Blinded by expertise and single-minded focus? It happens. But in a fast-paced world driven by complex and diverse factors, connecting the dots is often more important than developing the dots. Mansharamani offers scores of compelling real-life examples that show how a narrow lens can lead us to miss the most important signals. He advocates opening up to get a broader view; to zoom out, calling the logic the generalist’s approach. Generalists win by paying attention to more than their area of expertise. Come learn from Mansharamani how to look differently at our industry and spot risk and capture opportunities others miss.

2020 was a year of notable volatility and disruption, but U.S. markets are slowly showing signs of recovery.  What trends and innovations in annuities might take hold as the U.S. adjusts to the “next normal”?  

Join experts from across the industry as they discuss how annuity markets responded to a volatile 2020, and how today’s markets could impact annuity sales and product development.

Retirees are faced with financial risks in retirement and decisions made before and during retirement effect their long-term success. The Society of Actuaries’ Retirement Risk Surveys provide insight into how individuals view retirement risks and a series of SOA reports explores the impact of COVID on various retirement concerns. While COVID has not changed the risks, major short-term changes have occurred and the post-COVID environment will likely present different issues for retirees. This session provides Survey highlights and discusses COVIDs impact on post-retirement risk management.

The economic dislocation from the COVID pandemic threatens the financial security of millions of consumers.  In this environment, Financial Wellness initiatives and efforts can give individuals the tools, education, guidance and product that they need to improve their own financial situations.  For many, Financial Wellness begins with workplace-enabled programs.  The role of employers, financial advisors and wellness programs in the workplace will be the focus of this panel discussion. 

Insurance rates have been dropping, especially in the past few years. What are the implications of the past and future realities of low interest rates to insurers in the retirement product space? Declines in interest rates are often the scapegoat for many industry challenges, but are there benefits to low interest rates?  What do the next five years portend for the retirement industry for products and even beyond products?

SECURE opened doors, new players and arrangements are opening up new possibilities in the quest to use DC plans to generate retirement income and provide plan participants with more certainty.   Nationwide hosts a panel discussion and overview of some of the new solutions the market is seeing with perspective from product development, distribution and legal point-of-view.

The Pension Risk Transfer market has grown tremendously over the past 10 years, resulting in increased demand from plan sponsors and prompting numerous new insurers to enter the market. This session will discuss the major drivers of the growth in pension risk transfer, as well as innovations and changes in the market that arose as a result of this growth.

Pooled Employer Plans (PEPs) are the newest flavor of Defined Contribution plan, and open up a host of possibilities for how the many pieces of plan management come together…from the new role of Pooled Plan Provider (PPP) to investment, administrative and recordkeeping functions.  This interactive panel will assume various different roles in support of PEP plans, from an all-in vertical PPP approach to distribution to Recordkeeping only.

Let’s face it, before COVID-19 arrived we all nodded our heads about the importance of digital innovation and transformation. However, the global pandemic created the ultimate disruption and while some companies were prepared and ready to support their distribution virtually, others unfortunately were not. Hear from our industry panel (carrier, distribution, technology provider) on what they learned about digital transformation during 2020 and what you should be on the lookout for in 2021 and beyond. Stick around for a live Q&A session!

The Society of Actuaries recently published a collection of essays on approaches to retirement income and how to advance the state of effective retirement planning. This session will provide an overview of the essays and selected authors will present their findings. The session will include preferences about retirement income from the SOA’s consumer research and related material. It will also discuss how plan sponsors can implement a retirement income menu in a Defined Contribution plan, and how actuaries can help with the design and implementation of this menu.

Over the last two years, the retirement industry and financial institutions have seen a wide variety of new legislation and regulations emerge. The SECURE ACT, Environmental, Social, and Governance investment options, Pooled Employer Plans and finding missing participants are just a few of the changes observed. With a new administration now in place, what will the future hold for future retirement policy and regulations? Preston Rutledge, former head of the U.S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration, will provide his overview of the most pressing issues, and what they mean for your business operations and planning.

Effective retirement and wellness programs offer support and customized recommendations based on data. This is a great opportunity, but there is growing tension between providing meaningful help and managing an employee’s privacy expectations. ERISA, the primary federal statute regulating employee benefit plans, has no express provisions that prohibit the use of plan participant data for any particular purpose. That said, new regulation and litigation make this issue much more complex.

This session will discuss the issues related to data and privacy from a variety of perspectives: participant, plan sponsor, and advisor. It will also provide a regulatory perspective and framework for understanding the challenges. This panel of experts will identify ways to balance personalization and privacy on a foundation of privacy and trust as you evaluate program opportunities.

This session will preview the Thinking Ahead Roadmap and the steps that people can take to help ensure their financial wishes are honored as they age. The presenters will discuss advice on choosing a trusted friend or family member to be one’s financial advocate, starting open and honest conversations about future money management, how to obtain a financial power of attorney, and shifting money management responsibilities to the chosen advocate when the time is right.

2020 was a challenging year for the annuity market, and the industry displayed it's resilience. Please join Todd Giesing and Teddy Panaitisor for an overview of the annuity market and a forecast of where we expect the annuity market to go in the future.

COVID-19 has quickly implemented a sea change for how retirees are focusing on technology to improve their financial and health security while in retirement. Senior healthcare is increasingly using telehealth technologies in hospitals, physician offices and in senior facilities, a wide variety of technology solutions have developed to improve financial security awareness and alleviate social isolation, and the Internet of Things continues to expand in senior’s everyday lives to allow everyone to live longer, healthier and more financially ware lifestyles. This session will focus on the wide array of technologies that are evolving and how insurance companies and financial institutions in the retirement industry can leverage this trend to stay connected and further encourage retirement security with their customers.

In an era of transformation, firms are fighting to meet the rapidly developing needs of their diverse customer base while internally juggling their own evolving dynamics. Success with each will be key to meeting the rising challenge. This discussion will provide a framework for how to approach the future of work, and offer specific insights into what’s in store for the financial services industry.

The US Life insurance and retirement industry is in a state of disruption. Gross written premiums have remained flat over the last decade, the customer base has declined by 14% since 2011, and trillions of dollars have migrated away from life insurers, often to asset managers. Despite these setbacks, there is great opportunity, with a projected US$240 trillion retirement savings gap and a US$160 trillion protection gap by 2030. Insurance companies are uniquely positioned to address these gaps with products that offer legacy protection, tax-deferred savings growth, and guaranteed income for life. We will explore how permanent life insurance and a deferred income annuity with a loyalty incentive can create value as compared to an investment-only strategy.

A constantly changing regulatory environment joins death and taxes as the only things we can count on. This year’s Regulatory Update for Institutional (Workplace) Retirement will be delivered by Bradford P. Campbell a nationally recognized expert in employer-sponsored retirement plans, former U.S. Assistance Secretary of Labor for Employee Benefits, and currently Partner at Faegre Drinker.

The presentation will cover recent regulatory developments affecting retail annuity products, with an emphasis on federal regulatory and legislative activity.  Specific topics will include Department of Labor activity regarding fiduciary investment advice and related activity by other regulators, federal income tax developments involving fee-based non-qualified annuities and recent changes to the required minimum distribution rules that apply to annuities issues as IRAs or to qualified plans, and pending legislative proposals affecting annuity products.