Ep #3: Achieving Employee Financial Wellness at Scale with Michael Kitces

Michael Kitces is a speaker, blogger, educator, entrepreneur and Head of Planning Strategy at Buckingham Wealth Partners.

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9/14/2020 - 76 minutes


Episode Summary

My guest today is Michael Kitces who is a financial planner, speaker, blogger, educator and entrepreneur. He’s most well known in the private client or wealth management industry where he is viewed as the expert’s expert and the amount of content he creates is astounding. He’s done research on safe withdrawal rates, asset allocation glidepaths in retirement, and determining sustainable retirement income based on market valuation has been cited by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and Money (magazine). His blog, Nerd’s Eye View has over 40,000 subscribers.


He is the host of two podcasts including the Financial Advisor Success Podcast which is the most popular podcast in the financial advisory industry. He also co-founded XY Planning Network which is the leading organization of fee-only financial advisors who are focused on working with Generation X and Generation Y clients, now with over 1,300 members. He also is a co-founder of AdvicePay which is the leading fee-payment-processing platform that provides advisors with a compliant way to bill for one-time and ongoing financial planning on a fee-for-service or subscription basis. And he recently became Head of Planning Strategy at Buckingham Wealth Partners, one of the largest registered investment advisors in the United States. Michael and I have known each other for over 15 years and like many others in the industry, I have greatly benefited from his advice, insights, and technical guidance. In fact, being both a regular listener and a guest on his podcast is what helped inspire me to launch the Fiduciary U™ podcast. A big reason why I wanted to have him on the show is to broaden his exposure to the ERISA world, because I think his ideas are so valuable.


On today’s episode, Michael and I spend time discussing the importance of financial stress, financial wellness and financial planning, especially within the workplace. We talk about how and why employers should care about helping their employees improve their financial health and why the 401k industry might be the best mechanism to deliver financial planning to the masses. We discuss how the financial planning needs of the typical American are different from the traditional HNW client and how service models are evolving to meet these needs as well as how technology enables fee-for-service planning engagements. We cover the fascinating research he has done on rising equity glide paths in retirement, which flies in the face of the traditional approach the retirement industry takes with target date funds. And be sure to listen to the end where Michael shares his thoughts on how plan sponsors and employers should think about employee financial wellness as an investment in their business with real ROI on business metrics, and not just an expense, as well as his single best piece of advice for making ERISA fiduciaries smarter.


What You'll Learn

  • How the financial needs of the typical American are different than a high-net-worth client.
  • Why employers should care about helping their employees improve their financial health.
  • How technology enables fee-for-service financial planning engagements, especially to clients without a lot of assets.
  • Why the 401(k) industry is the best mechanism to deliver financial planning to the masses.
  • How service models are evolving to meet the needs of clients.
  • The research Michael has done on rising equity glidepaths in retirement.
  • Why employers should view employee financial wellness is an investment in their business.


Links to Resources


Ideas Worth Sharing

  1. “If you can’t handle money issues, you can’t function and survive in modern society.” - Michael Kitces
  2. “When you have a really low-trust industry, you have to work your butt off, one advisor at a time, to prove that you’re trustworthy.” - Michael Kitces
  3. “If your business is primarily driven by assets under management, you give advice to people who have assets to manage.” - Michael Kitces