Benefits Products & Services

A timely benefit

MetLife’s retirement planning seminars draw strong interest
from benefits customers

By Thomas A. McCoy, CLU

For the past several years, purveyors of financial products and advice have been educating Baby Boomers about the importance of building retirement assets. Now, for many Boomers, showtime is almost here. The post-World War II generation is starting to head off into retirement. What does this shift portend for those in the retirement planning market, including benefits providers?

Looking at this phenomenon from the buyer’s side (which is always a good idea), Baby Boomers can easily be overwhelmed by the choices to be made. After years in the accumulation-of-assets stage, he or she, suddenly without a paycheck, must figure out how to apportion those assets over an uncertain number of years. Mutual fund companies, securities brokers, banks, financial planners and insurance companies all have solutions, and “operators are standing by.”

With so much retirement planning information being disseminated outside the workplace, is there a place inside the workplace, where most Baby Boomers still toil, for consumers to get retirement guidance?

For benefits brokers/consultants, does the retirement of so many Baby Boomers mean the loss of these customers or the beginnings of new opportunities?

In late 2008, MetLife began using a select group of its advisors from its sales ranks to present retirement planning seminars to employees of its benefits client companies. The program, called retirewise®, grew quickly from 250 companies participating initially to 450 by the end of 2009.

Before introducing the program, MetLife, which provides benefits products for some 60,000 companies, surveyed its insured employees about their retirement planning concerns. “Not surprisingly,” says Jeff Tulloch, MetLife’s national sales director for retirewise, “we found employees saying, ‘We need some help.’

“We knew there was a need for retirement planning help, but we’ve been pleasantly surprised at the strong interest from both employees and employers,” Tulloch says. “There’s been an evolving realization among workers that they are responsible for their own retirement planning, and employers are hearing that message. This program gives employers the opportunity to help educate their employees about retirement planning at no cost to them.”

He adds, “There’s a heightened sense of urgency about retirement planning because of the recent economic downturn. This combination of factors has helped turbocharge the retirewise program.”

The ultimate goal of retirewise, according to Tulloch, is to broaden the market for MetLife retirement products among the employees of its employer group clients. But the immediate objective of the program is simply education—not only for Baby Boomers, but younger people as well who take retirement planning seriously.

“We looked at the other retirement planning programs available to employees and found that they mostly focused on 401(k) growth or general investing,” says Tulloch. “We wanted to provide something that was more comprehensive.”

The program is designed to get employees thinking about a wide range of risks and income sources that will shape their retire­ment living. The subject matter, presented over a series of four seminars, includes financial risks, health risks, governmental benefits and how to structure an income stream. At the conclusion of the seminar series, participants can choose to schedule an optional, complimentary face-to-face consultation with a specially trained MetLife representa­tive. Spouses also are encouraged to participate in retirewise.

“The seminars are not MetLife commercials, Tulloch stresses. “The program is education-based. The presenters must have the appropriate level of retirement planning experience and expertise, but they also must be good educators and presenters. We are careful to choose the right people to be in front of these employees and to provide them with the right material.”

The majority of MetLife’s group benefits business, except for some extremely large groups, comes through independent broker/consultants. “Sometimes these brokers are present at the seminars, and sometimes they are not—it is their choice,” says Tulloch. Regardless, at the seminars, it is the MetLife advisors who are running the show.

While it may be too early to talk about the future sales results that will spill from the retirewise program—annuities, long term care or other products—it appears that so far MetLife has succeeded in its initial objective of educating its benefits customers about retirement planning.

Participants are surveyed at the conclusion of every retirewise seminar, and 99% of all attendees said they would recommend the program to a co-worker or friend. Moreover, the same overwhelming percentage said they would take action as a result of the seminars.

“That’s what the retirewise program is all about: first educating and interacting with employees, and then helping them to find actual solutions,” says Tulloch.

In addition, MetLife has learned that this format of retirement education is of interest to a broad base of employees. “We’ve had a significant number of employees between 55 and 60 years old. But we’ve had a fair number of people in their late 20s and early- to mid-30s as well,” says Tulloch. “Also, we’ve had participation from a wide range of levels within the companies—executive, mid-level and associates.

“At the conclusion of one of our retirewise meetings, an individual came up to the advisor, asked a few questions and engaged in a little side conversation. When they were finished, the advisor asked, ‘What do you do for the company?’ The individual said, ‘I’m the chief financial officer.’ ”

A 2009 MetLife study showed that more than 40% of workers consider their workplace benefits to be the foundation of their economic security. “Brokers and benefits consultants should be asking their employer clients what they think about education in the workplace,” says Tulloch.

A confluence of factors is working to create a sense of urgency about retirement education. Large numbers of Baby Boomers are set to retire. Unlike their parents’ generation, they will do so largely with the fruits of defined contribution plans rather than defined benefits plans. In addition, Baby Boomers, as well as those who are younger, have been shaken by the economic conditions of the past two years.

Commenting on the chief financial officer who attended the retirewise seminars, Tulloch sums it up this way: “Everybody needs help.”