About Gary Bhojwani
Gary Bhojwani, CEO of CNO Financial Group, has discussed the company's focus on middle-income Americans approaching retirement. He stated that 11,000 people turn 65 each day and that this demographic needs to prepare for retirement regardless of economic conditions. Bhojwani said that CNO's clients typically have total assets between $100,000 and $200,000, which he contrasted with larger companies that focus on those with assets over $1 million. He described CNO's distribution model as using face-to-face agents, phone, and online channels, and said the company provides both its own and third-party products based on consumer need.
Bhojwani has commented on the sustainability of Social Security, stating that he personally believes changes such as raising the eligibility age or reducing benefits are likely, as the program was not designed to fund people for 20 to 30 years of retirement. He noted that surveys of baby boomers have shown a preference for guaranteed returns over higher potential returns with market risk, and that annuities are the only products that can guarantee lifetime income by pooling longevity risk. Bhojwani described CNO's investment portfolio as heavily invested in bonds and said the life insurance industry is the largest buyer of corporate debt in the United States.
Source: AI-verified profile updated from Gary Bhojwani's recent appearances.
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Transcript (13 segments)
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Interviewer0:10
Joining me today on NYSE Floor Talk is Gary Bhojwani, he is the CEO at CNO Financial Group. Gary, fantastic to have you here. Thanks for joining me.
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Gary Bhojwani0:18
Thank you. Thanks for having us.
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Interviewer0:20
So Gary, it was a year ago that you were at the New York Stock Exchange for your Investor Day and you rang the opening bell. So tell me, how have things progressed since then?
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Gary Bhojwani0:27
We love the opportunity to come to the NYSE and talk about our story. The focus of the Investor Day last year was to help our clients and investors understand that we were pivoting CNO to a growth story. That was really the kickoff at last year's Investor Day to show that we were moving into this growth phase. To be honest, we've just been incredibly fortunate. Our associates, our agents, our partners have all done a wonderful job kicking this growth story into high gear. We've had absolutely a wonderful year, particularly the last quarter. We had some of the best operating metrics we've ever had on a wide variety of frames. We've just had a fantastic year, and it really started at that last Investor Day, so we were so pleased to do that.
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Interviewer1:11
Now tell me, what are some of the trends that you're seeing that are impacting your customers?
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Gary Bhojwani1:15
As you would imagine, during the pandemic people really started to pay attention to things like life insurance and health insurance, so we certainly saw an uptick in demand coming out of those periods. Since then, people have gotten back to more of what I would say are some of the traditional or historical concerns: being worried about retirement and really trying to think about how they're going to plan for that part of their life. There's a good mix of worrying about not living long enough or dying too soon, and then living too long and outliving their money. Both of those things are opportunities that we have to help with.
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Interviewer1:51
Now Gary, tell me what are some of the key initiatives that CNO and your consumer division are focused on?
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Gary Bhojwani1:56
In our consumer division, we really differentiate ourselves in three basic ways. First, we focus exclusively on middle-income America. Our whole mission is to secure the future of middle-income America, so we focus specifically on that demographic. Second, we have a really unique distribution model where we provide our products virtually over the phone, online, or with agents. We have direct consumer businesses, but we really look to our agents to bring home that last mile of service. Finally, what makes us unique in this space is we're not worried about whether we manufactured the product or distributed somebody else's. If our consumers need it, we want to provide it. We have a pretty broad product portfolio. They are competitively priced, the benefits meet the target market needs, and they're really focused on that middle American consumer. Those three things come together to give us a very unique value proposition. As we've seen from the growth results over the last year or two, the consumers have really responded to it, so we're very pleased with that.
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Interviewer3:01
Now tell me more about your worksite business and strategies.
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Gary Bhojwani3:06
The way we're organized, we have two basic business areas. The first we just talked about, consumer, where we provide products and services to the consumers directly. The second business division we have is our worksite division, where we provide our products and services through the employer. We service the employer and the employee. Our products and services break down into a handful of categories. We provide the actual insurance products that they can get through their employer. We also provide some technology to the employer to administer those things. The third piece is advice and advocacy that we can provide to the employer and the employee in terms of how to use these benefits and how to work with all these products.
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Interviewer3:44
Finally Gary, tell me what's next for CNO?
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Gary Bhojwani3:47
We want to continue on this growth trajectory. Our mission is to secure the future of middle-income America. We want to stay focused on that. We see a growing need. We see 11,000 Americans turn 65 every day, and the problems or the opportunities that those Americans face can't be solved by the government. They can't be solved by the employer. It's really going to be increasingly on us as Americans to solve these problems for ourselves. The opportunity we have as these folks are turning 65 and living longer is to help them solve these problems and prepare for that retirement. We've got an incredible opportunity ahead of us, and we're really looking forward to it.
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Interviewer4:23
Well Gary, it's been wonderful to talk with you. Thanks for joining me on Floor Talk today.
