Communicating Financial WellBeing Tools

Knowing that you have financial planning tools is the first step on the path to financial wellbeing. Jennifer Schuster and Josh Meyer from Segal Benz Communications return to the podcast and share some tips and tools of how they communicate financial wellbeing to their Taft-Hartley clients. Segal Benz aggregates information and financial tools for multiemployer plans and then delivers access to those participants.

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Narrator  00:02

This is The World of Multiemployer Benefit Funds with Traci Dority-Shanklin. We believe in demystifying retirement solutions, upholding retiree dignity and contributing to economic stability through union organizing, pension reform and legislative activism. In short, we're devoted to busting myths about the labor movement. If you're interested in the enduring power of labor, well, you've landed in the right place. Experts and activists will share their insights, expertise, and stories. Time is short. So, let's get started.

Traci Shanklin  00:36

Hi, it's Traci here. We are back with part two of my conversation with Josh Meyer and Jennifer Schuster of Segal Benz Communications. Josh is a Vice President at Segal Benz Communication. He counsels clients on the benefits of communication using a broad array of media and works nationally with many multiemployer clients. Jennifer is also a Vice President and Senior Communications Consultant. She specializes in innovating social and mobile media to connect with employees. Segal Benz Communications is a subsidiary of Segal that provides various consulting services including actuarial, health benefits, Human Resources, investments, fiduciary insurance, communications, and technology to a predominantly multiemployer client base. They have more than 25 offices throughout the US and Canada, all bound together by the shared mission of providing trusted advice that improves lives. Segal Benz Communications works with multiemployer plan sponsors to enhance communication and delivery of financial tools so all multiemployer fund participants can be on a path to financial wellbeing.

Traci Shanklin  01:54

Financial wellbeing is more than just about our ability to pay our bills or retire with dignity. Financial wellbeing impacts every area of our lives and is critical to our overall quality of life. What does it take to have financial wellbeing? The key components to financial wellbeing are financial literacy, retirement literacy, and a high-level understanding of navigating healthcare coverage. It takes education and planning, but you must know where to start. Josh and Jennifer share how many multiemployer plans provide targeted guidance to plan participants. As the three of us continue our conversation about financial wellbeing, we will dive right in. Okay, let's get into it.

Traci Shanklin  02:46

You guys pretty much are answering all my questions without me even asking them, so that's good. Because my question really was, and it feeds off of what you've just said: what kind of things have you guys been experimenting with different mediums to deliver financial and/or retirement education or just planning for the rainy day? As you talked about, Jennifer, I'm just wondering, is there anything new? Are they -- are plan sponsors, looking at? I don't know, online tutorials, self-paced courses, that kind of stuff?

Jennifer Schuster 03:24

They definitely are. One of the things that, again, I love about what we do, and what kind of sets Segal Benz apart from other folks who do this type of work, is we have like a true consumer orientation to what we do. Okay. And what I mean by that is, I want the benefits experience that we create or the planning experience that we create for our participants, the folks who look at our communications to be as delightful as ordering a cup of Starbucks coffee on my app -- on my way, you know, to pick up my kid from school. It's so easy and intuitive. And I get there, and my coffee is waiting for me. And it's awesome. It's lovely. And so that's what we're really out to do is to create that type of an experience for the folks that we work with. And so, that can take the form of an interactive calculator that helps you think to yourself, “Okay, these are the things I need to plan for. What happens if I set aside $10 a week into this account? How can that grow?” We help folks think about that. 

Jennifer Schuster  04:30

We also do quite a bit of personalized communications, so whether that's with our plan recordkeepers or the fund administrators, offering a portal-based experience for their folks where they can go in, they can take a look at the money that's being contributed on their behalf. They can take a look at their claims experience. They can look at all kinds of different things related to their financial and their health benefits, which I think is super important is having that personalized view. And then again, I think we mentioned earlier just like the kind of old-fashioned print material that can go home to folks, you know, to their houses in the mail. And what we really try to do there is keep things super simple; keep them very visual, not a bunch of legal speak, but just super easy to look at, to read, and to understand and to take action on. So, it's a long-winded answer to your question. But those are the things I think that we're really trying to innovate with right now is how simply can we present super complicated information. 

Traci Shanklin  05:35

I used to work for a recordkeeper. And they did defined benefit plans that were trustee-directed; defined contribution plans that were self-directed. So, I'm interested in what you're talking about as a tool, I'm just wondering is, as because every plan has their own vendors, and is there any one I guess, one product one-size fits all source? I mean, you mentioned the Starbucks app, is there something out there like that is being created for multiemployer plan participants that can have the information from each individual plan can interact with it? I'm just curious, because you have all these different vendors that are going to have their own tool. And so, then it becomes, and you mentioned just the interactive calculator, and they may have their own interactive calculator, is there anything that's being looked at there?

Josh Meyer 06:33

I don't think we found a one-size fits all or one magic wallet for this, but what we try to do is by taking a look at what the tools are available that the client's recordkeeper offers, we can figure out -- we tried it, we can figure out there are things missing, or ways to tie it together and bring our communications expertise in to help navigate through what the recordkeeper has. I think that's -- we started the conversation about why we're doing this and what we enjoy. It's because there's no one-size fits all. We're always listening to what our clients are trying to do and helping them figure out how to put the puzzle together, so there's always a new challenge. And then that keeps it really interesting for us. And so, we have all these tools at our disposal to win. We can pull something from our quiver that we think will help them. But, we want to really talk to them and understand their situation, their goals, who their audiences are, and come up with a plan that will work for them.

Jennifer Schuster 07:38

The different recordkeepers certainly have some amazing financial planning tools that are available, even just on their websites for non-members. You know, folks can poke around, and you know, just take a quiz or whatever. And that's one of the things we're actually working with some of our clients right now is to pull together, and this is from an education perspective, just take people through a fun five, six question quiz, asking the different questions. Questions about what their goals might be? Your short-term goals? Long-term goals? What kind of things are you saved for the future? And then from that quiz, you know, kind of branching into just some ideas, and tips and tools that they can use to get to that goal. So, while we might not be having them plug in numbers and doing calculations and things like that, based off of how they answered and responded to the quiz, we might branch them out to let's say, a planning tool that Fidelity offers; a tool that Financial Engines might offer. So again, getting back to that aggregating or curating all the different resources that are available to folks, but asking them questions that match them to the right resource. So again, they don't have to figure it out themselves and navigate through 40 links. They've answered six questions, and we've given them some ideas on what they might want to look at. That's kind of a fun thing that we're doing now with some of our clients. 

Traci Shanklin  09:07

Yeah, I think it's a useful thing for participants. I think it can be a rabbit hole, right? You can you start, you go down one, you look at one source of information, and then all of a sudden, you're in over your head. So, I love the idea of having some kind of a quiz funnel that directs people that, you know, is directing traffic. I think that's really smart. And one of the other things is in my work when I was working on with this particular company, I worked with Prudential retirement investment services. It's been a long time ago. But, one of the things that was a problem is the tools aren't good if no one knows they're available or how to use them. And I'm wondering has anything being explored because it's been a long time since I've been in this business to expand the usage of these tools that are available to them. It sounds like the communication is one that just letting people know that they're there is the first step, but I'm wondering if there's any other things that are being explored to encourage people to really be more proactive?

Josh Meyer 10:17

I think, in general, today, people are so much more in tune with going online and using their phone or their computer or their tablet to get information and to have interactive tools available for, you know, they do their banking that way; they order food that way. So, I think people are more expecting when this goes back to what Jen was talking about having a consumer experience. So, they have that experience for all of these other facets of their life. So, they're expecting to be able to do things like that with their benefits. So, then we're really trying to come in is to help them, point them in the right directions and understand these tools, and also just generally understanding their benefits and to value their benefits and why they're important. I think we're always trying to experiment and try out new and even old technologies to get people's attention. And to point them in the right direction. Using the quizzes that Jen was talking about before. We've also done things where once they've answered a couple of questions, we can send them sort of customized emails. And they can get them over once a week, once a month, to help direct them on their journey and point them toward the tools just based on their answers. So, they're not totally personalized, but just based on the questions that they've answered, we can set up a stream of communications to follow up on their interests, and then to help point them toward the tools. 

Jennifer Schuster 11:47

I think getting back to something we said earlier about keeping things super simple and taking a marketing approach to get folks to do something, right? Let's say for example, we send a postcard home. And, it's really simple, and the call to action is we want you to register for whether it's the fund portal or the recordkeeper’s website, we want them to do something right. And so, we'll create just a super simple postcard with that very catchy call-to-action, do this. Have a QR code on it, so folks can scan the QR code into their phone, go to the registration page on the portal, and register their account. And we're having a lot of success doing that. So, as we're planning our communications, Traci, we're saying to ourselves, what is the call-to-action? We want them to do something when they get it, and we want to track that they've done it. We want to say to ourselves, “Did we send out a postcard to 1000 participants - did 200 of them go to the portal and register their account?” And so, we're really trying to be planned about what we're asking folks to do. Can we measure it and create communications that capture their attention to get them to take that action? 

Jennifer Schuster  13:04

So, I think that that's one thing that we're really exploring doing right now. The other thing is sort of like, I'll call it old-fashioned, but not really, we're really leveraging in the multiemployer space, working with folks who are the stewards of the union, who are the union reps. The different folks were involved at that level on the ground with participants, and asking them to be ambassadors of these tools and resources that are available to participants. So, we've worked with a bunch of funds just to provide training to the local reps to get them to say, “Hey, let's promote these different resources on the ground with our plan participants.” And we're having a lot of success in that way, as well. So, I've gone to steward meetings, for example, held up my phone, said to folks, “Take out your phone right now. Scan this QR code, get on here, or do this now.” And we're having quite a lot of success. 

Traci Shanklin  13:57

That's great. Have any incentives to participants for participating in financial or retirement education that's been explored or implemented by any of your clients? I mean, you mentioned scanning the QR code so you have a real time notification, if you will, that somebody has acted. Are you dangling any carrots for them? 

Jennifer Schuster 14:19

Most of the funds that I work with haven't offered financial incentives. They can't. They haven't been allowed to. I will say like on the health side though, we've -- some funds, design health plans -- excuse me -- that if folks do certain activities, like wellness activities, and that that can be as simple as taking like an online health assessment, you know, providing your PCP info to, you know, stating the primary doc to the plan. You don't need to tell them who it is, but just saying that you have it. So, there's like these different activities that different plans are doing that give people money and like a health reimbursement account that they can use for healthcare. So, there are some incentives on the health side, I think, but I haven't really seen anything, to be honest, like on the financial side to get folks to participate in a given program.

Josh Meyer 15:09

My experience is very similar to what you've had. I don't think I've seen clients, providing incentives for the financial sides. It's more helping them understand why it matters. So, we've done campaigns to help people where if they have a match in their 401k plan to understand the importance of maxing out your match from the employer, and really helping them see how the numbers add up. So, even things Jen was talking about before -- a personalized communication, helping people see not only what they've saved to date, but if they retire at several different ages, what they'll accumulate over time, and how changing how much they're investing or how much they're saving just a little bit really adds up over time. So, showing them what they'll have at the end is another incentive -- a different kind of incentive, I guess.

Traci Shanklin  16:07

Yeah, yeah. I think, obviously, it would move the needle for me, I'm sure it moves the needle for most people when they're like, “Oh, okay. That's why this is important.” So, I mentioned that I worked on the money management side. So, I'm just wondering how active money managers are with Segal Benz as well as the plans themselves? Are they involved in the discussions or offering plan participants financial or retirement education? I imagine from my perspective, it could be a key differentiator for money manager in the RFP process.

Jennifer Schuster 16:48

So, I think what we're finding on the communications front is we're actively partnering with money managers, plan administrators, to understand the different communications that they push out. So, it's like you think about the communications universe, and you have what the plan is providing. And then you have what all the different provider partners are providing as well from a communications perspective. And so, I like to try to really map out what those plan providers are going to be pushing out during the course, let's see both months. You know, they might be doing digital outreach. They may be doing mailings home, and then the plan may be doing these things, too. And so, I'd like to try to figure out, how do we best coordinate all of those pieces that might be touching the member, so it feels like a consistent and cohesive experience from the members perspective? So that's really the extent that we're getting involved as partners with money managers, or recordkeepers, or plan administrators to touch participants. Does that make sense? 

Traci Shanklin 17:52

Absolutely. 

Josh Meyer 17:53

Just to add -- one of the things that over the last couple of years with COVID, where we weren't gathering in person, we've seen more and more funds having virtual events. And I know funds that will have their money managers do webinars or have recordings that they'll post on a website that participants can view. And then, of course, there's the old-fashioned having those people show up in meetings to do in-person presentations, so we tried to find a way to tie all that together.

Traci Shanklin  18:26

So, yes, that's an important piece, it's important that they're doing the in-person as well. Still, I know COVID has definitely put a damper on that, but you mentioned earlier, Jennifer, that there are people who don't have access, or at least consistently have access to the internet. So, I'm just wondering, should participant financial or retirement education be mandatory? And can it be made mandatory for multiemployer plans specifically? 

Jennifer Schuster 19:00

I don't know that I've seen anybody considering making participation mandatory, you know, to review content or to complete a tutorial or whatever it may be. That being said, Traci, you bring up an interesting idea like piqued my curiosity is we do work with some plans, some training funds, for example. So, in the trades, where they're training their members to do different types of work, and orient them on what their plan benefits are, and things like that. And I think that that might be a really cool opportunity to at least like tee up this kind of content in that type of a forum. So, multiemployer plans might want to think about that, and just adding a couple of modules into that mix of training content that they're offering through their training funds. I think that'd be a really cool idea.

Traci Shanklin  19:52

Yeah, it would be. Yeah, I just wonder if there's any incentives that would move the needle for participants to be proactive. If there was any mission that I could find myself getting behind, it would be like everybody has to have a plan. You know, I truly believe it's never too soon or too late to start saving for the bigger picture, whatever that bigger picture is, to your point living in the now is a really important part of financial wellbeing. If you're worried about a dental emergency; if you're worried about that, that's going to send your emotional wellbeing into a different place as well. So, the stress that financial stability creates is such an important, I think, just an important piece of our entire wellbeing.

Traci Shanklin 20:46

This is where we will pause part two of my conversation with Josh and Jennifer. If you didn't hear part one, The Importance of Financial Wellbeing, check it out. And we'll be back for part three, how multiemployer plans make navigating healthcare coverage easier, on January 5. You can find all the episodes at www.multiemployerfunds.com. That's www.multiemployerfunds.com. Or if you subscribe to the show, you'll get a notification whenever a new episode goes live. Happy Holidays and thank you for being part of the conversation.

Narrator  21:29

And that's it for this week's episode of The World of Multiemployer Benefit Funds. We'd love to have your support; you can show your support by sharing episodes making comments or heading over to www.patreon.com/multiemployerfunds for other partnership opportunities. Thank you for joining us, and we look forward to next time.

Disclaimer  21:48

Sisu Partners, LLC hosts The World of Multiemployer Benefit Funds podcast which contains content and discussions that have been prepared for informational and educational purposes only. No listeners should assume that any discussion on this podcast serves as the receipt of, or substitute for, personalized advice from an investment professional as the information provided on the podcast is not intended to be investment, legal, or tax advice. The company is not a SEC registered investment advisor and does not solicit clients or raise capital for money managers.