[00:00:00] Steve McCoy: We've worked hard to develop a marketplace of solutions for advisors that really want choice. It's a stark contrast when they describe how a participant that has a pension or a DB plan is behaviorally different than those that are in a DC plan. Personalization is ready.

[00:00:32] VO: Welcome to the Wave Strength, innovative solutions for a secure retirement presented by Pacific Life.

[00:00:43] Jim Breen: Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of the Wave Strength podcast. I'm your host, Jim Breen, head of marketing with Pacific Life's Institutional Business team. We're very happy to be here live on the floor of the 2025 NAPA 401k Summit in Las Vegas, Nevada.

[00:00:58] Jim Breen: Joining us in our studio here on the floor is none other than iJoin CEO, Steve McCoy. Steve, thanks so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to sit down and have a conversation with us.

[00:01:10] Steve McCoy: My pleasure, Jim.

[00:01:11] Jim Breen: Absolutely. Steve, great happenings this week between Pacific Life and iJoin.

[00:01:18] Jim Breen: I know Monday we had a press release go live announcing the partnership between Pacific Life and iJoin. I wanna get to that in a moment, but before we begin, perhaps you can share a little bit about your background with our audience members. Maybe share a little bit about iJoin in the great work underway.

[00:01:35] Steve McCoy: Background on me is a serial entrepreneur that is on his last venture, or not last venture but it's been a really fun ride. iJoin is a technology company that supports the retirement plan ecosystem. We specialize in employee engagement, managed advice, in-plan income, and we really are advisor centric in the technology that we continue to build and innovate.

[00:02:02] Jim Breen: Awesome. And you mentioned your adventures. Give me another what next to starting iJoin. What's been the most exciting adventure you've had thus far?

[00:02:12] Steve McCoy: In business?

[00:02:13] Jim Breen: In business or life?

[00:02:14] Steve McCoy: Oh I went to the Masters last week.

[00:02:17] Jim Breen: Oh, that's right because that was pretty exciting. You are a golf guy. That's right.

[00:02:20] Jim Breen: And how, okay, how was that? It was first time, right?

[00:02:23] Steve McCoy: It was my second. Second. It hadn't been in 15 years.

[00:02:26] Jim Breen: We talked about this when we were in the studio creating some content about a month ago. That's right. So it was a good time?

[00:02:31] Steve McCoy: I went on a Wednesday, which is the perfect time to go on a practice round, and it was about half the number of people during the competitive rounds, and it was fantastic.

[00:02:40] Jim Breen: Let's talk a little bit about what this, partnership entails. And from an iJoin perspective, Steve, perhaps you can share some of those unique qualities. I know as we look to Pacific Life with nearly 160 years of financial strength and stability and creating these unique opportunities for lifetime income, as we look at the retirement of tomorrow and now looking at iJoin in from your perspective, let's talk a little bit about that partnership.

[00:03:11] Steve McCoy: So, what was really exciting to us was the belief, the commitment of Pacific Life to personalization in retirement. And you combine that with a strength and stability of a hundred plus year old firm. It the combination is really formidable and we're, really thrilled to take on this journey.

[00:03:38] Steve McCoy: Just specifically, we've worked hard to develop a marketplace of solutions for advisors that really want choice. They want optionality in terms of the products that they select for a particular plant sponsor. So when you could combine, the Income Horizon solution with any number of our managed advice marketplace solutions. It's just a powerful combination and something I think advisors are really excited about.

[00:04:06] Jim Breen: I agree. It's such a fantastic example of how Pacific Life creates these products and these solutions through a lens, that is very much focused on the needs of the participant the opportunity in this case to provide that personalization, to provide those opportunities to have a secure retirement.

[00:04:29] Jim Breen: And you talk a little bit a moment ago about that advisor and that advisor mindset. What's your perspective as you've been in the industry now for many years? When you look at that advisor, talk to me about the advisor mindset of 2025 maybe versus that advisor mindset even 10 years ago.

[00:04:46] Jim Breen: How has there been an evolution? Does there, Do we still need to evolve?

[00:04:50] Steve McCoy: I think that's a great question, Jim, and I think that the industry has been trying to solve for this, really this demand, this need for guaranteed income or in retirement and I think that I was actually on a panel earlier this morning where the topic was around financial wellness and how you measure financial wellness. And a point that I made was, one of the measures you always hear about is this high percentage of participants that are afraid of running out of money in retirement. And then you talk to advisors to your question about the participants they serve and.

[00:05:35] Steve McCoy: It's a stark contrast when they describe how a participant that has a pension or a DB plan is behaviorally different than those that are in a DC plan. It is an ability to understand exactly what you're receiving in your retirement years as opposed to being fearful. That you are going to spend down principle and that you're going to run out of money.

[00:06:03] Steve McCoy: So, I think that's the evolution. Just more of a lifestyle a life benefit to use that term, that is starting to crystallize, I think, in the market. And then as Pacific Life and others bring these products to market and make them available and advisors find that it's easier to adopt them.

[00:06:29] Steve McCoy: It's an exciting place where we are. And I'm very optimistic about the future.

[00:06:35] Jim Breen: Let's talk about the future. I've asked this question before on the show, and I think it's perfectly timed right now. And, if you had a magic wand, Steve, that you could wave and change one thing in the mind of that average advisor, what would it be?

[00:06:50] Steve McCoy: It would be that, personalization is ready. It is. All of the barriers really have been solved for there's data, there's great technology there's an appropriate price point for these solutions, and that you can really deliver value and outcomes that you never were able to deliver before.

[00:07:24] Steve McCoy: And then this idea that we've got volatility in the markets, we've got questions around the viability of Social Security. When you can help a participant raise the level of protected or guaranteed income and retirement, and at the very least, get closer to satisfying for their basic or essential expense needs in retirement. That is a powerful message that they can deliver to plan sponsors and participants alike.

[00:07:56] Jim Breen: Hugely important, because as we all know, I mean we all, I'm sure you have loved ones as I do, that everybody's retirement journey is different. Everybody has a unique story to tell. And how can we connect to those individuals, those participants, so that they understand that it's not a one size fits all approach.

[00:08:18] Jim Breen: How can we meet them at the point they are in that journey and, maybe it's, I just entered the workforce, right? Maybe it's, I'm 10 years in and I really need to start buckling down. Maybe it's, I'm five years out and I have not put a plan together. How can we provide those opportunities to connect at the position where that individual is?

[00:08:42] Steve McCoy: I think technology will play an important and vital role. And I think that all of the advisors that are here at the NAPA Summit in 2025, when they look out five years from now, they're going to be wealth managers in addition to being retirement plan advisors. And it's all about a holistic advice solution. So, to your really good point, financial services holistically are going to be an important part of the way advisors evolve their practice and the way they think about delivering value.

[00:09:22] Jim Breen: Now, you mentioned technology, and I want to touch on a bit the unique technological implementations that iJoin brings to the table. Perhaps you can share where, do those roads meet between personalization and technology in terms of what iJoin brings to the table?

[00:09:37] Steve McCoy: Our foundational experiences have always been goals-based. The industry, I think, has done a poor job of informing participants. What the objective is, what is the retirement income need, for you as an individual going to be in retirement? So we start there and then we work with different managed advice providers.

[00:10:07] Steve McCoy: And then, allow the advisor to tailor that advice engine to the plan sponsor and the plan participants, depending on the demographics, depending on what the advisor's assessment is of the need.

[00:10:24] Steve McCoy: We talk about an engaged participant. Yes. Is an engaged participant more successful? And the answer is a hundred percent, yes, absolutely. There's higher deferral rates, higher average account balances, higher maximized match rates. Yes. Higher goal completion. So the whole idea is to do whatever you can using technology, of course, but to get the participant engaged.

[00:10:50] Steve McCoy: We built really robust technology that allows us to repurpose participant level data for the advisor so they can understand what the plan health metrics look like, but then take action, run communication campaigns against that data and then try and move the needle in terms of improved outcomes and performance.

[00:11:13] Jim Breen: Yeah, you hit the nail on the head. Providing education. Help drive engagement. Move the needle so that there is that action taken to provide those unique solutions as folks are looking to round out their retirement and provide those opportunities for them.

[00:11:30] Steve McCoy: And Jim, you hit it on the head. I think if there's one thing that we need to focus on as partners and as peers to the other providers that are trying to solve for this protected income need, it's really leaning into the information and the education around these solutions, I think we've got a ways to go and I'm excited, agreed to go on that journey and get there.

[00:11:54] Jim Breen: Agreed. And that's why we're so grateful that you would come to sit and have these conversations. I think it's so important, especially in our industry, that we have these open, honest conversations, right? Where we can dialogue about what we're trying to do to bring those solutions to bear and especially with a company Pacific Life, nearly those 160 years of financial strength and stability.

[00:12:15] Jim Breen: iJoin, a fantastic partner. How can we show up and just have that conversation so that folks watching this, there could be that information that even if a small amount that we're able to pass through. Then we've done our job. So very excited for the future and again, grateful that you were able to sit down with us today, Steve, and have this conversation.

[00:12:36] Steve McCoy: My pleasure, Jim. Thank you very much. Appreciate the partnership.

[00:12:39] Jim Breen: My pleasure. Thank you. And to our audience, I want to thank you for joining us on another episode of The Wave Strength. I wanna encourage you to head over to YouTube, Spotify, and Audible, and hit like and subscribe so that you can stay current with new content as it becomes available. We'll see you next time everyone.

[00:13:01] VO: This has been another episode of The Wave Strength presented by Pacific Life. Don't forget to catch us on YouTube and make sure to subscribe. Although this podcast is presented by Pacific Life, the opinions and views expressed are those of the hosts and participants, and do not necessarily reflect Pacific Life's views on any of the topics discussed.

[00:13:22] VO: Unless otherwise noted, Pacific Life is unaffiliated with any other individual or company mentioned. Pacific Life is a product provider. It is not a fiduciary, and therefore does not give advice or make recommendations regarding insurance or investment products, Pacific Life, its affiliates, its distributors, and respective representatives do not provide any employer-sponsored qualified plan, administrative services, or impartial advice about investments, and do not act in a fiduciary capacity for any plan.

[00:13:50] VO: Pacific Life refers to Pacific Life Insurance Company in its subsidiary Pacific Life & Annuity Company. Insurance products can be issued in all states except New York by Pacific Life Insurance Company, and in all states by Pacific Life & Annuity Company.

[00:14:04] VO: Product availability and features may vary by state. Each insurance company is solely responsible for the financial obligations accruing under the products at issues. This podcast was recorded on April 29th, 2025.

[00:14:24] Jim Breen: Thanks for joining us on today's show. We'd love to hear from you. Join the conversation below and leave a comment on your thoughts on what the industry can do better for participants as it pertains to Lifetime Income Solutions. And if you'd like more interesting content, click one of these links over here.