Mind Your Business!

The Rather & Kittrell Retirement Plan Newsletter

Summer 2023 Edition

Proactive versus Reactive

Chances are you’ve received it…the post card reminder to schedule a doctor’s visit, the dashboard light to get an oil change, the phone call to refill a prescription, the text message that pest control will be at your house tomorrow. The list is endless.

After all, how many of us would remember when our annual physical is without our physician’s office taking the initiative to remind us?

I recently received a reminder from my optometrist’s office that it was time for my twelve month exam. Truthfully, I waited a couple days but did call them, scheduled an appointment for a few weeks later, read the smallest letters possible from the sign on the wall, was prescribed a new prescription, bought another years’ worth of contacts, and paid my copay.

While checking emails in the waiting room, replies from two clients confirming upcoming retirement plan meetings were in my inbox: one for a semiannual plan-level review and another for semiannual participant enrollments. After adding these meetings to my calendar, I realized that just like my eye doctor, we as advisors also proactively contact clients we work for to remind them it’s time schedule a meeting – without fail.

We proactively contact plan sponsors to schedule retirement plan review meetings.

We coordinate enrollment and participant update meetings with company leadership.

We randomly touch base simply to ensure everything is going smoothly.

Remaining in touch with plan sponsors and retirement plan committees allows everyone to identify potentially problematic areas and avoid plan errors. Consistent reviews of investments allow us to ensure investment policy statements are being followed and satisfied. Meeting with plan participants on an ongoing basis helps them have confidence we care about the money they’ve worked hard to save and want to help them along the path to (and through) retirement.

Moreover, with so many headlines discussing market volatility, politics, war, and pandemics, to name a few, proactively scheduled conversations help make sense of headlines and ensure our clients know we’re aware and ready to recommend any plan design or investment changes necessary.

Even though we advisors think about retirement plans daily, our clients have other obligations in their businesses. It can be easy to forget tasks that aren’t in our daily routines.

Ultimately, I was reactive to my doctor’s reminder. Thanks to them being proactive, I have a new contact prescription and am able to read this article. The eye doctor’s reminder even prompted me to proactively reschedule the annual physical I had recently ignored.

If you find yourself being the proactive one in your retirement plan relationship, contact Rather & Kittrell. We are here to help.

Nathan Woods, CFP®, AIF®

Senior Advisor

865-218-8400