Agenda
PRELIMINARY AGENDA
as of September 18, 2012 (subject to change)
7:30 – 8:30 am
Registration and Breakfast
8:30 – 8:45 am
Opening remarks
Speaker: Ross Bremen [Conference Moderator]
Partner
NEPC
8:45 – 9:15 am
PRESENTATION: Are We There Yet?
Sponsors are driving towards better retirement outcomes via plan re-enrollments and custom targetdate funds. Solutions focused on guarantees of post retirement income adequacy may be the next step in the defined contribution evolution.
Sponsors are asking for education. Fiduciary issues, systems limitations, costs, and participant communications questions are gradually being addressed. With sponsors beginning to add products and the possibility of regulatory assistance, are we on the cusp of a migration to lifetime income products? This session looks at the products available and current state of the marketplace.
Speaker: Kevin Cress
Principal
NEPC
WORKSHOP: A New Target Income Solution for Retirement
The defined contribution industry is seeking out new retirement solutions to give participants a better retirement planning experience. Such solutions will need to be cutting-edge in terms of financial engineering as well as outcomes-based in order to target sufficient income for retirement.
Motivated to come up with the next generation in retirement planning, an innovative target income solution is now available that focuses on managing participant outcomes. It’s designed to ensure thatplan participants have a reasonably high probability of achieving the income they need, even if they never actively participate in their retirement planning. This workshop demonstrates how this target income solution dynamically manages high-impact risks, narrows outcomes and seeks to improve the probability that participants can realize their income goals in retirement.
Speaker: Robert C. Merton
Sloan School of Management Distinguished Professor
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
9:55 – 10:40 am
PANEL DISCUSSION: Investment Considerations and Solutions
When it comes to retirement income, it is necessary to consider not only the consequences of the choices made at retirement, but also those long before retirement. This panel will consider how the retirement income solution can fit best within a DC plan, not only from the point of view of fiduciary considerations, but also importantly investment ones. How does the retirement income solution work alongside asset allocation options, particularly target-date funds with glidepaths that may have more of a ‘to-retirement focus’ as opposed to a ‘through-retirement focus’.
Speakers: Michael Clarfeld
Managing Director, Portfolio Manager
Clearbridge Advisors
Mark Ruloff
Director of Asset Allocation
Towers Watson
Kevin J. Vandolder, CFA (Chicago)
Partner
Hewitt EnnisKnupp
Diane Improta (New York)
Senior Investment Consultant
AonHewitt
10:40 – 11:00 am
Networking Break
11:00 – 11:40 am
WORKSHOP: How Does Regulators' Thinking Impact Embedded Retirement Solutions in DCPlans
Plan sponsors considering adding lifetime income options to their plan are fi nding themselves grappling with an intersection of regulatory issues. This session will provide attendees with the information they need to navigate through these complex, changing regulations and legal issues by including an experienced ERISA attorney in the discussion.
Speaker: Drew Carrington
Managing Director
UBS Global Asset Management
11:40 am – 12:20 pm
PRESENTATION: United Technologies and Lifetime Income
Earlier this year, United Technologies Corporation became the first large American company to incorporate a lifetime income solution into its DC plan. Their Lifetime Income Strategy was adopted as the plan's QDIA and combines the simplicity of a target-date portfolio with the security of lifetime income. This presentation will walk through the decision to adopt the new benefit, its reception by participants and the implementation challenges.
Speaker: Kevin Hanney
Director, U.S. and Non-U.S. Savings Plans
United Technologies Corporation
12:20 – 1:30 pm
Networking Luncheon
1:30 – 2:10 pm
CHICAGO PRESENTATION: Aging, Work and Retirement: A Psychological Perspective
Speaker: Werner deBondt
Professor
Driehaus School of Business
DePaul University
NEW YORK PRESENTATION: The Behavior of DC Plan Participants and the Next Challenge: Roth Accounts
Status quo and inertia are closely related drivers of behavior. We’ll review their manifestations in DC participants’ choices. We’ll give examples of participants leaving money on the table. We’ll compare participation and deferral rates in traditional and newer automatic enrollment plans. Underutilization of Roth plans and of conversions into Roth accounts could also be due to inertia. We’ll argue that Roth conversion may be a good move for participants, and a business opportunity for those who service them consultants and money managers.
Speaker: Gur Huberman
Robert G. Kirby Professor of Behavioral Finance
Columbia Business School
2:10 – 2:50 pm
WORKSHOP: The New Alternative: A Compelling Case for Building Growth and Income through U.S. Equities
Investors have endured volatility in the past twelve months, but point to point U.S. equity markets are unchanged. Meanwhile, the reasons to allocate toward equity income have solidified.
- U.S. equities have been overlooked in the search for a growing stream of income, as has the need to understand how growth and income portfolios help retirement plans
- Relative to both traditional and alternative sources of growth and income, U.S. equities are still very compelling. High quality, dividend-paying large-cap stocks provide meaningful growth opportunities, while simultaneously offering the liquidity and income.
Managing Director, Portfolio Manager
Clearbridge Advisors
2:50 – 3:35 pm
PANEL DISCUSSION: The Challenge of Implementation
When it comes to considering lifetime income solutions, many sponsors balk at the perceived difficulties in implementation. But recordkeepers are rising to this challenge. It appears that the industry is moving fast toward agreeing baseline technical guidelines that will make implementation relatively easy and portability possible. This panel will discuss implementation theory and practice, including communications issues.
Speakers: Bill Marshall
Senior Product Director
AllianceBernstein Defined Contribution Investments
Drew Carrington
Managing Director
UBS Global Asset Management
Timothy Atkinson
Trustee
City of Austin Police Retirement System
Donald Stone
Managing Partner and CIO
Plan Sponsor Advisors
Chris Lyon
Partner
Rocaton Investment Advisors
3:35 – 3:55 pm
Networking Break
3:55 – 4:35 pm
WORKSHOP: Designing a Retirement Plan for Retirement
The focus of defined contribution plans is shifting from the supplemental accumulation of retirement savings to building better outcomes in retirement. Consequently, plan sponsors increasingly want to find ways to generate greater saving, planning and certainty. Sponsors also recognize that lacking a plan that allows participants to retire confidently can have lasting negative consequences for their organizations' effectiveness. While all lifetime income solutions are designed to decrease the risk of outliving one's retirement savings, hear how different solutions can address the behavioral challenges that participants face--both to and through retirement--that currently preclude a confident "on-time" retirement. Understanding which solution is best for your plan participants starts with understanding your participants and the objective of your plan.
Speaker: Mark Fortier
Head, Product & Partner Strategy
AllianceBernstein Defined Contribution Investments
4:35 – 5:20 pm
PANEL DISCUSSION: Innovation and Retirement Income
With defined contribution plans fast becoming the main retirement vehicle for U.S. workers, what needs to change to make plan sponsors comfortable with the idea of adding a retirement income solution to their lineup? This panel will consider what needs to happen next, from product innovation to the outstanding legal, fiduciary and regulatory issues.
Speakers: Michael Lane
CEO, Dimensional Retirement and Office of the Chairman
Dimensional Fund Advisors
Neil Lloyd
Principal
Mercer
Jimmy Veneruso, CFA (Chicago)
Vice President
Callan Associates
Lori Lucas (New York)
Vice President
Callan Associates
5:20 – 6:30 pm
Closing Cocktail Reception