Effective Retirement Plan Education: Reaching All Learning Styles
Educating employees about retirement plans is essential for any successful retirement program. By providing the right knowledge, employees can make informed decisions about their future financial security. While one-on-one conversations offer the most direct and tailored form of guidance, these sessions aren’t always feasible due to time and resource constraints, especially with large employee populations. Therefore, companies must diversify their educational approaches to effectively reach all employees.
Utilizing various educational resources—such as visuals, videos, and written materials—can help accommodate different learning preferences and ensure that employees receive information in a way that resonates with them. Visual aids break down complex concepts, while videos deliver engaging presentations that capture attention. Written materials serve as a valuable reference that employees can revisit as needed. By combining multiple formats, companies can create an inclusive educational strategy that caters to diverse learning styles, empowering employees to feel more confident about managing their retirement plans.
At a recent TPSU program in San Diego, Fred Barstein, TPSU’s CEO and founder, discussed these challenges and solutions with Ryan Stover, a retirement services principal at Marsh McClennan Agency. Stover highlighted the importance of using diverse educational methods to support employees effectively. He noted that while personalized one-on-one conversations are ideal, they aren’t always practical. Therefore, integrating various tools—like visuals, videos, and printed content—can better accommodate employees’ differing needs, ultimately enhancing their engagement and understanding of retirement planning.
Read the Full Transcript Here:
Fred Barstein:
Greetings. This is Fred Barstein, founder and CEO at TPSU, where we just completed a program in San Diego at CU San Marcos. And I’m here with one of our adjunct lecturers, Ryan Stover, from Marsh and McClellan.
Ryan Stover:
McClennan.
Fred Barstein:
McClennan. I always get that wrong. Thank you. Okay if we ask you a few questions?
Ryan Stover:
I would enjoy it.
Fred Barstein:
Very good. So before we do, tell us a little bit about yourself and your firm.
Ryan Stover:
Yeah, thanks, Fred. My name’s Ryan Stover. I’m a principal in our retirement service division at Marsh McClennan Agency, otherwise known as MMA locally.
Fred Barstein:
Marsh-Mac.
Ryan Stover:
Marsh-Mac, big parent company. Yes. So I’m part of the retirement service division based on the West Coast. We’ve got a large team of specialists and what we do all day every day is talk retirement plans.
Fred Barstein:
Right. And then one of the largest defined contribution retirement advisory firms in the country. So one of the things that came up today at the program was about education. So you want to talk about that and the value and the downside of it too?
Ryan Stover:
Yeah. It was pretty interesting. I think there was a resounding commonality in the plan sponsors that were here talking about the need for education, the need to improve education, how to educate. And I think we will want to dive into that just a little bit and understand effectiveness of education. And not that education is a bad thing. It’s actually a necessary aspect that I think any successful retirement program. But I think we also talked about setting up a plan for success. What does a successful plan really look like and how does education support that?
Fred Barstein:
Right. And that came up when we go through the ideal plan on it. So it’s sort of the foundation and then we build on that, but we all know we can’t rely on it, on it. People are busy to do that. So that’s great. I mean, tell me one or two things that you’re finding effective in educating participants.
Ryan Stover:
Yeah. Well, I think what our experience has led us to believe is that, ultimately, a one-on-one conversation is the most effective, right? But let’s be honest, we can’t have one-on-one conversations with every employee. And so we have to rely on educational resources, whether it’s from the record keeper or provided by the advisor and distributed through the employer. And we have to probably include all elements of education, meaning, hey, some people like to learn visually, some people like to read, some people want to see a short video, and you really need to incorporate all of those elements into the program.
Fred Barstein:
And someday AI might even help us someday.
Ryan Stover:
Someday AI.
Fred Barstein:
Thank you. So final question, Ryan. I know this is your first program. Why should a plan sponsor attend a TPSU program?
Ryan Stover:
I think there’s a few things. One, they get an opportunity to collaborate with their peer group, which I think is kind of rare. There’s certainly other opportunities and organizations, but collaborate with your peer group on a particular topic that’s not well addressed out in other forums. People just don’t get a lot of retirement plan education, and so I think that’s probably the best opportunity, the best value, is a peer group discussion on a topic that’s not often covered.
Fred Barstein:
Right. Interacting with their peers. It’s great to have experts, but they like to hear. Well, thank you for participating and being part of TPSU. We appreciate having you as one of our lecturers. And thank you for watching 401kTV.
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