401(k) Specialist Issue 1 - 2022 - 25

FEBRUARY
RODNEY BALBUENA, SageView Advisory Group
Speak the Truth to Build Trust
RODNEY BALBUENA'S BILINGUAL skills serve him exceptionally well. As a member of
Southern California's Hispanic community, he understands what it takes to build trust and
increase savings among the employers and employees he serves.
" It's not as formal, and they don't need to see anything shiny and flashy, " Balbuena, Managing
Director with SageView Advisory Group, explained. " A lot of the Spanish-speaking
community prefers just to talk through these types of financial issues. They don't all have
email addresses (that they use with regularity), and they don't always have an expert level
grasp on the latest technology trends. "
It's a challenge, he added, but taking the time to walk them through the necessary steps is
a critical ingredient in building that trust, as well as building the 30 plans and $1.5 billion in
assets that now comprise his book of business.
A vendor-side veteran of the retirement plan space, Balbuena started as an enroller with
Manulife Financial before positions with John Hancock and MetLife. Continued consolidation,
along with a growing realization that he was only as good as the product he represented,
led to a try as an advisor to make a greater impact on participant outcomes. It worked, and
he hasn't looked back since.
" It's the reason I do what I do, " Balbuena said. " I realized early on that people who speak
Spanish don't really have a true resource and historically are more challenged by saving.
Here I am 25 years later, and now I'm an advisor. I believe in retirement savings because it's
important and not talked about enough. There's not a day that goes by that I don't schedule
one-on-one meetings because that's so important in successful saving. "
He pointed to a waste management client as an example. It had 300 employees, approximately
50% of whom were Spanish-speaking, and less than half of their employees contributed
to its 401(k) plan.
" They were happy getting a 3% employer profit-sharing contribution, and for them, it was
enough, " he explained. " They thought they would be set for retirement, but I had to walk
them through it to show them it was not enough. "
Over five years, he raised it to a 75% participation rate and doubled their deferral rate.
" There is a segment of the employee population that is not going to contribute or couldn't
afford to, but the ones that were in saved more, and we convinced many who were not in the
plan to participate. A big part of it was sitting in their lunchroom in one-on-one meetings. "
Like the Hispanic community overall, many employees were from Nicaragua or Mexico
and didn't trust the countries' financial systems. Seeing Balbuena regularly helped build that
trust.
" This client does business the old-fashioned way, " he concluded. " They're blue-collar,
look you in the eye, shake your hand, and it's a deal. The company itself was loyal and rarely
replaced its vendors. Once they gave you their trust, it included access to key managers to set
up meetings at some of their other locations. That was the difference; establishing that consistent
level of trust within the system itself, and they then began to trust me. "
" There's not a
day that goes
by that I don't
schedule oneon-one
meetings
because that's
so important
in successful
saving. "
Rodney Balbuena, CPFA, is
Managing Director with SageView
Advisory Group.
ISSUE 1 2022 | 401kSpecialist.com
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