401(k) Specialist Issue 2 - 2022 - 22

APRIL
NICOLE CORNING, Buckman & Corning Financial Strategies Group
Diversity and the DC Plan
" YOU HAVE TO KNOW the people with whom you're working, value them, and elevate their
needs above what you're trying to do for them. "
It might sound like a boilerplate quote from Buckman and Corning Financial Strategies
Group's Nicole Corning until she describes the client case in more detail, one of the most
fascinating TAPO recognition program profiles yet.
Located in Scottsdale, Arizona, the nine-person retirement plan advisory and wealth management
practice is surrounded by tribal entities, particularly the Navajo Nation.
Corning and partner Perry Buckman count on knowing where they bring value and " not
trying to be something they're not " as competitive differentiators, which their work with a
tribal health care center illustrates.
" Obviously, every plan is different, and every plan is idiosyncratic, " she explains. " They've
been ground zero for everything COVID, and it hit the Navajo Nation particularly hard. "
Yet what they've achieved in the nine years of working with the plan's doctors, nurses and
staff is nothing short of astounding.
" When we took over in 2013, only 8.14% of employees contributed, " Corning said. " To " It
was a light bulb
moment. How
many times do
we say we have
Spanish-language
material? "
Nicole Corning is a Managing
Partner of the Buckman & Corning
Financial Strategies Group of Wells
Fargo Advisors Financial Network.
Investment products and services
are offered through Wells Fargo
Advisors Financial Network, LLC
(WFAFN), Member SIPC. Buckman &
Corning Financial Strategies Group
is a separate entity from WFAFN.
CAR-0422-01282.
day, that contribution rate is at 98.2%. Plan assets were at $9.7 million and today are $37.4
million with 439 participants as of April 5, 2022. "
She credits the implementation of auto-enrollment and auto-escalation and " a lot of handson
education " as reasons, but there's one driving factor of which she's most proud. In introductory
and organizational meetings, their practice's value proposition was apparent to the
committee, but Corning sensed something was missing. She kept digging until one woman
finally said, " It would be great if we had someone who spoke the Navajo language. "
" It was a light bulb moment. How many times do we say we have Spanish-language
material? We're speaking to a tribal entity, and many Americans don't understand that tribal
land is a sovereign nation. It would be like me going to Mexico and pitching a plan and never
mentioning that we have enrollment material in Spanish. "
Buckman and Corning recruited a Navajo speaker for education meetings, and they've
worked closely with her ever since. Although Corning claims it helps to connect much faster,
it's not necessarily the language but the cultural differences. It almost goes without saying that
Navajo culture differs from what most Americans experience daily.
" They don't have a lot of words for the financial concepts we discuss, " she explains. " You're
not supposed to speak about death; it's taboo. How do you talk about beneficiary forms if
you're not supposed to speak about death? Our translator has really helped us understand how
to be better servants of that population. "
Calling it interesting to initially have such a blatant blind spot, it's been a teachable, if humbling,
experience.
" They're amazing people, " she concludes. " What I learned the most is that you can't go in
with a mentality that this is the right and only way to do something. You've got to bridge that
gap and meet them in the middle because their ideas about community, family, and caretaking
are beautiful. I had to learn how to relate to them in a way that's acceptable and helpful to
them. "
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401(k) Specialist Issue 2 - 2022

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