soar.

BMO Retirement Institute’s North American survey was conducted online by Harris Decima from February 24 to February 28, 2012. Respondents were 2,009 North Americans (1,003 Americans and 1,006 Canadians), age 45 and up.

The full report is available here.

 

 

In Practice April 30, 2012

iPads Provide Benefits for Advisers

 

Many retirement plan advisers are joining the iPad craze and discovering opportunities for their business.

 

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In fact, twice as many financial professionals used mobile devices (22%)—like iPads and other tablets—compared with usage a year ago (11%), according to results in American Century Investments’ third annual “Financial Professionals Social Media Adoption Study.”

Moreton Retirement Partners has 15 iPads, which the company uses during committee meetings. Corey Whitehead, senior vice president of Moreton, told PLANADVISER he can already see a difference in client meetings and cost efficiency since the company started using iPads about 14 months ago.

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Enhance Client Meetings

The iPad allows for paperless reports, which Whitehead can send to plan sponsors for review before meetings. If something comes up during a meeting that requires further research, the iPad can be a helpful tool, he added.

Client feedback was important to Moreton Retirement Partners when it started using iPads. “To our astonishment, we didn’t have a single client give us negative feedback,” Whitehead said, adding that even committee members who are not technologically savvy appreciate the iPads. Whitehead said the team offers a short iPad tutorial at the beginning of each meeting.

“There’s always a positive reaction when we walk in [with iPads], especially with new clients,” Whitehead said.

 

Heather McKim, senior vice president of strategy and interactive at HNW, said she thinks enhancing client meetings is one of the biggest benefits of the iPad. The device can be used for presentations, which can be projected on a larger screen, and for one-on-one planning discussions with clients. “If you can immediately show the value of the solutions you are recommending, obviously that will speed the decisionmaking process on the client’s end,” she said.

For advisers unable to hold an in-person meeting, the iPad allows for easy video conferencing and information sharing. Meeting Mngr PRO, for example, connects as many iPads as needed and projects documents on the screens. Cisco WebEx Meetings allows advisers to conduct online meetings from anywhere with two-way streaming video. Applications such as Keynote can be used for professional presentations. 

McKim said some advisers remain reluctant to host remote meetings on the iPad because of possible Internet connection issues. “The adviser absolutely needs to have those conversations free of any tech issues, so I think there’s a bit of hesitation around that,” she added.

Save Money (and Trees)

Lengthy reports are paperless with the iPad, so companies can save money from decreasing printing and paper costs. They can also reduce soft-dollar costs for the meeting preparation itself because reports no longer require compilation in binders. Meeting preparation time is cut in half and human error is eliminated, like missing or misplaced pages in binders, Whitehead said. “The iPads have actually paid for themselves at this point, due to the reduction in printing and paper costs,” he added.

His company earned back the purchase price about nine months after buying eight iPads, and he said he expects the same result within the next few months with the second purchase of seven iPads. “We do a lot of meetings, though,” Whitehead said, “so that’s not going to be the [case for the] typical smaller-shop adviser.”

Clients and advisers are also pleased with the environmental benefits of the iPad, sparing paper waste from reports. “We certainly want to be more conscious of our environment, and we are involved in an industry that’s not,” Whitehead said.

 

Work Remotely

With the iPad, advisers can access their work computers to look up documents. They can also edit and create documents, spreadsheets and presentations while away from the office.

Whitehead said he enjoys being able to conduct meetings for several days without returning to the office for client documents, because all folders are accessible on his iPad, with password protection.

There are some drawbacks to working on the iPad, however. Whitehead said he does not find the iPad overly efficient for tasks such as taking notes or adding events to his calendar, but he finds it very useful for viewing reports.

“The easiest way to describe the efficiencies of an iPad is they are not overly efficient for input, [but] they are very efficient for output,” he said.

Overall, McKim thinks the iPad is positively changing the way advisers conduct business. “I think these devices have the power to be transformative in this field,” she said.

 

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