Nevin's Data "Points"

Things are—slowly—getting back to normal. Planes are filling up, commutes are slowing with increased traffic volumes, and in-person meetings are back underway.  And while for many readers things have been back to “normal” for some time, I’ve had the opportunity over the past two months to participate in three separate advisor events that were the first such in-person gatherings since the onset of the pandemic. We’ve learned not only how to navigate things like virtual committee meetings and education sessions, but found that in many cases those platforms could be even more effective in extending our reach to individuals who might not have made it to an in-person session, or who might have been more receptive to those messages in the wake of COVID concerns about health and job security.  While we’re not quite “done” with COVID (and perhaps we never will be), we’ve learned a lot of valuable lessons. The notion that we have to be in a physical office to be produc...

 One of  my  favorite holiday movies is “Planes, Trains, & Automobiles”—but who thought so many would have to live it?  The movie I’m referring to is that 1987 John Hughes classic starring Steve Martin and John Candy as a pair of travelers (Martin an advertising exec, Candy a travelling shower curtain ring salesman—and you think  you  have a hard job) trying to get home for Thanksgiving. There are any number of misadventures along the way—involving the aforementioned means of transportation on the trip from New York to Chicago… via Wichita and St. Louis.  Well, a couple of weeks back several hundred advisors found themselves reliving that experience as a series of unrelated events emerged to thwart their scheduled travel to the NAPA 401(k) Summit in Tampa. It started early the day before the event with a strike by Alaska Airlines pilots, by mid-morning  Southwest Airlines  was experiencing ““intermittent performance issues f...

Earlier this year I went to an event in our nation’s capital called “Awesome Con.” As event names go, it’s a bit corny, but if it evokes a reference to Comic-Con, well that’s the point. Awesome Con is a mixture of cosplay (dressing up like your favorite comic book, gaming, or anime characters), celebrity meet-and-greets, and forums where like-minded individuals can not only learn, but debate plot lines, scientific trends that affirm (or refute) science fiction, and sit in on panels by some of the industry’s leading minds (and artists). No, I didn’t dress up – but I very much enjoyed getting to meet (and get autographs from) Marvel Comic’s Stan the Man Lee (see photo), Doctor #10 (David Tennant), and Eliza Dushku (of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame), among others). To be honest, I didn’t attend my first – the first – 401(k) Summit with that kind of anticipation. I had accepted an invitation to speak at an event – not that unusual – but at what was then a pretty unusu...