PLANADVISER - January/February 2022 - 40

managing provider relationships / Q&A
Keith J. Gredys
On Kidder Advisers' approach to personalized wellness
A
s founder of Kidder Advisers Inc. in Clive,
Iowa, Chairman and CEO Keith J. Gredys
wants his clients to know that his advisory
and consulting firm is there to answer all questions.
" That's where our branding of 'Ask Kidder' came
from, " he says. " If there are questions, you can
ask Kidder, and either we'll have the answer, or
we'll find someone who does. " Managing Editor
Judy Faust Hartnett spoke with Gredys about
customizing wellness for plan clients.
PLANADVISER: What comes to mind when you
think of personalized wellness?
Keith Gredys: Personalized wellness is a combination
of financial, physical and emotional/
mental wellness. At Kidder, we prefer to use
the term " financial health " because most
people understand and have a personal reference
point relating to " health " versus " wellness, "
which can be more abstract. While our
expertise is in financial health, we need to
understand where a client may be in terms of
physical or emotional health. Otherwise, how
do we prepare a personalized plan?
PA: Do you see the trend toward personalized
wellness growing, and, if so, why?
Gredys: Personalized wellness has always
existed and been utilized to some degree
by advisers. The " know your customer " rule,
for many higher-end retirement and wealth
advisers, incorporates personalized recommendations
that consider a holistic view of the
client's life. Looking back to my trust company
days, managing not just retirement plans and
investment accounts but also personal trusts,
we needed to understand the trust beneficiaries'
circumstances in order to make sound
discretionary fiduciary decisions. The retirement
and wealth adviser world needs to incorporate
more of the methods we used with
personal trusts in regard to client relationships.
For many, the issue with " personalized " is
profitability. Does personalized mean face-toface
communication, or is it the use of personalized
technology? How personalized is it for a
client with a small account balance? How does
the adviser charge? An asset-based fee may not
produce sufficient revenue. And an hourly fee
may be too costly for smaller-balance clients.
As a result, there's a limit on truly personalized
wellness
involving
human
interaction.
To reach profitability, a certain degree
of standardization and use of technology will
be necessary. That takes away from observing
cues and having that client open up and reveal
true needs and goals. So, there's a give and
take, and presumption that some personalized
wellness is better than none.
PA: How does retirement savings fit?
Gredys: It's part of the financial accumulation
stage of life to hopefully get you to the point at
which you're financially secure and enter the
decumulation stage, where you can choose to
retire or continue to work, as compared with
have to work. Each person/couple/family is
unique. There may be general standards that
can be followed, but they need to be adjusted to
meet the situation each person has.
PA: What tools and programs can be used to
provide personalized wellness?
Gredys: The starting point is getting someone
to create a balance sheet and an income and
expense statement, and then put down his
needs and wants or goals. From there, he can
determine how much savings he will need and
when and what additional services or products
are required to accomplish those goals. This
is what basic financial-planning-type services
cover. Various programs and apps are available,
some of which we have utilized. However, as
our clients are in the smaller-plan market, an
Excel spreadsheet may not be pretty, but it is
straightforward and can be adaptable.
In the defined contribution [DC]
space,
most recordkeepers have easy-to-use planning
tools that can incorporate DC plans and
outside assets, and also include budget planning.
This may be sufficient for the masses,
but most people need guidance on how to use
and interpret the results. From a wealth-planning
perspective, gap-analysis-tools as well as
life-insurance, disability-insurance and other
insurance needs analysis are also available.
I'm a proponent of KISS-keep it simple,
stupid. Clients' eyes can glaze over if you get
too complex. A big, comprehensive, personalized
wellness plan might be good one day, then
something happens that will change the whole
thing. We want to build flexibility into plans.
" The retirement
and wealth
adviser world
needs to
incorporate
more of the
methods we
used with
personal trusts
in regard
to client
relationships. "
40 | planadviser.com January-February 2022
http://www.planadviser.com
PLANADVISER - January/February 2022

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