Protection and the Future of Retirement Planning with Tim Seifert

[00:00:21] Tim Seifert: Anytime I have the opportunity to spend time with you and your listening audience, it's gonna be a great day and hopefully a great year in 2026 for all of us.

And Doug, congratulations to you and the team on your success. I take a look at your followers, I listen to the shows, simply outstanding 2025, and I just wanted to say thanks for the friendship and congratulations.

[00:00:45] Doug Heikkinen: Well, thank you. And speaking of last year, what did we learn last year and how have those lessons shaped our perspective and approach to this year?

[00:00:56] Tim Seifert: Yeah, what a great question to start off, because we're into 2026, but we have to reflect, right, on 2025. And I would say, Doug, for this question, really two things. Number one is absolutely strong market demand. And number two, like you and I have talked about, is protection is a growth business. And so let's talk about this market demand.

I'll start with a quote that you and I have shared back and forth and that's the idea of leaders see more than others see, Doug, and leaders see before others see. And we've been talking about this for the last, how many years, but Peak 65 is here. It's happening right now, and the demand for our products in 2025, comes as no surprise, was fantastic.

Not only did Lincoln do great, but the industry did great. And why? Because the value proposition of annuities remain strong. And Doug, it is not going away. So that would be number one. Number two would be this idea around protection truly is a growth business. Portfolio protection is a growth business not only today, but for the foreseeable future.

And I would urge our listening audience, if you haven't committed to annuities as an asset class, now is the time to do so. And it's just not for annuities, it's for life insurance, it's for long-term care and it's all part of that big equation. And as we think about, according to Lincoln's research and why protection is a growth business, is we're proud to report that 72% report that when you put protection into the portfolio, 72% loyalty to their financial professionals increases. So loyalty, in other words, client retention. 65%, Doug, express satisfaction with their financial professional when you add protection to the portfolio. And 64% have said that they actually are not only satisfied and highly satisfied, but Doug, they're willing to give you referrals.

So here's the big question for us, that not only was in '25, but here in '26 and beyond is this: Would you like greater client satisfaction? Would you like more referrals? Would you like more assets held away? If you do, like you and I have talked about, add protection to the portfolio,

[00:03:38] Doug Heikkinen: What's it like to lead annuity distribution for a large trusted provider like Lincoln Financial during these turbulent times.

[00:03:48] Tim Seifert: What a great question, Doug. You know, as I reflect on 2025 and look into 2026, my heart is full, Doug. It's full of gratitude, it's full of pride, and really it's full of optimism about the future.

First, gratitude. A big thank you to all of our financial professionals who know, who like, and who trust Lincoln Financial. This pride and how proud I am of our product manufacturing, how proud I am of our service and operational discipline, how proud I am of our wholesalers and distribution expertise.

It means more financial professionals are doing more business across our entire product offering. And then lastly, Doug, as we look into 2026, like we talked about, it is optimism. You know, optimism is truly a force multiplier, and the demographics that we talked about is a massive tailwind, for not only Lincoln, but it's for the industry, and all the financial professionals we serve, who are the servant leaders to the clients that they serve. But Doug, let's take a second, and you also mentioned turbulent times. Can I double click a little bit on that one, right? It's, Doug, uncertainty. There's just a ton of uncertainty out there, and so it's during times of uncertainty that you and I have talked about in the past where financial professionals who understand the Rule of Ate deliver quite honestly just better outcomes.

So remember the Rule of Ate, it's three words that end in a-t-e. Number one is they communicate. But Doug, it's that old expression is many communicate but few connect. The best of the best asset gatherers not only communicate, but they connect deeply with the clients that they serve.

Number two is they educate. And we are so proud of some of the resources we provide with regards to client education, one of which is our Market Intel Exchange. You know, Doug, it's now over 25,000 financial professionals receive that. And in that is great talk tracks and great educational pieces to help our financial professionals educate clients on the matters that concern them most.

And then lastly is you can communicate and you can educate, but we've gotta activate. We've gotta take massive action to provide certainty in uncertain times. Leading to what? Greater satisfaction and greater satisfied clients.

[00:06:48] Doug Heikkinen: So what does today's environment, and you touched on this a little bit, but what does today's environment mean for financial professionals? It's so turbulent. There's uncertainty. All these questions are out there.

[00:07:01] Tim Seifert: So this is where we get into this idea of, and I'm big onto this, is casting vision. Is studying what we call the mega trends.

So what are the mega trends that are gonna shape the financial future of this great country? So, Doug, the first one is, we've gotta talk about this. I truly believe for the next three reasons I'm about ready to state, that it is the greatest asset gathering opportunities of our life. Three reasons why.

Number one is cash. As you know, it's all over the press, there's more cash on the sidelines today than that has ever been in this great country. It's over $7 trillion. And we picked up, Doug, $700 billion just in 2025, according to morning Morningstar. So it's cash on the sidelines. Are they there because they love the returns?

Maybe so, maybe not. However, there's a lot of people that potentially say, you know, rates may start going down. But they're really there because they like the safety of principle. The safety of capital. We've got solutions to that. Next, I would say the trend of why this is the greatest asset gathering opportunity of our lifetimes is a statistic from our friends at Fidelity.

Doug, do you realize at Fidelity today. There are more than 600,000 plan participants with account balances over a million dollars. It's the highest it's ever been. Guess what the average age is. 59. They're replacing what? That magical retirement. We know what they're looking for, which I'm sure we're gonna get into later on, right?

But they're looking for protect and grow capital. Protect and grow income. Protect and grow legacy, right? They're looking to meet with our financial advisors to say, what do I do next to achieve those goals? So that's reason number two I'm so optimistic about the next five years being the greatest asset gathering opportunity.

And then lastly is unprotected equity. The equity markets have skyrocketed to a value of $71.4 trillion. Unprotected equity is at its all time highs. Household allocations are at its all time high. The question is, as they go into retirement, how much of that do you want to protect? So they're the reasons why megatrend number one is, it's opportunity.

Megatrend number two is another thing that we thought about, you and I in our side conversations, and that's this consolidation wave in wealth management. By 2034, according to McKinsey, they estimate that 110,000 advisors representing 42% of the industry's aum, will retire, creating a shortage of advisors in America today.

And we know that advisors time is one of the most precious resources, and it will be scarce. So advisors are gonna be managing more complexity, and we believe they're going to lean harder in the wholesaling and distribution relationships that they have today. So it's a big opportunity for financial professionals to grow their book.

Especially younger and upcoming financial professionals who have the opportunity to capture new clients from industry consolidation. They're the two big mega trends as I see it today.

[00:10:58] Doug Heikkinen: We talked about the role of annuities at the outset in the portfolio today, but let's just dig in a little deeper of why are they more important than ever.

[00:11:08] Tim Seifert: I mean, they're back in the center of retirement conversations for many reasons we discussed. We talk about planning for life, not just planning for money. In other words, for investors who are working with our financial professionals, it means creating a plan for life, covering estate planning, healthcare planning, and the freedom to enjoy retirement.

The other thing I think about is retirement expectations versus, call it reality. Older adults are healthier, they're more active, and they're living longer. Doug, here's some more research from Lincoln. We found that 77% of Americans in their fifties and their sixties see retirement as a time to pursue their passions, but only 11% have planned or budget for it.

So think about that. And then lastly, I think about this thing called the spending gap. Many retirees spend way too cautiously out of the fear of outliving their savings. The Alliance for Lifetime Income reports that only one in 20 retirees actively spend down their assets while two in three preserve them, often at the cost of enjoying retirement.

Think about that. What annuities do is they give us the permission, through protection, to go spend. Go spend, and enjoy your retirement.

[00:12:50] Doug Heikkinen: Taking all that we've discussed into consideration, what advice do you have for financial professionals not only to adapt, but create opportunities for lasting impact?

[00:13:02] Tim Seifert: Great question. I would say this is, this idea as we think about why the annuities continue to grow is it's protect and grow your capital. It's protect and grow your income. It's protect and grow your legacy. And when you do that, you move from excellence to indispensable. In other words, your question, how do we make the biggest impact, is we ask ourselves this question, what makes me irreplaceable to my clients?

And we start with life first conversations that we talked about. I mean, go beyond the money and focus on goals, focus on health, focus on legacy, and focus on lifestyle. And then next we come in and we act with purpose. In other words, my guidance there is be a great communicator, be a great educator, and then activate consistently to deliver certainty during those uncertain times.

To be truly the trusted advisor. And so, Doug, we have a new program at Lincoln that helps bring this all together. And we use sports as a metaphor. And the new program is called Becoming Necessary. It's learning about the winning mindset of some of the elite athletes out there, like Jalen Hurtz, like Aaron Rogers, like the legendary coach Nick Saban, and take their learnings and say, how do we apply their insights to becoming essential to your clients. On becoming the necessary one to give you an edge in 2026 and beyond.

[00:15:00] Doug Heikkinen: Tim, last one for you. You don't get to be in business as long as Lincoln Financial has without looking around the corner. So what's next for Lincoln?

[00:15:09] Tim Seifert: You know, Doug, we look around every corner. All the time. Right, my friend? So we talked a little bit about this. It's not only the corner. We look into next year and the years after that because we're always thinking about vision.

Where have we been? But more importantly, where are we going? And what comes up over and over and over again is we never stop innovating. Every day. It's the voice of the customers we serve. It's the voice of the financial professionals that we serve, and every day we're pushing the boundaries to deliver more for our financial professionals and the clients that they serve.

You know Doug, Lincoln's now 120 years strong and in many, many ways, we're just getting started. Our history is the foundation, but the future is what we're really, really excited about. As the need for income, as the need for wealth transfer continues to grow in this great country, Lincoln plans to expand both of these value propositions within our fixed indexed annuity offerings this year.

We also plan to bring out the NASDAQ Priva Index, our capital lock account, and the Capital Group Dividend Value ETF to the broader FIA marketplace. You know, in December, Doug, lincoln introduced for the first time ever, the first Capital Group ETF index account option for an FIA. That's right. With Lincoln and Capital Group, we introduced the one year Capital Group Dividend Value, ticker symbol CGDV, ETF participation account. It's currently available only with Lincoln OptiBlend. By pairing Capital Group's active management expertise with Lincoln's FIA, our investors have the unique opportunity to seek outperformance while maintaining a hundred percent downside protection.

We're excited to continue to build upon the success of our decade long partnership with the Capital Group. So Doug, while I've spotlighted a few of these, just know it's one of many planned innovations that we will be bringing to market this year.

[00:17:49] Doug Heikkinen: That's fantastic. Tim, again, thank you for being with us today. It's always a pleasure spending a few minutes with you.

[00:17:57] Tim Seifert: Thank you my friend, and I thank your listening audience and let's make it a great 2026. Cheers, my friend.

[00:18:06] Doug Heikkinen: For sure. To learn more about Lincoln Financial, please visit LincolnFinancial.com. We are on all social media platforms @Advisorpedia. Please give us a follow. For our producer Tory Miller and everyone at Advisorpedia. Thank you so much for listening.