Boundless energy helps Wilford "Will" Fuller, lead division of Lincoln Financial Group
Growing up in the South, Wilford "Will" Fuller, 44, who now commands a hefty salary as head of several divisions of Lincoln Financial Group, worked in a dye house, shoveling athletic socks into bleach vats.
Growing up in the South, Wilford "Will" Fuller, 44, who now commands a hefty salary as head of several divisions of Lincoln Financial Group, worked in a dye house, shoveling athletic socks into bleach vats.
"We'd throw them into these big walk-in dryers," Fuller said. "We'd step into the dryer in hundred-degree heat and pitchfork" them out.
Fuller now runs Lincoln's $124 billion annuity division and leads the entire company's sales operation, distributing Lincoln's retirement products through finance companies and advisers.
Question: So you went from socks to SOX, (Sarbanes-Oxley Act regulations). How did you get into finance?
Answer: I had an aunt who, in her later years, and really as she was dying, set aside money, $2,000, for myself and my three brothers in a mutual fund account. I had never had any savings before. I would get the statement and I could dial the 1-800 number, hit a couple of buttons and I could hear my balance. 'It's now $2,500.' I got really interested in investing.
Q: So was it about the money?
A: This coincided [with] when I started my business major. And all of a sudden, concepts made sense. I went from not having confidence in my academic ability to making extraordinary grades and doing it because the concepts came easily. All of a sudden, the math that was difficult became business finance, which made sense.
Q: You make your living selling financial products to fund retirement. Why are people so unprepared for retirement?
A: First, it's hard. It's not like you can look at previous generations and say, 'We'll do it like Mom and Dad did.' Oftentimes, Mom and Dad had a pension plan, a guaranteed retirement income. I think the education around what being prepared for retirement meant hasn't kept up with the need. Then, lastly, it's uncomfortable.
Q: People need to save more.
A: Even if they have enough money for retirement, they're unprepared for what the risks in retirement actually are. Things in your control are items like your lifestyle. The things out of your control are noncontrollable impacts [of] a downturn in the stock market or another recession or the unexpected costs of long-term health care.
Q: What's your strategy?
A: I take a more traditional financial-planning approach to investing - setting goals (college funding, retirement) and saving to these outcomes. My investment strategy is somewhat conservative, having experienced the dot-com bubble burst and latest financial crisis downturn. I'm outcome driven vs. investment return driven.
Q: Where do you invest?
A: I like to own Lincoln variable annuities, Choice PLUS and American Legacy, for growth with downside protection and guaranteed retirement income. I own mutual funds and index funds that are diverse, like American Funds, and hold stock in our company.
Q: You manage $124 billion in annuity assets. People trust you with their futures. Does the responsibility freak you out?
A: It's not just $124 billion. It's the dentist in Burlington, N.C.'s retirement account. It's the Philadelphia policeman's retirement account. I wake up every morning energized about that responsibility.
Q: You use a standing desk.
A: I never sit down. The only time I'm sitting down is when I'm sitting down with you. It's awesome. I have more energy. I used to have back pain and I don't have [it] anymore.
WILL FULLER
Titles: President, Lincoln Financial Group Annuity Solutions, Lincoln Financial Distributors, Lincoln Financial Network.
Home: Bryn Mawr.
Family: Wife, Jennifer; daughters Madeleine, 15, Olivia, 12.
Favorite TV Show: "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia."
Diploma: The Citadel.
Childhood ambition: "My dream was to be an infantry officer."
What happened: "I graduated in 1993, President Clinton's first year in office. He downsized the military."
Even so: Works out at Platoon Fitness.
Point of pride: Can lift 300 pounds, five times in a set, five sets. EndText
LINCOLN FINANCIAL GROUP
Where: Radnor.
Ownership: Publicly traded as Lincoln National Corp., LNC.
Dollars: 2014 net income of $1.4 billion on $13.7 billion in operating revenues.
Employees: 9,100; 950 locally. 2,000 work for Fuller, 400 locally.
Sales outlets: 63,000 advisers and adviser groups, 8,500 registered representatives.
Customers: 17 million, 900,000 with annuities.
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MORE ONLINE
Will Fuller on planning for retirement, decade by decade. www.philly.com/jobbing
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215-854-2769
@JaneVonBergen