Ep #22: Sustainable Solutions and ESG Investing with Will Collins-Dean

In this conversation, I interview Justin Tarantin, the CEO of Venrollment, a participant engagement platform for retirement plans. We discuss the challenges of in-person education, the birth of Venrollment, the impact of COVID-19, and the importance of branding and differentiation. We also explore how Venrollment enables advisors to target the small plan market and deliver value to plan sponsors. Justin shares his career arc and the vision for Venrollment's future, including expanding into health benefits. The conversation concludes with a discussion on integrating retirement and health benefits and the challenges that come with it. We discuss the challenges and pain points in the retirement space and the importance of understanding the advisor pain points. We also explore the complexity of implementing new tools and the advantage of newer solutions with less technical debt. The focus is on making the advisor's life easier and finding simple solutions to complex challenges. Delegating and outsourcing lower-value activities is emphasized, as well as empowering education specialists. The conversation highlights the importance of investing in technology and using it to educate employees. Listeners are encouraged to connect with Venrollment for more information.

Welcome to Part 2 of episode #47 of the Fiduciary UÔ Podcast.  

My guest today is Bill Chetney, Jr. from Viking Cove Institute.  Bill’s dad Bill Chetney Sr. arguably created the first aggregator with National Retirement Partners (NRP), eventually selling it to LPL, and ultimately created GRPAA.  Now it’s Bill Jr.’s turn to lead the organization forward and today he shares his vision for what that looks like.

On the show we cover a lot of ground around topics and the various ways Viking Cove Institue supports the independent advisor community through a combination of resources like training and educations, fintech solutions and partnerships, and favorable economics with product providers to create institutional scale that Viking Cove members can leverage to compete more effectively within the marketplace.

Welcome to Part 1 of episode #47 of the Fiduciary U™ Podcast.  

My guest today is Bill Chetney, Jr. from Viking Cove Institute.  Bill’s dad Bill Chetney Sr. arguably created the first aggregator with National Retirement Partners (NRP), eventually selling it to LPL, and ultimately created GRPAA.  Now it’s Bill Jr.’s turn to lead the organization forward and today he shares his vision for what that looks like.

On the show we cover a lot of ground around topics and the various ways Viking Cove Institue supports the independent advisor community through a combination of resources like training and educations, fintech solutions and partnerships, and favorable economics with product providers to create institutional scale that Viking Cove members can leverage to compete more effectively within the marketplace.

Welcome to Part 2 of episode #46 of the Fiduciary U™ Podcast.   

My guest today is Liz Davidson from Financial Finesse and this is her second time on the show.

On this episode, we discuss her new book, Money Strong: Your Guide to a Life Free of Financial Worries, her "START" framework which outlines a universal process that can be applied to anyone's financial life regardless of where they are, her writing process, why Financial Finesse focuses on "coaching" vs. "advice" to employees, their "Powered By" division which provides a combination of technology and coaching infrastructure to partners, how AI and mass personalization can help reach more people and drive transformational change, the behavioral and psychological aspects to financial stress, and much more.

Welcome to Part 1 of episode #46 of the Fiduciary U™ Podcast.   

My guest today is Liz Davidson from Financial Finesse and this is her second time on the show.

On this episode, we discuss her new book, Money Strong: Your Guide to a Life Free of Financial Worries, her "START" framework which outlines a universal process that can be applied to anyone's financial life regardless of where they are, her writing process, why Financial Finesse focuses on "coaching" vs. "advice" to employees, their "Powered By" division which provides a combination of technology and coaching infrastructure to partners, how AI and mass personalization can help reach more people and drive transformational change, the behavioral and psychological aspects to financial stress, and much more.

Welcome to Part 2 of episode #45 of the Fiduciary U™ Podcast.   

My guest today is Bonnie Treichel from Endeavour Retirement.  I’ve been a fan of Bonnie’s for some time and she is seemingly everyone these days sharing her thought leadership as well as her practice management tools and resources for advisors.  She’s one of the voices in the retirement industry that I greatly admire, and listeners will glean a lot of wisdom from this episode.

Bonnie has a unique background, as both an ERISA attorney and former advisors, and it shows in how she communicates her ideas philosophies, and methodologies.  

On the show we do a deep dive into hot fiduciary topics like ESG, guaranteed income, an implementation framework for SECURE 2.0, the benefit of developing what she calls a “partnership wheel, the highs and lows of the startup journey, and more.

Welcome to Part 1 of episode #45 of the Fiduciary U™ Podcast.   

My guest today is Bonnie Treichel from Endeavour Retirement.  I’ve been a fan of Bonnie’s for some time and she is seemingly everyone these days sharing her thought leadership as well as her practice management tools and resources for advisors.  She’s one of the voices in the retirement industry that I greatly admire, and listeners will glean a lot of wisdom from this episode.

Bonnie has a unique background, as both an ERISA attorney and former advisors, and it shows in how she communicates her ideas philosophies, and methodologies.  

On the show we do a deep dive into hot fiduciary topics like ESG, guaranteed income, an implementation framework for SECURE 2.0, the benefit of developing what she calls a “partnership wheel, the highs and lows of the startup journey, and more.

Welcome to Part 2 of episode #44 of the Fiduciary U™ Podcast.  

My guest on this episode is John Faustino, who is the Head of FI360. John has become a good friend and incredible mentor of mine as I have pivoted into the fintech world, and we had a great conversation where we covered a lot of ground. John has a 30+ year career in the fintech industry, first at Morningstar, then moving Fi360 as Chief Product & Strategy Officer, and continuing as the organizational leader after its acquisition by Broadridge.

On this episode, we discuss topics that range from how the technology landscape for advisors is evolving, the trend towards collaboration and partnership between fintech providers which is leading to a better experience for end users, the generational differences between advisors and how this impact technology adoption, how technology is empowering new solutions like guaranteed income and ESG, why the trend towards fiduciary practices and principles is going to accelerate and much more. Make sure to listen to Parts 1 & 2 with your favorite podcast app!

Welcome to Part 1 of episode #44 of the Fiduciary U™ Podcast.  I’ve broken this one into 2 parts so make sure to check both of them out. You won’t want to miss either one.

My guest on this episode is John Faustino, who is the Head of FI360. John has become a good friend and incredible mentor of mine as I have pivoted into the fintech world, and we had a great conversation where we covered a lot of ground. John has a 30+ year career in the fintech industry, first at Morningstar, then moving Fi360 as Chief Product & Strategy Officer, and continuing as the organizational leader after its acquisition by Broadridge.

On this episode, we discuss topics that range from how the technology landscape for advisors is evolving, the trend towards collaboration and partnership between fintech providers which is leading to a better experience for end users, the generational differences between advisors and how this impact technology adoption, how technology is empowering new solutions like guaranteed income and ESG, why the trend towards fiduciary practices and principles is going to accelerate and much more. Make sure to listen to Parts 1 & 2 with your favorite podcast app!

Welcome to Part 2 of episode #43 of the Fiduciary U™ Podcast. My guest on this episode is Aaron Schumm, Founder & CEO of Vestwell.  This is Aaron’s second time on the podcast since first appearing in 2020 as my second guest on the show.  A lot has changed since then and Vestwell’s success has gone nuclear, making them a dominant force in the small plan recordkeeping market.  

On this episode, we discuss topics that range from developing systems and workflows that scale, service models that succeed, how Vestwell is empowering the next generation of retirement savers by making advisors and TPA more efficient, crypto, and more.  And so with that introduction I hope you enjoy this episode with Aaron Schumm. Make sure to listen to Parts 1 & 2 with your favorite podcast app!