401(k) Specialist Issue 3 - 2020 - 34

AUGUST
JANIA STOUT, Hightower Fiduciary Plan Advisors
It's a Family Affair
" WE'RE DOING A LOT of financial literacy for younger adults and older kids, " Jania Stout
notes when asked about the differentiating factors of her firm. " We want to change families,
not just change individual participants. "
Stout, managing director and co-founder of Hightower Fiduciary Plan Advisors, then
proceeds to tick off a comprehensive (and exhausting) list of education and wellness initiatives
developed by the firm.
" We've conducted about 400 one-on-one meetings in the last six weeks through our 'virtual
advice days,' " she explains. " We've always provided virtual advice, along with in-person,
resulting in 1,500 one-on-one sessions in 2019 alone. "
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, she assigns two " participant success advisors "
to individual coaching sessions.
" We recently offered two full days to a particular client, which were filled in 30 minutes.
We rolled out two more days and they were filled within an hour, so we rolled out two more
days. We had a total of six days filled within two hours of releasing it to their 1,200 employees. "
" We
want to
change families,
not just change
individual
participants. "
Jania Stout is managing director and
co-founder of Hightower Fiduciary Plan
Advisors in Owings Mills, Maryland.
Making full use of digital media, the firm hired video production company Idea Decanter
to create a video that describes who they are and the reasons one-on-one meetings are so
important. It received 600 views in its first week.
" One of the challenges is that people don't know what they're signing up for, " she notes.
" We clearly explain that it goes beyond just the 401(k)-it also helps prioritize other goals. "
Yet it's the programs geared to older kids and younger adults that make her most excited.
For example, the firm is about to debut a monthly podcast/Zoom meeting centered on
financial literacy.
" Hosted by my teammates Keith and Katherine (who are both in their 20s), it's called
'Keith & Kat's FUNancial Podcast.' We'll cover financial literacy topics and have prizes and
make it incredibly interactive with the ability for listeners to call in. Our target market is the
15- to 25-year-old, or 17-to-30, demographic. "
They normally do 12 webinars annually, but recently increased it to 18, adding healthcare
and career/self-help-oriented topics that touch on simply " how to be happy, " which is actually
in the firm's mission statement: To Help Working America Feel Less Stressed and Be Happy.
" We started to see more and more comments from participants around teaching their children
financial literacy. It pushed me to start a series of live educational webinars. We talked
about it in committee meetings to test the waters. The response was incredible. The committee
members were CFOs and heads of HR who wanted their kids to participate. "
Titled " It's a Family Affair, " the purpose of the series is to give children the necessary
building blocks to be less stressed as they grow.
" We had over 120 young adults and older children dialed in, and it was fantastic! " Stout
concludes. " One client, in particular, has two boys ages 14 and 16. She sent a note complimenting
the event and noting that sibling rivalry now has the brothers fighting at the dinner
table over who will begin saving sooner to have more for retirement. "
26
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401(k) Specialist Issue 3 - 2020

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