I’ve gone back into collecting sports cards because I need hobbies these days since I’m no longer involved in my synagogue and one of the interesting things I’ve discovered are something called card breaks. A sports card dealer buys a case of cards and sports card collectors may pick a certain team or player through an auction or outright purchase. For collectors and even investor, this is a cost effective way of purchasing cards. To promote trust that everything is on the up and up, these card breaks are broadcast live on YouTube or another website. I’ve used one card dealer because it seems everything is upfront, their costs are low, and they are just nice to work with. Above all, there is trust.
Another dealer/card breaker made the run on all these sports card scammer pages because based on a video of a football card break of his, he clearly substituted a card out. That means he found a very rare print of a card and decided it was too good for one of the customers who was entitled to it. He eventually admitted his error (despite not being honest on what the card might have been) and decided to leave the card breaking business. Did he really have choice to leave? He didn’t because it’s over for him anyway because no levelheaded card collector would ever trust someone like him again.
As a retirement plan provider, what you do for your plan sponsor client is predicated on trust because you have access to the clients and you may have access to the retirement plan’s assets. Anything you do that questions trust that a plan sponsor may have in you is something that will be catastrophic to your business. I’ve seen many a plan provider falter because they lost the trust and faith of their clients. They lost so much business that they had to close their doors. Reputation takes years to build and you can destroy it all in just one moment.
