Retirement

Many assume that a wealthy upbringing is essential for an early retirement, but recent studies show those who plan to retire early were no more likely to describe their family growing up as wealthy/affluent, or financially comfortable, than people who planned to stay in the workforce longer.

Defined contribution plan sponsors remain in regulatory limbo regarding their obligations to maintain detailed documentation surrounding employee 401(k) hardship withdrawals.

In Tibble v. Edison, the Supreme Court did not expound on what a retirement plan fiduciary's duty to monitor entails, which is a bone of contention for ERISA attorneys and 401(k) plan sponsors.

Fiduciary responsibility requires the careful selection of default retirement investments. Benefit advisers can add value with knowledgeable advice on qualified default investment alternatives, including through the use of selection tools.

Although 401(k) plan participation is increasing, employees are not actively managing their accounts.

In the past two years, the corporate pension buy-out market has surged with more than $49 billion in transactions, and that trend should continue unabated as large employers try to shift pension debt off their books.

If the DOL's proposal to impose new fiduciary responsibilities on advisers in the retirement space becomes rule, many financial professionals fearing legal liability could abandon that market altogether, and cut off services to low- and middle-income investors, according to FINRA chief Richard Ketchum.

Suffocating under large loans and with little savings, the majority Gen Xers admit being bogged down with uncertainty when planning for retirement.

Conflicting beneficiary designations for 401(k) plan assets can be tough to sort out when a plan participant dies.

May 29 is 529 Day, a national observance that acknowledges the importance of the college savings tool, but 66% of Americans still don’t understand what 529 plans are.