Page 28 - Investment Advisor January/February 2022

Cover Story

Retirement — and 2022 trends — covers much territory,
everything from long-term care management to decumulation
to almost everything in between. In looking forward, we asked
several retirement experts what they saw on the horizon and
what advisors and their clients should expect on this impor-
tant topic and the impact of these potential changes to savings
and future plans.

The crisis in long-term care will get worse.
1 COVID-19 has made the elderly more wary of going
into nursing homes, but the reality is, the expense for retire-
ment home living is growing and there doesn’t seem to be a fix
on the horizon, Jamie Hopkins, managing partner of wealth
solutions at Carson Group, told Investment Advisor.
“There’s not a lot proposed from a policy perspective,
nobody’s solved it even intellectually yet, so that will con-
tinue to be a challenge for older Americans and their families,”
Hopkins said.
The move toward automatic IRAs/401(k)s
2 will increase.
“Two things I hope to see during 2022 is for Congress to require
all employers that offer a 401(k) to auto enroll new employees
and to automatically increase their contribution each year,” said
Ted Benna, who was key in developing 401(k) plans and remains
active in improving them. Also, he hopes “Congress will require
all employers that don’t have a retirement plan to help their
employees save for retirement and provide one.” Planning Partners, pointed out that “higher inflation will
Hopkins sees a lot of burnout by human resource profes- hopefully move people to take a tighter look at how they
sionals from the pandemic: their focus is more on filling vacan- spend money. People have too many unnecessary subscrip-
cies than worrying about increasing retirement plan coverage tions and recurring services that they often no longer use.
for small firms. Gym memberships are only one example — people have mul-
“It’s time to stop messing around and just move forward, tiple music, movie and reading subscriptions. Are they really
whether it’s a federal or a state [plan], we need to find an using every subscription they have?”
automatic and easier way for small businesses to get into the Moshe A. Milevsky, professor at York University in Canada,
savings market for employees. It’s not rocket science, it’s just, sees this another way: That the “growing intensity and discus-
how do we get people there?” he says. sion of inflation rates … will increase awareness of the gap
Retirement expert Marcia Mantell agrees: “It’s time to find between population inflation averages, such as the Consumer
better ways to get workers saving, whether they have plans at Price Index, versus a client’s personal and unique inflation
work or only access to IRAs. … Make sure all EEs know their rate. … Personal inflation will take center stage.” He says the
at-home spouse can save in a spousal IRA. [Have] more in- discussion will move from CPI-U or CPI-W to CPI-ME.
depth education sessions in companies … including hands-on
navigation through the retirement benefits online center.” There will be a rise in (more)
For those without access to plans it’s harder, says the presi- 4 personalized portfolios.
dent of Mantell Retirement Consulting, “but a concerted effort Today, advisors might have a single set of models that vary by
to move away from only saving an IRA if there is a tax deduction, risk level, such as all bonds, or a certain percentage equities,
to messaging about saving in an IRA is a critical avenue for hav- or something for high tax investors, says David Blanchett,
ing more options in retirement [and] would be more helpful.” managing director and head of retirement research, PGIM DC
Solutions, but “going forward, it’s important to have portfolios
Inflation will force people to rein in spending. that are focused on different things,” he says.
3 Almost every expert we contacted noted inflation For example, this may include “a set of portfolios focused on
will have an impact in 2022 in several ways. Carolyn retirement, maybe some that are specifically geared towards
McClanahan, an advisor, physician and founder of Life inflation, ESG-focused, etc.” He says advisors will have to offer

26 INVESTMENT ADVISOR JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2022 | ThinkAdvisor.com