Association Retirement Plans with Brian Williams

This transcript has been lightly edited for readability and to correct obvious transcription errors while preserving the meaning of the original conversation.

Episode 65 — Association Retirement Plans with Brian Williams
Clean Speaker-Labeled Transcript
Guest: Brian Williams
Automated QA: Passed

00:00.842 Brandon Burton
This is the Chamber Chat Podcast, the show dedicated to chamber professionals to spark ideas and to get actionable tips and strategies to better serve your members and community.
00:14.27 Brandon Burton
And now, your host, he enjoys building projects around the house. He's my dad, Brandon Burton. Welcome to Chamber Chat Podcast. This is your host, Brandon Burton, and wanted to thank you for joining us today for episode 65. And as you heard in the introduction there, that was my daughter Ella giving us a little bit of information or giving you a little bit of information about me that I do enjoy working on projects around the house. And as we are recording this episode, currently we're at the beginning of April 2020, and we're in the middle of this coronavirus quarantine and stay-at-home orders and everything. So a little bit of background as far as working on projects at home. Just couple weeks ago, well month ago now, our family moved. into a new home and I had big plans of building a a shop, you know, where I could work on on hobbies and and in the shop I was gonna also be building a a home office where I could host the podcast out of and and do all this fun stuff. And was really looking forward to working on that project. And as we moved into the new house about a week, two weeks later, all this stuff started happening with the coronavirus. So Currently, that project is on hold since I can't get out to the hardware stores and get the stuff that I need. And and I'm currently recording out of my closet to utilize this space as a a podcast studio. So I do look forward to getting back to normal and and working on those projects around the house. But today for this episode, we have Brian Williams with us. And Brian is the founder of North Shire Consulting. and provides investment advisory services to small business retirement plans and individuals. After eighteen years as an advisor, North Shire was started to follow his passion to focus on local small business markets. Brian's specialty is being able to communicate and connect with people across the age and financial literacy spectrum.
02:36.674 Brandon Burton
He's just as comfortable working around at retirees with a pool of assets as he is around first time savers, just curious about their four hundred one K. Brian takes his fiduciary responsibility to heart and only works in that capacity. He is a fee only advisor, financial advisor, meaning that he's compensated solely by the client, with neither he nor any related party receiving compensation that is contingent on the purchase or sale of a financial product. Brian originally is from Mayfield, New York, and now resides in Southington, Connecticut with his wife Lauren and two-year-old son Luke. Lauren is a special education teacher at Cheshire High School. When Lauren and Brian are not working, they enjoy running, producing their own podcasts, and long walks with Luke. Luke enjoys naps, throwing the ball around, and making a mess at each meal. Much the same activities as his father enjoys. As we have Brian on the show today, we will be talking about association retirement plans, and we will get into that discussion as soon as we get back from hearing from our sponsor. During this time of uncertainty, most chambers are looking for ways to replace funding from events and programs that either been canceled or postponed due to social distancing that does not allow for us to meet as large groups. Another topic that is top of mind for Chambers is how to help their member businesses recover from the financial impact their businesses experienced. With these considerations in mind, I want to introduce you to Swipe It. Swipe It offers a credit card processing affinity program for Chambers of Commerce that can help answer your questions about how to replace some of your lost revenue. while also allowing for you to serve as an advocate to your member businesses by introducing them to a resource that can save them money on their credit card processing fees so they can become more profitable. Swipe It has been a supporter of Chamberchat Podcasts from the beginning and they are the best in the credit card processing business. Visit Chamberchatpodcast dot com slash C C, which stands for credit card, to learn how you can get swiping
05:01.196 Brandon Burton
With swipe it. All right, Brian, we are back. I'd love for you to take just a moment and say hello to the audience and share something interesting about yourself so we can all get to know you a little bit better.
05:16.214 Brian Williams
Yeah, hello. Thanks for that introduction. I I couldn't have written it any better myself. The I guess for an interesting fact right now, just sort of give you a current state of affairs in the Williams household. So as you mentioned in the introduction, my wife is a special ed teacher. So she is downstairs. you mentioned doing a podcast from your closet. She may also be recording some videos for her students in the closet downstairs. So you guys are on the same page there. She yeah, it's certainly been a bit of a a challenge for her right now. Thankfully our daycare is open and has capacity to take Luke. So he's there from about six thirty in the morning till about eleven thirty and then we pick him up for for lunch and and to put him down for his nap. But certainly been been a challenge. It's been interesting. It's to have everybody home and get through it like everybody else. So that's current state of the Williams household. But as you mentioned I do I do have my own podcast as kind of a hobby. It's a very specialized, localized business podcast where I let small businesses tell their story in a longer format. So I do enjoy the podcast medium. I think it's different than anything else that's out there. So I've had a chance to listen to yours, Brandon, and go through a few episodes. So I really appreciate everything that you're doing for the chambers.
06:37.578 Brandon Burton
Absolutely. I appreciate that. And I think you're absolutely right about the format of podcasting. And it it's it's a platform that helps get stories out there in a different medium rather than blogs and and elevator speeches and things like that that we see very common throughout, especially in the the chamber field. So why don't you share a little bit of a background that maybe I didn't share in the introduction about your consulting firm about North Shire. And just help give some perspective to those chamber professionals that are listening to maybe understand why I'm having you on the show.
07:16.362 Brian Williams
Yeah, so I think I think it's important for people who aren't in the industry to to look at the industry in a in a few different ways. So you've got if you look at financial advising as a whole, you've got a lot of different segments that fall under that. So you've got certain people who are considered brokers and they have a regulatory body and they're to sell products and to get commission for those products. And they typically work with individuals, less so businesses. My business is a little bit different in that as you mentioned a fee-only fiduciary, which means I always have to act in the best interest of the clients. So I work with individuals and businesses on their retirement plans and also the employees of those those businesses. And if you were to look at the industry as a whole, sort of as a funnel or a or an upside down triangle, you've got that. financial advisor title on the top and then getting a little bit more narrow. You've got the group that works in a fiduciary capacity. And then getting further down the triangle, you've got an even smaller segment that really focuses on four one K's and small business retirement plans. And then further down from that, maybe at the tip of the triangle, you've got advisors who are into these multiple employer plans. So it really is a a segment of a segment of a segment if if you will. So You know, it's it's important to make those sort of distinctions and really dial into what type of professional you're working with. So I enjoy working with the small business market. I'm kind of a small business junkie as you can tell by my podcast. So I I just love that aspect of it and to be able to work with employees who may not have the understanding or the financial wherewithal to go out and meet with a professional on their own. I think for a small business to bring somebody like me in to sit down with those employees to Yes, it's about the four one K, but we end up having discussions about their student loan debt or cash flow or that type of stuff. So to be able to bring that as a s is a benefit to small business I think is I think is a really, really exciting benefit to offer businesses.
09:27.562 Brandon Burton
Absolutely. And you know, I I come from the advertising background and I see that similar kind of thing with as you meet with these small business owners that they are caught up on trying to run a business and not necessarily trying to learn, you know, the best strategies for marketing and advertising. And I it sounds very similar to you as well, as as they're trying to have their small business up and running. They're not able to dedicate that kind of time to doing the research and and learning all the ins and outs of four one K plans and how to best provide these benefits to their employees, which is why somebody like you would be such a benefit to them.
10:08.982 Brian Williams
Right. And I and I think I think that tailors right into the idea of having a a four one K plan that's that's sponsored by the Chamber and run through the Chamber. So it's not that sort of sitting across the desk, well here's some somebody trying to sell me something and I'm the small business trying to, you know, getting sales calls all day. Having a the chamber in the middle of that discussion who the business trusts and in turn the chamber has trusted this professional to to start this plan for them. I think softens the whole experience for everybody involved. Because as you said, ultimately you want business owners to focus on what they do best. If they're a carpenter, you want them building things. You don't want them to focus on advertising or running a four or one K plan.
10:53.666 Brandon Burton
That's right. Now, I had mentioned this as as being an association retirement plan. and I guess using that terminology just to maybe resonate with more of these chamber professionals that are listening, but the the official term would be multiple employer plans. can you tell us a little bit about that? How long have has these plans always been available? kind of what's the the history and background on that?
11:22.988 Brian Williams
Yeah, so multiple employer plans have been around for for a long time. What they had to have is a common nexus or a commonality, meaning they had to be in the same same business. So for example, a group of auto dealerships could bound together and have a multiple employer plan where they're basically all part of the same four one K plan, but they're now pooled together to get, you know, more purchasing power and You know, more efficiently run plans. So a couple of years ago, the Department of Labor looked at those plans and said, well, this is this is an efficient way to run a retirement plan for a couple different reasons. First of all, the small business market tends to be very expensive for these small plans. So this is a way for them to band together to get that increased person purchasing power. But also there's, you know, depending on the numbers, between four 50 million Americans who don't have access to any sort of retirement plan at work. And all the studies show that people are better savers if they can save through their paycheck rather than having that money come into the household and then having to save it. So it's really important that I think every employee should, in one form or another, have some sort of way to save for retirement through payroll deduction. So Department Labor said, okay, let's make these plans more efficient, but also make them more broadly available. So they worked through some different options. And what they came up with was this multiple employer plan and a subset of that called this association retirement plans or ARPs. And what that was designed to do is say, okay, this common nexus can now be. Geography. So as long as these businesses are in the same geographic region, meaning now a manufacturer could be in the same multiple employer plan as the deli down the street, all they have to do is be part of an association that is a bona fide association that's in the same geographic area. So obviously, Chamber of Commerces are the first thing that that comes to mind there and should. And the Department of Labor mentioned Chamber of Commerce in the legislation and the
13:37.792 Brian Williams
in the ruling and in the comments twelve or thirteen different times. So it was pretty pretty clear that this is a structure that they see as being efficient. And it's a it's a subtle sort of push to these chambers that you have a good structure here. You know, you have you have boards, you have committees, you have the ability to review these plans and put them in place. And you know, a lot of chambers will raise their hand and say, well we don't know anything about 401ks. We shouldn't, you know, we shouldn't really be taking that on. But And they they have a point there and that it's not something that they normally do, but when you compare that to to Joe and Jane's Delhi with five employees down the street, well, they don't have that structure either. But the chamber does have, you know, finance committees and executive committees and boards. So they they have a way to review these these processes and and these programs to put them in place. So so that's where we're at right now is this final ruling passed at the end of July and they gave sixty days sort of for these plans to get get up and running. You had some of the bigger chambers come on board right away and start their multiple employer plans, these association retirement plans. And now you're seeing some of the smaller chambers sort of poke around at it. Obviously now with everything that's that's happened in the country the last month or so, it's sort of a back burner item, as it should be. But I think you'll see them start to wrap up again, you know, in the summer and and through the fall, I think it'll be a a pretty interesting program for these chambers.
15:06.702 Brandon Burton
So you just you just hinted on it a little bit with the the current financial climate and just the overall climate throughout the the country at the moment. you mentioned this is probably a a backburner item, but I I know there's you know those fires that are being put out right now by chamber leaders all over the country. But is there an upside to getting involved with something like this at this time? Is this the time to to really explore this? Or I was gonna ask this question later on in the interview, but I think you know, with the the urgency that's on on people's minds right now, is this something that they need to pay attention to now or is it something that they can kind of earmark and and revisit it, you know, in a month or two from now?
15:56.972 Brian Williams
Yeah, I th I think that's a that's a good question. And some of that may depend on the geographic region that you're in, if you're close to a hot spot or where you are sort of in the cycle. Obviously your your first concern is everybody's health and then the health of the businesses and you want them to survive and and thrive. But I think it's it is a process that does take a little while to complete. you have, you know, boards that maybe meet once a month, so you might present and then they say, Okay, well, we'll talk about it at the next board. So, you know, you've got another 30 days before they meet again. So it does take a little bit of time to set up. So I think if it's something that you're planning on rolling out later in the summer or or in the fall, I think it's important to start to gather your information and and do some studies now and see if it's something that would that would make sense for your chamber. and the other thing is I think I think businesses, I think your member businesses want to see that your looking long term and that you're starting to put these programs in place for when business does get back up and running, whenever that is, because think about that. As a chamber, you're going out and you're trying to put out those immediate fires, but you're also expressing the importance of businesses to think long term and and what what opportunity does this present you and how does your business sort of evolve and what does it look like on the other side. So as a chamber you have to s take your own advice on that too. And I know everything right now is about the small business programs and state programs, but you do have to set away some time in your week, even if it's using something like this as a diversion to sort of get away from that. I think those long term projects for chambers are are really really critical because you wanna show value now, but you wanna show value, you know, in the fall and come out with some of this stuff as businesses does do ramp back up again.
17:48.394 Brandon Burton
I think that's a a key element to be forward thinking and to lead by that example of looking forward and saying, look, we are gonna come out of this and when we are we wanna make sure that you guys are stronger and better for it and and it really, I mean, I see it as a a great opportunity. And and like you say, it it everything has to go through boards and everything. So it's gonna take a little bit of time to get things in place, but why not start collecting that information, doing your research, especially when there is some downtime. Yeah, when people aren't all in their office. Maybe in be in between Zoom calls you can do a little bit of research. But so talk to us about some of the advantages for the employees and the member businesses as they take advantage of a program like this and in turn how that maybe relates to the chamber and the benefits to the chamber.
18:44.788 Brian Williams
Yeah, so I I I think the way you phrased that was really important. You started with the employees of the member businesses and that's important in the four one K world because everybody should act in the best interest of the employees, which sounds like it like it makes sense, but there's been times in my career when sometimes maybe what's right for the employees isn't exactly what's right for the business owner. So it might lead to an uncomfortable conversation. But most of the time their goals are in line. But That's the way you sort of build any 401k program is okay, if I was a participant in this program, how would I like to see it structured? And then you work backwards from there. So so the advantages to the employees, I I don't always want to make it all about cost, but sometimes that's a that's the lead-in. So it's it's about cost savings, it's about the ability of the business to start and maintain these planes plans as a collective unit under the chamber. So Ultimately, as the fees are lower, that obviously increases the the value of the participant retirement accounts. So it's it's about a cost structure. some of it is just simply having a plan, right? So we know that aside from cost structure, the next biggest obstacle for small businesses to starting a retirement plan is just the the complexity of it. And now you have a chamber program that's pre-screened, that's that's ready to go, and instead of being a you know, ninety day process to work through forms and stuff, it's really a lot shorter. You you're not starting your own retirement plan from scratch. You're simply adopting into, and that's the phrase you use, you're adopting into the chamber plan. So for the employees, it's about saving money on on fees and it's about the access to a plan, second of all. And I think one point that that's overlooked is why I think this is so important to chambers. as opposed to a different association would be the fact that the chamber's got this infrastructure of accountants and estate attorneys and insurance professionals who can really be brought in to build a financial wellness program for these these employees. So if you fast forward a couple of years, instead of someone like me going out to each individual business in town, which I still do, but now you have the ability to have these collective meetings.
21:06.368 Brian Williams
So let's say we're inviting all the age 50 and older employees of all the member businesses to a specific seminar that says we're going to talk about the 401k and some of the investment options and how you should invest leading into retirement. And we can do that now right across the businesses because we have some commonality among the plans. But now you can also bring in a member business who's an accounting firm. You can bring in a member business. Who focuses on estate planning and you can give them 10 or 15 minutes to speak to a group of retirees, which which is a tremendous benefit to them. Obviously, though groups groups like that, accountants and estate attorneys are all always looking for groups of people to get in front of, and you're providing a service to these employees. So I think that's one aspect as to why these programs, in my opinion, are the 401k the future, because you have that infrastructure in place. To help these these employees. And from an employer standpoint, it's a lot of the same, same advantages, right? So it's cost and complexity, those barriers are are lowered or eliminated. And the ability to provide this benefit to your employees, which really you couldn't ever get on your own. I mean, you're not going to get an accountant and a state attorney to go into Joe and Jane's Delhi to talk to three employees about. you know, estate planning and tax planning, it's just not gonna happen. But you could certainly do that in a chamber setting and now you've got forty employees across, you know, ten or twelve different businesses. So for a small employer to bring that benefit to the table for probably lower costs than they would be able to to get it on the outside is is an absolute win for for the businesses. And if you get into it for the from the chamber perspective, it's certainly a huge win for them. Now they're bringing something to the table that's not just for the member business businesses, but also for the employees. A lot of times chambers don't have that connection to the employees that they would that they would like. So their your connection and their their association is with the member businesses, but not necessarily all the employees. So maybe you're doing one of these seminars and maybe your executive director or your president or
23:20.248 Brian Williams
chairperson of the board comes in and does five minutes about the chamber and some upcoming events, you know, to a group of employees. So now suddenly you're gaining access to these employees that you might not have had before. And of course it's activity, it's content, it's all that sort of stuff. It's a another it's another item you can announce in the newspapers and on social media and in all that kind of stuff. So so for the chamber it's it's really a nice program to get that really works for employees, employers, but also your your other member businesses who are part of the financial services industry that give them, you know, to give them access to these groups of people to speak in front of.
23:57.226 Brandon Burton
Yeah, one of the things that stood out to me was the connection with with the employees. And so often as especially as I have other chamber professionals here on Chamber Chat Podcast, the topic of relevancy for chambers comes up. And usually we're thinking in terms of the business community being relevant to them. But I think as you stay relevant to the employees, To everyday Joe on the street on Main Street, the the employees who really haven't had any reason to think about the chamber or even know what the chamber of commerce is, if you can provide a value for them through a a retirement plan like this, all of a sudden the Chamber of Commerce is on the radar for all of these employees in your town. And they can see, this is what the Chamber of Commerce does, you know, as one of those. outlets what they do and and help spread the the good word about the the those advocacy efforts and and things that the chamber's doing to promote goodness and you know good economic standing throughout your community. So I think that's a really important point to highlight.
25:09.548 Brian Williams
Yeah, and I I think of I think of the podcast you did with with Sarah O'Brien about the the purpose statements and I think that's something that chambers have to think about going forward is not just making that connection to the to the businesses but to the employees because remember those employees that twenty-two-year-old who's filling out their four one K form for the first time, in twenty years they're the they're the new HR director of the company down the road with two hundred employees and they're deciding at that point if they want to be a chamber member or they're the that twenty two year old who's in that, you know, financial wellness seminar, they're the person who's gonna start that new business in three years and you want that person to be a chamber member. So it's it's about that that's that business cycle and it's about planting that seed into the next generation of the community business leaders.
25:58.316 Brandon Burton
That's right. Right. So you just touched on these advantages for the employees of the b of these member businesses, the advantages for the the businesses themselves, and some of these advantages for the Chamber of Commerce itself. let's dive into the the list of potential disadvantages or where where the hangups might be with a a program like this.
26:23.032 Brian Williams
Well, there isn't any. There are no disadvantages. Why would I come on here if there are disadvantages? No, I'm kidding, of course. I mean, there there are some there are some challenges. I mean, obviously you're you're dealing with you're dealing with people. Boards are made of people and there's always some of the challenges are roadblocks along the way. Somebody on the board says, Well, I know I've got a buddy or a neighbor who who could do this program a little bit differently or or that type of process, you're always gonna run into those with any sort of new program. and I think that the disadvantages are if the program isn't built the right way, if you go back to what I talked about, it's sort of that that funnel of the financial advisor community and and getting a more narrow focus. If you end up putting together one of these programs with somebody who's not laser focused on 401ks and and in turn multiple employer 401ks, It could end up just being another product that sort of sits on the chamber shelf. And that's absolutely what you don't want to have happen. You want this to be really focused on on growth and providing that that member benefit. so what I'm hearing now is is some advisors sort of see the dollar signs in their eyes and they they think that they've got a product, right? So they go and sort of pitch this to to chambers and then And then it becomes just that. Then the chamber the advisor thinks the chamber's gonna go out and and sell this for them. And the chamber thinks the advisor's gonna bring in all this all this new business and it it just sort of sits there. So I think if the program's not built the right way and it's not communicated the right way from the very start, it could end up sort of maybe not being a being a negative. But if you have this big rollout and then it doesn't catch on, it could sort of be a a depressing moment, I guess, for the chamber. So So that's a potential downfall there. If it if it's not built the right way, or if you get involved with, you know, special interest or somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody and it ends up just not being the right program, I think that's a that's a potential disadvantage.
28:30.83 Brandon Burton
I think that's good point to highlight as well. what would an ideal structure look like to implement a association retirement plan like we're discussing?
28:42.368 Brian Williams
Yeah, I think it goes back to to earlier making it really participant focused. And I think that's why doing some demographics or feasibility study beforehand are are really important. one of the things I talk about to to chamber leaders are you've really got got four quadrants, if you will, of your target market, right? You've got your existing members, some of them have plans, some of them don't, and then you've got your potential members or future members who don't have plans or maybe they do have existing plans. So so you may you may have a small chamber who says, hey, you know what, let's really focus on acquiring new members through this program and let's focus on not non non-members who don't have 401k plans. So now you need to structure a benefit for these for these businesses and you have to communicate the chamber membership and you also have to make sure it's Priced and communicated appropriately for startup plans because they don't have plans already. So that structure needs to be built for the goals of that chamber. Whereas let's say another chamber says, you know what, we've got enough membership. We really need to provide value to some of our bigger, bigger members. Let's say all our manufacturers have more than 100 employees, and we need to provide them with some sort of value or they're going to cancel their membership. Well, that's a whole different structure. That's a different pricing model. That might be with a different you know, record keeper, the chassis that it sits on. That might be a different program. So so I think those discussions are are really important early on in as far as how you build the program because you know, like I said before, you don't want this to look like a product. You don't want somebody to walk in the door and say, Hey, look, I sell chamber 401k plans and I've got the solution for you. Well, how do you provide a solution if you don't know what that chamber's goals are? Just like working with an individual. Everybody's got different goals and different retirement dates. So and a lot of times chambers may not even know what that goal is, or may they may not even be thinking of it in in terms of the four quadrants. So I think that's important too. And obviously the the geography and the size of the chamber. I've had some chambers say they think they're a little bit too small or a little bit too big. And I don't really think there is a a
31:03.214 Brian Williams
perfect size for the chamber. I think even the smaller chambers, you know, I don't think it's inconceivable to see a chamber with 200 members have 40 of their businesses adopt into this plan, nor do I see it a po an impossibility that a chamber with 2,000 members only has 40 members adopt in. I think it's those smaller chambers typically have a better relationship with with their businesses and they might get more early adoption than the bigger chamber might get. So so I think it's important that these programs are structured specifically for that chamber, the geography and the goals of the chamber.
31:38.35 Brandon Burton
Very good. I know, you know, in the recent past we've seen these association health care plans that have been rolled out. And similar kind of idea that you have to be a member of an association like a Chamber of Commerce to be able to enroll in these employee health care plans that offer you know group rates and cost savings that way. And I know a lot of the chambers that got involved with those, they were able to see you know better retention with their membership as well as new members coming in specifically for that healthcare plan because they were able to offer healthcare to their employees they weren't able to before. a lot of that had to do with the the timing of you know mandate for having healthcare provided by employers and everything as well. But I see even with these association retirement plans, that there's a certain stickiness to it as well. once a small business or member business gets involved and they're enrolling their employees in a retirement plan, that they need to remain a member of their association, the chamber of commerce to be able to keep that plan in force. so I think that that is an advantage to the chambers as well, to be able to have that stickiness and, you know, that retention and attraction. for new businesses. I don't know, have you seen any, you know, similarities or contrasts between the retirement plans versus the healthcare plans as you've been rolling these out at different changes.
33:20.706 Brian Williams
Yeah the Yeah, that's that's a good question. And that does come up quite a bit. There are some similarities. and I think you touched on all of them, sort of the bulk pricing and and the idea that they, you know, the differences with the health care, a lot of them have to have the the health care. So it's whereas you don't have to have a retirement plan. So I think that's one difference. I think one of the other one of the other things is how How it affects the different sizes of the business. So I think those programs are typically the really small employer or even the the sole practitioner. Whereas I think this 401k program can affect a larger swath of the of your membership. So I think those are those are a couple differences. I think the the conversion process for four one K's that are in existence now maybe can be a little bit longer or that, you know quote, sales cycle can be a little bit longer for plans that are already in place. There they might feel that there's a little bit of disruption because even though they that's one thing you run into a lot is is a a small business might say, Hey, you know what, it's a it's a pain in the butt to move our our four one K plan and I I can understand that to some extent it is. It's not not as bad as it used to be, but but there is some labor obviously involved with the small business. But the reality is from a Department of Labor standpoint, they they don't care how hard it is. You you've gotta provide the best benefit to your employees and it doesn't matter if there's an additional, you know, ten or twenty hours worth of labor in there. So it's a little bit more regulated, I think, than sort of the healthcare stuff, because if you're If you've got this program in your town that's a chamber 401k plan that's less expensive than the one you have, that's providing better service, it it sort of becomes a set a head scratcher. Well, why are you not in this program? And from a DOL standpoint, just simply shrugging your shoulders and say, Well, I think it'd be a lot of work to change. That's not really an acceptable answer. You really have to, you really have to continually monitor your 401k plan to make you sure you're in the best solution. Forget whether it's a
35:31.062 Brian Williams
multiple employer plan or something through the chamber. But that's something you need to do anyway. And it's an area where a lot of small businesses are are lax in doing that. So this is a program I think that you know, sort of solves a lot of those things because they can they can review it and compare it to their existing plan pretty easily because the chamber and the the advisor will do that for them. But a lot of times it'll just it'll just flat out be a better solution. I don't know how else to say it, but and it and sort of the the pressure there to move it is is pretty great from a regulatory standpoint.
36:03.246 Brandon Burton
Awesome. So as we start wrapping things up here, I I wanted to ask you, based on our discussion today, what would be one action item that you would encourage a chamber professional to do to take their chamber up to the next level?
36:20.09 Brian Williams
I would say you know, obviously I think this this program brings it brings them to the next level, but I think it's okay to do maybe a little soft survey to some of your constituents, if it's something you you know, send out in an email blast or just put on your Facebook page and see see if there's if there's interest. some of those surveys are a little bit tough because you're asking questions and the small business owner might not know exactly what you're what you're offering or what the point is. But I think I think it's a good idea for at least, you know, almost every chamber to sort of poke around at this idea and and see if it makes sense and and reach out to somebody like me who's done these programs before, rather than just look for an internal candidate or somebody on the board or somebody's neighbor or something along those lines, which happens quite a bit. because the the fiduciary responsibility of of finding what's best for your member businesses and their employees is is pretty great. it's it's very much different than any other sort of contract where, you know, if you're ordering a new desk or something, the the Department of Labor doesn't doesn't care if you order it from your neighbor. But if you're getting a four one K plan for your member businesses and their employees, you really have to make sure you're bringing the best program you you can to the table. So I think that's the action item is is be quick, but don't hurry, right? You wanna you wanna get these programs online and and make them available to your member businesses, but you certainly don't want to rush anything either. So I think it's important to stay on that cycle, stay on that you know, regular board cycle. I've even seen some chambers do sort of an off cycle thing, say, well, I don't want to wait a month until our board meets again. Let me pluck a people a couple of people off that board or maybe bring in a couple of people from the outside and let's just form sort of a 401k discovery committee or something like that to to make sure we're we're not as much on the monthly cycle and and maybe progress every couple of weeks. So I guess maybe that was a few different action items, but I would say I I would say I would say poke around and and just make sure you're doing your ends and pull it in from from a few different sources. Don't locally.
38:28.044 Brandon Burton
Yep, start exploring the idea. So Yeah, exactly. So I ask this question to everyone that I have on the show. As we look to the future of sp specifically regarding chambers of commerce, how do you see their purpose moving forward?
38:46.07 Brian Williams
Yeah, I I think it's gonna be I think it's really twofold. I think it's the first one is you is as data and all these chambers get better with organizing themselves, I think they're going to be providing more more definable, more quantitative results to their member businesses. And by that what I mean is let's say for example, we have a a non member and we find out we can save them forty six hundred a year on their four one K plan. I think I think those sort of items as part of that renewal notice are gonna become more important. I think there's a certain analytical crowd out there that wants to see, okay, I paid my, you know, chamber membership. What exactly did I get for that? And I items just mean it in terms of the 401k plan, but I think okay, this this business posted to the chamber page once a week. So there's 50 times and they reached an audience of of X, you know, let's assign a value to that. And I think These these chambers do really bring a lot to the table and renewals really should be a a no brainer in most cases. And I think if once they get a little bit better organized and to be able to quantify that on renewal, I think is is gonna be important. So I think that's that's one segment that I see chambers going in that direction. and I I think the other one is just that the chambers need to be need to be storytellers. They need to be use this platform that they have, whether it's podcasts or videos or you know, blog posts, email books, I think they need to tell the story of of the business. So it's sort of in contrast to all the numbers people, it's the stories people. you know, we know that people do business with people that they know the backstory with and they're they're comfortable with. So I think as much as Chambers can get out there and tell the story of the business, they're perfectly equipped to do that. They have an audience. They have, you know, Facebook pages and email lists. So they can spotlight businesses and do that sort of stuff in different formats, you know, chambers in the morning or, you know, podcasts and stuff. So I think it's those areas and it's maybe at other ends of the spectrum, opposite ends, but you've got that real quantifiable benefit. You've but you've also got that storytelling aspect. So I'd love to see more chambers tell stories about their businesses, but also about themselves. Chambers are not great at at tooting their own horn or talking about all the work they did.
41:03.468 Brian Williams
And I know you mentioned that on another another podcast too, is that a lot of times they collaborate with with other entities that end up taking all the credit and the chambers just kind of behind the scenes. But I'd love to see more chambers, you know, produce a weekly Facebook Live on a Friday afternoon. Here's what I did this week. Here's what we so I think it's gonna be those two aspects.
41:23.106 Brandon Burton
That's right. I love the idea of being storytellers and showing what the value is to the members of member businesses. And of course, I'm a little prejudiced to the platform of podcasts and and recently developed a a little getting started guide for chambers to produce their own podcast. So if you haven't checked that out yet, you can get that free resource at chamberchatpodcast.com slash podcasting. And it's a a free PDF to get you started and kind of outlining your first ten episodes and kind of the equipment and software and everything you need and why a chamber should podcast and all that. So really encourage any chamber professional listening to dive into that and and see how you can become more of a storyteller at your chamber. And the the format of podcasts is great because people can listen to it on the go. They don't have to be looking at their phone for a video or anything like that. But anyways, I can go on and on about the value of of using the platform of podcasting. Yeah, Brian
42:28.8 Brian Williams
I I would agree. Yeah. And and chambers with the idea of I like the way I look on camera or I don't like the way I sound or I'm not a techie or I don't have the equipment, all that stuff, you gotta draw a line through it because it's just not people just if there's a little bit of a hum in the background or if you, you know, slip up and ooh and to you know, s stutter here or there, it's not that big a deal. So yeah, the more you can get through that stuff and tell the stories, the better.
42:53.582 Brandon Burton
That's right. Well, Brian, before we say goodbye, I wanted to give you a quick opportunity to put your contact information out there. So if anyone has any questions about what we discussed or kind of the next steps on implementing a association retirement plan, how can they get in contact with you?
43:13.516 Brian Williams
Yes, so again, my name is Brian Williams. My company is North Shire Consulting, N-R-T-H-S-H-I-R-E, and that is an independent investment advisory firm. So you can you can find me at North Shire Consulting.com. My email address is b Williams at North Shire Consulting.com. I also run the website chamber401ks.com. So that's 401ks.com. and you can put in some information there about your chamber and I'll get back to you and we'll start to work through the demographic study and get old fashioned phone you can find me at eight hundred four nine eight one eight seven six and you know obviously on social media and stuff and I appreciate coming on here so thank you.
44:02.572 Brandon Burton
Very good. And we will update all of that in our show notes page, which will be found at Chamberchatpodcast.com slash episode sixty five. So everyone can go there and and reach out and get in contact with Brian. But Brian, I wanna thank you so much for taking some time today to spend with us here on Chamber Chat Podcast and and the great value that you brought to the audience today.
44:27.288 Brian Williams
Well and and thank you too for, you know, letting the chambers tell their tell their story 'cause I think it's really important that the chambers work together and get the best ideas out there in a in a a community with a strong chamber is much better off than a community with a with a weak chamber and I really do believe that. So I appreciate all the work that you're doing to make that happen.
44:48.438 Brandon Burton
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