00:03 Jeff
Well, we’re going to talk about the upcoming SPARK Forum. It’s coming up in mid-November, I should say. Joining me to help break it all down. Tim Rouse is the executive director of the SPARK Institute. Rachel Wecker is with T-Row Price. Chris Wyrath is with Morningstar, and they’re collectively co-chairs of the SPARK Forum agenda Committee. Ladies, gentlemen, great to see you. Thanks for joining us on the program this morning.
00:27 Rachel Wecker
Thanks for having us.
00:28 Tim Rouse
Thanks for having us.
00:31 Jeff
Well, Tim, I want to start with you because the Spark forum every year has a theme and you and the team have worked real hard. What is the theme for this year’s Spark forum?
00:52 Tim Rouse
Well, uh Jeff, I want to uh first start by thanking uh Rachel and Chris for all the work that they’ve done to develop the agenda and the theme. And our theme for this year is from first dollar to last payout and beyond.
01:14 Jeff
So Tim, that begs the question, why that theme and why this year?
01:22 Tim Rouse
Well, it reflects the expanding role our members play across a person’s financial life. Uh, that now starts at birth with the new Trump accounts and continues through workplace savings, moves into lifetime income, um, once the paycheck stops, and extends to the transfer of wealth, uh, from one generation to the next. Uh, the the industry is no longer just uh, about accumulation. It has it has to now work across the full arc of an individual’s life.
02:12 Jeff
And, you know, Tim, I mean, the the membership of Spark continues to change over time. It’s adapting to the same uh issues that are going on in the industry. How has the membership continued to evolve?
02:40 Tim Rouse
Uh it definitely has and with the forum, uh what began as a record keeper focused event has broadened with the industry. So, six years ago, our board recognized the need to have advisors in the room and it created 50 scholarships so that they could join us and share their perspectives. Uh, we have also seen a significant increase in TPAs attending our forum. Uh and as you would expect, Jeff, a growing number of of uh both Fintech providers uh are coming to the forum as well as uh alternative investment providers.
03:23 Jeff
Yeah, that’s great. I mean, this is the last conference, industry conference of the year I should say. So it puts a nice bow tie on all the goings on in the retirement industry. Chris, it’s great to meet you. I don’t think I’ve ever had you on the program, so it’s great to have you in Morning star. Um, let let’s talk about the the forum from your perspective. You worked on the agenda. So, what excites you about this year’s forum?
04:00 Chris Wyrath
Yeah, thanks, thanks for having me. First of all, it’s nice to meet you too. Um, I think what most excites me, there’s kind of two things is one is who’s going to be in the room, you know, similar to what Tim was referencing all the different folks that we have coming in. We’ve brought together some of the sharpest minds in the industry and they’re people who are really shaping how retirement plans are designed and delivered and they’ll be sharing what they’re seeing kind of first hand. Um, I’m also sec secondly, really excited about what this that the agenda was really built by our members. So we listened to the feedback from last year, both on what people really wanted to talk about, but also the format and how they wanted to actually receive that information. and they shape the topics, those that that feedback shape the topics in the format, um, with really providing a lot of room for real discussion as opposed to just like sitting there and listening to it. So, you know, this is really the member’s agenda, um, and it reflects really what the members told us matters most to them at the right now.
05:08 Jeff
And Rachel, it’s always great to see you. Full disclosure, Rachel and I used to work together when I was a record keeper at T-Row Price. So it’s always great to have her and I haven’t seen her in a bit, but always great to reconnect. Um, Rachel, what topics should uh members expect to hear about?
05:27 Rachel Wecker
Yeah, it’s good to see you again. Um, and thank you for having me. Um, I think you hit the nail on the head there in terms of the amount of things that we could be talking about. And when I think about my time in the industry, and I think my first spark was probably around the same time as yours. Um, our industry is in such a moment of change and this agenda is an opportunity to really unpack the implications of some of those things. So, I think about recognizing the complex financial lives that people are juggling, as Tim mentioned from, you know, birth all the way through accumulation and then to distribution. Um, the different roles, um, and participants in the industry and the ecosystem today, relative to many years ago, and all of the new opportunities from an investment standpoint, and then just layer on top of that all of the technology advances going on. So, I think it’s a really exciting time. We’ve identified a number of topics to really understand the implications of those changes. So the audience is going to have an opportunity to understand, um, what’s going on from a regulatory and legislative standpoint. There’s been a lot of activity in the retirement and retirement adjacent space. So we’ve got some great experts to explore that. Um, we’ll really be unpacking the opportunities and considerations related to AI. There’s a tremendous amount of excitement and there’s also a lot of really serious questions that we need to make sure we’re also evaluating at the same time. So that’ll be on the agenda. Um, and, um, we’re going to be, uh, revisiting some familiar topics like retirement income, like, uh, the leverage of alternative investments. We’ve talked talking about some of these things for a while, um, but we want to make sure that, um, everyone has an opportunity to understand sort of where they’re changing and where do we see directionally us heading to? And that’s really just getting started.
06:40 Jeff
You know, Chris, a lot of these topics are consistent with a lot of other industry events. I mean, you know, these are not kind of newer topics, but I guess my question is, what can attendees expect when they that’s going to be different when they come here to the forum?
07:01 Chris Wyrath
Yeah, I mean the topics, you’re right, the topics are are are ones that are that people can expect because they’re the ones that are really shaping our industry, right? The agenda has really broad industry trends and focus that’s by design. So really, no matter where you sit in the overall retirement ecosystem, there’s going to be something there for you to actually to gain value from. The difference where I feel that the Spark forum agenda is is that the depth. So a lot of the events really cover these topics at the headline level. Um and then at the forum we’re really have the time and the expertise in the room to dig deeper. So what’s actually changing? What does that mean in practice? And then where are still where are the open questions and what do we need to kind of what do we need to do to order to address those? So because we can we have the people the appropriate people in the room, um we can really dig deep on those topics, um so that you can see exactly what we need to do. And I think that that’s that’s different than what you see at other industry events.
07:54 Rachel Wecker
Can I just like to add one thing there and I completely agree with everything Chris is saying. I think additionally, when you think about the wide range of constituencies we we have, we’re able to represent those different perspectives on the stage. So we’re also going to be able to explore some of these topics from different standpoints, and I think that’s going to be a really exciting part of the, the sessions.
08:15 Jeff
Well, Rachel, I want to uh kind of ask you the same question and conclude with with you. Uh well actually I have another question for Tim, but I want to ask you, what are you uh most excited about when it comes to this year’s forum and obviously you helped draft the agenda. So what what kind of picks uh you know, stands out to you?
08:52 Rachel Wecker
Well, I think I would go just um, a little bit different direction there. In addition to learning from all of the the experts that we’re going to have on stage, I’m really excited about the opportunity to reconnect and to with peers. I’ve been in the industry a long time, but when you think about the amount of changes and the new players, it’s such a great opportunity to be meeting folks from from new players in the industry as well. So I’m, I think that’s a really another thing I’m looking forward to in the few weeks that we’ll be there.
09:22 Jeff
And Tim, I I want to kind of finish up with you. Um, you know, it’s uh mid October. so there’s about a I don’t know, less than a little less than a month. People can still enroll uh to attend. So uh how do they do that?
09:47 Tim Rouse
They can and they should go to our website to do that. Um we are uh well over the numbers that um we’re well over the numbers that we have uh from last year. Uh but there’s um there’s still opportunity for for for folks to uh to join us. So, thank you.
10:11 Jeff
And uh and and it does take a village to put this together. You have a great team, Marlene, Kim, they do a great job to help to put this together 24 hours.
10:24 Tim Rouse
No, very thankful for all their help.
10:26 Jeff
Yeah.
10:28 Jeff
Well, certainly a great event. Really appreciate all of you coming on the program. Tim Rouse, Chris Wyrath, Rachel Wecker, it’s great to see you. Thanks for joining us. Good luck at Spark and we look forward to having you back on the program again very soon.
10:43 Rachel Wecker
Thanks. It’s good to see you.
10:44 Chris Wyrath
It’s good to see you.
10:44 Tim Rouse
Thanks, Jeff.
10:48 Jeff
Well, thanks for watching and don’t forget we’re back again tomorrow morning with another great expert and another great topic. You can tune in right here Monday through Sunday at 7:30 a.m. Eastern Time. And don’t forget to subscribe to our daily newsletter, the morning pulse for all the news in one place delivered directly to your email box. Check it out at our website.