Ryan Finnell • Lexington, KY
Retirement Tax Advisory Group
Currently, over 90% of our book of business is working with 403(b) plan participants. Many of these clients work at the University of Kentucky (UK), which has a very generous matching plan.
Our challenge—and opportunity—is getting the word out from an education perspective that plan participants have a way to incorporate world-class active money management for their plans. A lot of our prospects are in the health-care field at UK and put in long hours. They have little time for anything beyond their jobs and their families.
In many cases, these people have paid little attention to their 403(b) plan, and few are aware that options exist beyond just having passive, unmanaged investments. When I meet with some prospects for the first time, it is not an exaggeration that they might hand me a stack of unopened statements from their 403(b) account—years of unopened statements in some cases. It just motivates me to see individuals who are so time-stressed, so unaware of their options, or so intimidated by financial matters that they are not taking charge of their personal financial situation.
Therefore, we have to tackle education as our first marketing priority. We do this in a number of ways. We have a website specifically dedicated to delivering basic information about 403(b) plans and what participants should know about them. Within the guidelines of the UK plan, we attempt to be invited to as many group educational presentations to their employee base that we can. And we ask current clients to spread the word about our services to their friends and colleagues.
This has paid off in many requests for first-time consultations. The vast majority of new prospects I meet with have called our firm requesting a meeting; these are not people we have directly solicited. It is not unusual to receive a call out of the blue where they say, “I saw you at a meeting, or I know you work with a co-worker and they are very happy.” That is a great situation to be in.
Disclosure: Retirement Tax Advisory Group Inc. (RTAG) is a Kentucky-based registered investment advisory Firm. Securities offered through American Equity Investments, member FINRA and SIPC.
Photography by Chris Cone
