I am incredibly excited to be here, as iPipeline’s very first Chief Product Officer. This is a pivotal moment for us as we embark on a journey to take innovation and data-driven insights to a new level while continuing our dedication and commitment to you, our BGA partners.
In this new role, my vision is to build a future together -- where our innovations enable you to harness the power of cutting-edge technologies, embrace bold ideas, and shift your clients’ experience through intelligent, connected workflows. We will leverage the immense data we have at our fingertips to showcase valuable insights into emerging market trends. This will enable us to anticipate the needs of the industry – and our BGA partners -- and personalize the experience more than ever before. The data will be our compass, guiding us towards the creation of products that will truly resonate with our partners.
As Chief Product Officer, I will be leading our strategic vision and roadmap for our product portfolio. I bring strong industry experience in driving strategic growth and accelerating innovation to this role, having worked for several technology firms, including Applied Systems, the leading global provider of cloud-based insurance technology, and Ceridian Dayforce, a global human capital management leader.
A key part of my role will be to focus on implementing change in response to the customer, which includes listening to our partners, hearing your voices, understanding your challenges, and then solving your problems. The voice of our customer will be at the heart of everything we do as we drive product innovation and deliver the types of exceptional products you’ve known us for, all while fostering growth and profitability for your company.
I look forward to working together, as we set new standards in the industry and continue to develop products that will secure financial futures for decades to come.
I invite you to connect with me on LinkedIn or drop me a note to share how we can better help you.
Thank you for your support as we enter an exciting new chapter, together!
Thank you,
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Katie Kahl
CPO, iPipeline
Q: How did you get into your current role?
A: I have been in this business for five years. Prior to my role here at Highland, I was in the military for 14 years. After serving, I went back to school on the GI Bill and got my degree. Then I started a landscape design company, but I wasn’t sure if that was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. As I thought through my options, my dad, who is a financial advisor, introduced me to a connection at Highland Capital, and the rest is history.
Q: What does a typical day look like for you?
A: My day looks different now than it did my first two years. The first two years I put in a lot of time learning from Senior VPs in my role by shadowing them. I would call 80 to100 people a day to set up meetings for those VPs, and then I would sit in on the meetings. Now, I focus on my own target market: military veterans who are now financial advisors. I still make a lot of calls and set up a lot of meetings, but I now have a great referral base on which I’ve built my business. This allows me to spend time outside the office, meeting with my advisors face-to- face - something I really enjoy.
Q: Annuities are hot right now due to the interest rate environment. Beyond interest rates, why would you recommend purchasing an annuity?
A: The annuities that I specifically work with, Fixed and Index, tend to lean more toward the conservative client who may have a short runway when it comes to their “working years.” I like to refer to this runway as the "retirement redzone," which is 5 years before and 5 years after retirement. When you are in this category, you can’t afford to take a dramatic loss because you don’t have the time or income generation to make up for those downturns, like we saw in 2022. This is why we use Fixed and Index Annuities to lower the risk in a client’s portfolio. Even though you may not see those double-digit returns, you have eliminated all downside risk, and you have the ability to still capture decent upside returns in the market - all while protecting that nest egg that you worked so hard to achieve.
Q: What trends in annuities did you see last year and what are you seeing this year?
A: Last year, we saw a lot of market volatility, which made it difficult to keep up with the products and rates changing so frequently. Oftentimes, by the time a case was designed and everything was ready to sign, interest rates would change. We really had to be mindful of the timing in 2022. The interest rate environment is a little less volatile in 2023. Interest rates are still high, but they aren’t increasing every few weeks. This helps us to position products without experiencing the timing issues we saw in 2022.
Q: If you had $100,000, what kind of annuity would you purchase?
A: Well, I am not a typical annuity purchaser due to my age, but if I were to purchase an annuity for myself right now, I would go with a buffered annuity. A buffered annuity gives you market exposure with a buffer on the downside.
Q: If you had $100,000 to spend frivolously, what would you spend it on?
A: I’m huge into watersports, so I would probably put a bunch of it towards a nice wake boarding boat.
Pete Buxton
VP, Senior Advisor Consultant, Signature Annuity at Highland Capital Brokerage
We’ve heard a lot about the Department of Labor 2024 Fiduciary Rule. What is the current status of the DOL rule?
As we learned on July 27, a Texas court issued a stay on the matter. This now completely halts the enforcement of the new ruling, which means that as of now, BGAs are not required to comply with the outlines of the fiduciary rule as it stands.
The proposed rule has caused much uproar in the industry as earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) aimed to take action intended to further protect retirement investors. This rule change would expand who is considered a fiduciary under the current Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).
It now appears that BGAs, advisors, and institutions will no longer have to worry about this ruling – at least for quite some time.
To read more on this topic:
- ThinkAdvisor: DOL Fiduciary Rule Halted by Texas Court
- InsuranceNewsNet: Second stay granted to defendants suing the DOL over its fiduciary rule
- Investment News: Second court blocks all aspects of DOL’s fiduciary rule
What exactly is this proposed rule and why is it important?
This latest version of the DOL fiduciary rule aimed to provide stronger protections for all retirement investors, along with several new provisions including an expanded definition of a fiduciary, strengthened conflict of interest provisions, increased transparency and disclosure requirements, broader applicability to accounts and products, and updated compliance requirements.
The rule was targeted to go into effect on September 23, 2024, and would have ensured that financial advisors and brokers act in the best interest of their clients when providing investment advice on their current retirement accounts, with the overall intent of improving the quality of investment advice from investment professionals – without worrying about their own financial gain.
How would this proposed rule impact BGAs?
This ruling would have several significant impacts to the BGA – and would hold BGAs to a higher standard -- similar to the one that exists for broker-dealers and their clients. The proposed rule would mean that BGAs would now fall under the fiduciary standard of providing investment advice.
Simply put, it would now ensure that you are recommending products that truly align with a clients’ best suitability. This rule would also require additional compliance requirements, enhanced enforcement, and significant penalties to make sure that BGAs adhere to these new standards.
Those in the industry – including those who attended our roundtable discussion at our Connections 2024 conference in Orlando in May – expressed concerns about this ruling. Concerns included that it would lead to increased compliance costs and higher regulatory burdens, as many insurance agents were not previously considered fiduciaries. There was the potential that these higher costs would be passed on to customers, which would then limit the access of financial advice for lower-income customers.
iPipeline remains committed to our BGA community and our vision of securing people’s financial futures through delivering innovative solutions that simplify, transform, and connect the industry.
We will continue to stay informed about this ruling and share any developments.
Adam Ducorsky
AVP, Product Management, iPipeline
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Mark Your Calendars!
Look for iPipeline at these upcoming industry events:
NAILBA 43 Annual Conference
Nov 18 - 20 | Washington, DC
Connections 2025
May 5-7 | Orlando, Florida
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