Plan Sponsor Interview on New Participant Engagement Strategies
What level of personalized guidance do you offer your participants?
FPPA’s Relationship Management team meets onsite with each of our fire and police departments every other year to discuss Plan benefits and provide individual retirement projections for Members. In addition, our Benefits and Operations teams meet with Members 1-on-1 to run estimates, provide final benefit calculations, answer tax withholding questions, and provide guidance on optimal times to retire based on the plan rules and the Member’s individual situation.
On the DC side, our Fidelity representative meets with each department every other year, as well as on demand, helping Members understand the Plan’s fund line up and the different tools available through Fidelity.
How big of a role does plan design play in helping participants navigate to/through retirement?
Our Members are very conscious of fees associated with their accounts, so we work hard to effectively leverage our fund size to negotiate the best possible fee structure. Additionally, recent legislative and rules changes allow our active defined benefit Members and/or Employers to contribute additional, voluntary contributions to FPPA’s DC accounts for active Members and those enrolled in our popular DROP program. Both options allow Members to save more money for their retirement, which is especially important as our Members can retire as early as age 50!
Each participant has different needs, resources, etc. – how do you manage this to ensure most participants are ready to retire?
We’ve recently implemented Wellness Point Solutions through Fidelity. Members can answer financial readiness questions and based on their responses, they may be offered resources to help address their areas of focus or concern (ex: emergency fund savings, student loans, saving for a house or college).
Our Lifetime Benefit Purchase option also allows Members to convert some or all of their DC accounts to an additional monthly benefit, converted at the actuarially equivalent amount. This option is popular with many of our Members as they value the higher monthly income.
Have you implemented any new technologies/strategies that have led to an increase in engagement? (Ex: financial literacy training modules)
COVID gave us an opportunity to reassess how we communicate with our Members, resulting in many changes that are still in place today. We’ve implemented regular educational webinars, converted our in-person seminars to include a hybrid, virtual attendance option, and begun offering 1-on-1 and department-wide meetings over Zoom. For us, virtual meetings haven’t replaced in-person, but instead created another way for us to engage in meaningful conversations with Members wherever they are.
Finally, we are actively enhancing our administration systems and company website to better meet the needs of Members and Employers. Members can now apply for refunds and request a service credit purchase online, and we plan to roll out online retirement applications later this year.
Chip Weule is the Chief Benefits Officer for The Fire & Police Pension Association of Colorado (FPPA). He has been with FPPA for a little over five years, but has administered defined benefit retirement plans for over 20 years. In his current role, Chip primarily oversees the Benefits Administration team (day-to-day administration of the pension plans), the Relationship Management team (educating Members and Employers on FPPA’s plan benefits), and our Content and Publications team (outbound communications to our Members, Employers, and the public). He also chairs FPPA’s Death & Disability Review Committee and the Self-Directed Plans Committee.
Since 1980, the Fire & Police Pension Association has administered retirement and death & disability plans for Colorado firefighters, police officers, and other first responders. We currently serve more than 30,000 Members across the state. The defined benefit plan is 100% funded.
While our membership primarily participates in a Defined Benefit Plan, FPPA also offers a Money Purchase benefit, a 457 Plan, and a DROP option for our Members. Fidelity administers these plans on behalf of FPPA’s Members.