Offering financial planning services is nothing new for the insurance industry. But a new alliance between Shelton-based Barnum Financial Group and insurance behemoth MetLife could take it to another level.
On Aug. 20, MetLife announced that Barnum will lead the nationwide delivery of the insurer”™s PlanSmart financial education programs, Transition Solutions and Retirewise.
Barnum”™s in-house financial experts and advisers, via their nationwide partner network, will conduct financial wellness workshops for workforces across the country, as well as provide guidance to MetLife customers regarding their group life conversion options.
It is, said Barnum CEO Paul Blanco, the first time his company has undertaken such a project on a national scale.
“Obviously we work every single day with clients in all 50 states,” Blanco noted, “but this is the first time we”™ve done something of this magnitude.”
conduct a financial planning workshop for employees.
Ranked 48th on the 2020 Fortune 500 ”“ with $69.6 billion in revenues and 49,000 employees ”“ MetLife still administers the PlanSmart program, though it decided to cede the day-to-day operations of PlanSmart in 2016 to third-party financial professionals.
That move was part of the $165 million sale of its Premier Client Group ”“ which included Barnum ”“ to MassMutual.
Blanco acknowledged that the new alliance with MetLife was a natural fit, while Meredith Ryan-Reid, head of Financial Wellness & Engagement at MetLife, issued a statement declaring that, “Our rich history, coupled with Barnum”™s market reach and advisor infrastructure, will take our financial education offerings to new heights.”
Blanco said that Barnum has more than 250,000 clients, including individuals and their families, as well as businesses, corporations, government entities and nonprofits. Its roughly 400 licensed and credentialed financial service representatives and staff manage $17 billion in assets.
The need for expert financial advice was most recently underscored, he said, by MetLife”™s 17th annual U.S. Employee Benefit Trends Study, which found that while 80% of employees want access to financial planning workshops or tools, only 20% of employers offer such programs.
Addressing that need is right in Barnum”™s wheelhouse, Blanco said.
While details about the MetLife approach are still being worked out, Barnum has long conducted such workshops for smaller clients.
A typical Retirewise program is a four-part series “all about the A to Z of financial planning,” usually pitched to anywhere from 25 to 125 employees, Blanco said.
“The initial series takes on every subject in retirement planning, but do not go very deep,” Blanco said. “After the employee goes through it, we do an evaluation where they can ask for more education on certain things like life insurance, long-term care, Social Security.”
With 20 such subject areas, follow-ups can also be held in a classroom-type setting or one-on-one, he said.
“We basically become the go-to person for a company”™s HR staff,” Blanco said.
PlanSmart”™s other element, Transition Solutions, involves employees who are retiring or leaving the company for other reasons. With their group coverage expiring in a few weeks, such employees often need expertise in deciding how to remain insured going forward. Blanco estimated that Barnum helps 1,500 to 3,000 clients make those decisions each day.
“For retirees, it can be a matter of what they should do with their 401(k) or how to best deal with their Social Security benefits,” he said, “while for a 30-year-old who”™s moving to another company, the situation is entirely different. There are so many questions to look into.”
The MetLife deal represents a potential pool of 1 million clients for Barnum, Blanco continued ”“ all part of what he said is his company”™s current growth mode.
“We”™re very fortunate to be in this position right now,” he said. “The hardest part of our business is finding the right people to join our staff.”
