Mar 1, 2018
All About Retirement Plans with Andy Bush
Summary:
The hosts of The Confident Wealth podcast Bill Bush and Peter Bush
open up this episode to the topic of retirement plans with Andy
Bush – the head of the retirement plan division of Horizon
Financial Group. The three Bush brothers discuss the important
retirement plan designations that advisors should equip themselves
with. They also talk about the six steps of “The 401k Confidence
System” and the eight steps of “The 401(k)onfidence Scorecard” that
were both created internally at Horizon Financial Group.
Time Stamped Show Notes:
● 00:25 – Bill Bush and Pete Bush introduce the episode’s topic of
retirement planning.
● 01:07 – Their retirement plans, although based in Baton Rouge,
spread through Louisiana and beyond the state into places like
Texas and Alabama.
● 02:00 – The bulk of the plans are 401k but they also service 457,
403b, and smaller IRA plans.
● 02:29 – There is a push to make sure that the advisor on a plan
is a specialist and knows what the fiduciary responsibilities
are.
● 05:00 – What makes an advisor a specialist begins with training
and earning designations to learn what it means to be a fiduciary,
what the processes are, and what the requirements are for
documentation.
● 05:42 – Both Bill Bush and Andy Bush are Chartered Retirement
Plan Specialists (CRPS). Other designations that are available
include: Accredited Investment Fiduciary (AIF) that covers the
fiduciary roles and tasks, Professional Plan Consultant (PPC) is
sort of a bridge between CRPS and PPC.
● 06:45 – The 401(k)onfidence System, created by Horizon Financial
Group, is provider agnostic and can be layered on top of whatever
record keeper you want to use. 401K Confidence System as 6
Steps:
● 07:47 – Step 1: “The Clarity Conversation” is the “get to know
you” phase where they gather the information, have a conversation
with the client, find out what is important to them, and what their
vision is.
● 08:04 – Step 2: “The Confident Plan Evaluation” is created for
the client to benchmark their retirement plan against industry
standards, and gives them analysis and feedback about what is
working and not working.
● 09:10 – Step 3: “The Plan Improvement Report” is where areas have
been identified as to where they can improve their plan.
● 10:18 – Step 4: “The Guided Transition walks the client through
changes that can improve their plan – such as a vendor
replacement.
● 10:57 – Step 5: “The Participant Engagement Experience” is an
ongoing conversation and offers education opportunities along the
way.
● 12:32 – Step 6: “Your Fiduciary Check-Up” is a proactive way of
making sure that plan sponsors are taken care of and have peace of
mind.
● 14:15 – There has been a myriad of problems that Andy has run
into with clients including: plan sponsors that never met their
advisors and plans that are thick with
fees that aren’t transparent.
● 17:40 – The 401(k)onfidence Scorecard looks at eight critical
areas that a plan sponsor should be concerned about with their 401k
plan. Each area has four statements for plan sponsors to grade
themselves and see which category they fall
into.
● 25:40 – Closing credits.
3 Key Points:
1. The main retirement plan designations are: Chartered Retirement
Plan Specialists (CRPS), Accredited Investment Fiduciary (AIF), and
Professional Plan Consultant(PPC).
2. The 401(k)onfidence System, is a six-step plan that is provider
agnostic and can be layered on top of whatever record keeper you
choose to use.
3. The 401(k)onfidence Scorecard has at eight areas that a plan
sponsor should be concerned about with their 401k plan and each
area has four statements for plan sponsors to grade themselves.
Tweetable Quotes:
- “90% of Americans save probably 90% of their money in their
retirement plan at work and or in their IRAs.” – Pete Bush.
- “We have about 60 plans and about $340 million in assets covering
well 5,000 employees.” – Andy Bush.
- “As you age, you certainly want to have a dialogue and an
engagement with somebody who is a professional advisor and knows
what they are talking about.” –Andy Bush.
Resources Mentioned:
● Confident Wealth – Website for Confident Wealth
● The Confident Wealth Experience – Horizon Financial Group’s
planning system
● The 401(k)onfidence System – Horizon Financial Group’s retirement
plan planning system