Episode #25
The Fiduciary Advantage: How to Build Trust by Disclosing Everything
Why Ethos Benefits Discloses Everything In this interview, Adam Smith, Plansight CMO, sits down with Donovan Ryckis, Founder and CEO of Ethos Benefits, to discuss why fiduciary responsibility and fee-only compensation are becoming the standard employers should expect from their brokers. Donovan shares his unconventional path from selling Medicare supplements to building an agency around full compensation transparency, and explains why disclosing exactly how a broker gets paid, before renewal instead of after, is the fastest way to build a level of trust competitors cannot undercut. From Medicare Supplements to a Fiduciary Standard Donovan’s path into benefits started far outside the industry, in financial services selling Medicare supplements and later structuring 401k and pension plans for business owners. When a client asked him to look at a 37 percent projected increase on a group health plan, Donovan applied the same fiduciary process he used in retirement planning and beat the increase without cutting benefits. That case became the foundation for Ethos Benefits, an agency built entirely around a fiduciary standard of care. Fee-Only Pay and the End of Misaligned Incentives The core of Ethos’s model is removing anything tied to a percentage of premium or carrier bonuses for retention and growth, structures Donovan says quietly reward brokers for recommending the wrong plan. He walks through what it actually took to hold that line, including having a carrier appointment canceled twice for moving business away from underperforming plans. The Compensation Disclosure Every Employer Should Request Donovan is direct about how little most fifteen-to-twenty page compensation disclosures actually reveal. He recommends employers request a 408B2, the same disclosure standard used for 401k plans, and explains how a broker’s reaction to that request tells an employer most of what they need to know. Growing by Subtraction Rather than taking on every client that would sign, Ethos capped its minimum account size and sold off 80 percent of its book of business by volume to serve a smaller group of employers at a higher level, a decision that Donovan credits with turning clients into a steady source of referrals. Brokers thinking about what it takes to build credibility through education and transparency will find a lot to take from how deliberately Ethos built its client roster. Building a Culture That Survives Its First Test Adam and Donovan also cover how Ethos documented its processes, brand, and ideal client profile early on, and why the real test of culture is whether leadership follows through once employees are watching. That kind of consistency lines up closely with how trust gets built through follow-through rather than a polished mission statement . What’s Ahead for 2026 Donovan closes by discussing why legislation and litigation tied to broker compensation and misaligned incentives are pushing plan sponsors to ask harder questions heading into 2026, and how Ethos is already using that shift to negotiate stronger data ownership and audit rights into client contracts. Ready to Streamline Your Strategic Presentations? Plansight is the only end-to-end benefits marketing platform that uses AI and automation to ensure every renewal and RFP is consistent, accurate, and fast. By taking the manual work out of benefit planning, Plansight helps you stay ahead of the curve and deliver faster, smarter results to your clients. Visit Plansight to learn more about making your brokerage more efficient.
