By Vinnie Allard, Director of Retirement Partnerships

Part 1 of Retirement Industry Insights Series

Over my first few months at SAVVI Financial, there has been a common theme in many of my conversations: the retirement industry built solutions to solve the accumulation problem, but most are just coming around to the latest challenge: turning those savings into a paycheck in retirement.  As one pothole in the retirement journey is filled, another seems to open. I first noticed this pattern during my years as a financial advisor, where I saw the personal side of retirement planning up close, and continued seeing it as I helped scale fintech platforms that revolutionized how we save. Yet, as those systems grew, I noticed a looming challenge—a systemic disconnect between having a balance and having a plan. We built a phenomenal savings engine, but left participants without a framework for using it.

The Legacy of Access and Accumulation

Many industry veterans would agree that for the last decade in the retirement plan space, the primary objective was driving access. Public policy further reinforced that effort, particularly the SECURE Act and SECURE 2.0, which introduced and expanded tax incentives that made starting and maintaining retirement plans significantly more attractive for small and mid-sized employers. Against that backdrop, the industry executed brilliantly by:

• Integrating small and mid-sized employers into the retirement ecosystem
• Scaling pooled and multiple employer plans (MEPs/PEPs)
• Leveraging fintech recordkeepers to streamline plan sponsorship dramatically 

As an industry, we had built solutions for the infrastructure problem of getting people to save. However, this victory came with a hidden cost: commoditization. We are now navigating a race to the bottom on recordkeeping fees, broad margin compression, and aggressive industry consolidation.

The Missing Decumulation Infrastructure

What surprised me most during my first three months at SAVVI is that an industry so adept at accumulating assets has built very little to help participants optimize or spend them. I saw this firsthand with my own father. Despite approaching retirement with a healthy six-figure balance, he had absolutely no framework for turning that balance into a sustainable living income, let alone how to draw from that portfolio in conjunction with other accounts, coordinate the timing of Social Security, and manage the resulting tax implications. The tools themselves are not the issue. The market has seen a genuinely impressive wave of in-plan income products, managed accounts, and guaranteed income options. The failure lies in the delivery; it remains entirely unclear to participants how to access these tools or sequence them effectively.

This guidance gap was crystallized for me at events this year such as NAPA, TRAU’s Recordkeeper Roundtable, and the Broadridge Retirement Summit. Many of the main topics were centered around how to deliver better outcomes for participants. It was clear that we have perfected the accumulation machine, but we still don’t have a viable answer for what happens when a participant needs to turn those assets into a paycheck.

The Fragmentation Problem

Even with the technological advances in recordkeeping and benefits administration, workplace benefits have largely remained in their own silos. Retirement, health, HSA, and wealth management have each evolved as separate solutions, creating a fragmented experience that doesn’t reflect how people actually move through their financial lives. Consider the current participant experience:

• A standalone retirement portal
• A separate core benefits portal
• Disconnected HSA and wealth management logins

Participants are asked to synthesize these fragmented platforms into a cohesive financial life. For example, our latest SAVVI research highlights the consequences: 66% of people who took a hardship withdrawal or early distribution from their retirement accounts would have explored other options had they understood the full implications of their decision. This isn’t a lack of information; it’s a lack of context. They had no way to see how an isolated decision could ripple across their broader financial picture.

Participants are drowning in financial content. What they lack is a connected ecosystem that aggregates what they already have and dictates the optimal actions to save, optimize, and spend down their retirement.

What’s Next: Solving the Decision Problem

The opportunity is to create a more dynamic participant experience, one that combines personalized guidance with advisor connections at the moments they matter most. The right level of support may change based on a participant’s life stage, financial situation, wealth, or the decision’s complexity.

Guidance at scale can help participants navigate everyday decisions while identifying when human advice can add greater value. The result is a better experience for participants, more meaningful opportunities for advisors, and better outcomes across the financial journey.

At SAVVI, our team is synthesizing our latest research to develop a framework for addressing this challenge. My conversations over the last few months point to one conclusion: the decision problem is the battleground where the next decade of the retirement industry will be won. I’m excited to continue my journey here at SAVVI Financial, and I look forward to sharing more insights as we build what’s next.

Ready to Discuss Decumulation?  Let’s connect 

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Vinnie Allard, AIF® Director of Retirement Partnerships, SAVVI Financial

Vinnie Allard focuses on building strategic partnerships that help retirement plan participants achieve better financial outcomes. Bringing over 20 years of experience across financial advising, asset management, retirement plan services, and fintech platforms, Vinnie has spearheaded go-to-market strategies for leading retirement platforms. Throughout his career, he has focused on helping organizations deliver personalized guidance that enables individuals to make more informed decisions and achieve greater retirement readiness.

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This is the first piece in an ongoing Retirement Industry Insights series.

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