BRANDON BUCKINGHAM,
DIRECTOR OF QUALIFIED PLANS, JOHN HANCOCK FINANCIAL SERVICES
"We've been targeting the IRA rollover market for two or three years. We created a new business unit of attorneys
to go on the road around the country and answer questions about IRAs and the rollover process. We field a couple hundred a day. A recent Financial Research study found that IRA assets will more than double in the next five years. They'll then grow by $500 billion dollars each year for the 10 years thereafter. And a Tiburon study recently found 42 percent of advisor business will come from rollover IRAs for the remainder of this decade. Advisors who have the necessary IRA and income distribution expertise will be successful, and we're on the forefront of this at John Hancock."
KYLE SELBERG,
DIRECTOR OF MARKETING, PRINCIPAL FINANCIAL GROUP
"Realizing we're a bit late to the game, we're putting together a comprehensive IRA rollover campaign. It has a series of actionable sales programs supported by four pillars. The first pillar is education and training, specifically with regards to stretch strategies and net unrealized appreciation with company stock. The second pillar is prospecting and sales. The third pillar is quality-marketing material, and the fourth is dedicated IRA rollover support. In Chicago in September, we're sponsoring a full day with Ed Slott that we've entitled, "All Ed, All day."
ABU ARIF,
VICE PRESIDENT, MARKETING STRATEGY AND RETAIL RETIREMENT, AMERIPRISE FINANCIAL
"We want to ride the IRA rollover wave rather than get crushed under it. We really want to understand boomers,
and it is seen in the way we are reaching out to them. We recently teamed with Dr. Ken Dycthwald for our New
Retirement Mindscape study. We found you really have to know and understand boomers and get beyond the numbers before you begin the planning process. This is something we stress with our advisors. We have ongoing education around the rollover opportunity at retirement. However, the advisor can connect with the client much earlier on this topic -- for example, with a job change."
MICHAEL HANLEY,
FINANCIAL ADVISOR, AXA ADVISORS
"AXA has positioned themselves as a leader in innovative approaches in the retirement market. Specifically with IRAs, we need tools to be able to educate clients on the available options, help them understand these options and then implement an effective plan. AXA gives us these tools. The company has teamed with the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania to train their advisors (who meet certain criteria) in the IRA rollover process. So far about 50 reps have been through."
MARY FAY,
VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER, ANNUITIES DIVISION, SUN LIFE FINANCIAL
Boomers will need help making the jump from accumulation to income, and variable annuities with accumulation
and lifetime income benefits are a very good IRA rollover receptacle. We separate the retirement market out into pre-retirees, who are still in the accumulation stage and can't afford to lose protection; current retirees, who need accumulation as well as income; and, what we call established retirees, who need help with legacy and estate planning. We offer case studies on transitioning from one phase to another. We've also tripled our wholesaling staff in the past 18 months to better address boomer retirement."
KATHLEEN McWARD,
VICE PRESIDENT, MARKETING, ANNUITIES AND MUTUAL FUNDS DIVISION,
PACIFIC LIFE INSURANCE CO.
"We have a campaign called Destination Roadmap, which is an educational [initiative] to help advisors help their clients. Right now about 80 percent of IRA assets are invested in mutual funds, and even though IRAs are a phenomenal opportunity for investors, the money should be diversified. We all need CDs, Treasuries, mutual funds, variable annuities, etc. And not just one, but a combination of all of them. We're getting the word out
through banks, wirehouses and independent advisors."
DAVID HUESER,
VICE PRESIDENT OF INVESTMENT SERVICES, T. ROWE PRICE
"We have educational material and tools on our Web site. They're for everyone from those who know very little about retirement investing to those who want validation on their asset allocation models. T. Rowe Price Retirement Funds have also been very popular with people that are rolling over assets. Essentially the client chooses the [timeframe] in which he wants to retire, and their assets are automatically reallocated to more conservative position, as they approach that retirement date. But the rebalancing doesn't stop there. It can go on for 20 or 30 years past retirement."
LIZANNE CAMPBELL,
VICE PRESIDENT OF PRODUCT MANAGEMENT, NATIONAL FINANCIAL/ FIDELITY INVESTMENTS
"We're in the process of rolling out a program dedicated to retirement income planning, and rollovers are obviously a large part of that. We want to educate the advisor who can then educate the client. We're leveraging all of our partner relationships to do so. We have white papers, sales ideas and educational material that we call Life Event Planners that help the client through each retirement phase. So for example, what should be done when the client turns 701/2? Life Event Planners give them the information. We use EISI/Naviplan and Sunguard for the online tools that we offer."
