Retirement

It is certainly not news that most Americans are ill-prepared to retire with 70% income replacement. We can blame high fees, which the press and regulators seem to focus on, and a decade of low or negative returns, but the real problem is that most participants are not saving enough and are not actively engaged in the process of preparing for retirement. Then, some industry professionals are still implying that their services are free. But with sweeping disclosure regulations about to become law, that myth will be quickly debunked. It's time to debunk other myths and tell plan sponsors and participants the hard truth.

The top benefit advisers take their clients' needs very seriously. But Anthony (Tony) Madera, winner of this year's EBA Retirement Plan Adviser of the Year award, seems to take them personally.

Longer life expectancies and the individual responsibility for retirement savings are combining to challenge conventional thinking and to re-shape the relationships between employers and their older employees. Check out five significant practical benefits for plan sponsors.

With investors falling in and out of love with Wall Street at a rapid pace, some financial advisers are finding themselves playing a new role — that of marriage counselor. As financial markets remain in turmoil, couples are getting more anxious as they watch their nest eggs wither.

Longer life expectancies and the individual responsibility for retirement savings are combining to challenge conventional thinking and to re-shape the relationships between employers and their older employees. Individual retirement savings, primarily through 401(k) plans, are now being evaluated in terms of benefit adequacy and secure monthly income in retirement. Increasing life expectancies mean that workers must save enough to last for 20 to 30 years of retirement . . . if they retire at 65. …

[IMGCAP(1)] NEW YORK | Tue Aug 30, 2011 11:47am EDT (Reuters) - With investors falling in and out of love with Wall Street at a rapid pace, some financial advisers are finding themselves playing a new role — that of marriage counselor. In general, people don't appear to agree about one of the most critical investment decisions of their married life: How they plan to retire. Advisers say they often find themselves in the middle of financial…

401(k) participants who invested in target-date funds overwhelmingly tend to stick with these investments over time, according to new research by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute. Just over 90% of 401(k) participants investing in TDFs in 2007 stuck with them through 2009, EBRI finds. Using a proxy for the auto-enrollment status of participants, those identified as auto-enrollees are even more likely to have stayed with TDFs, at a rate over 95%. …

This week, LIMRA reported variable annuity sales increased 19% to $80.7 billion in the six months ended June 30 compared with the same period a year earlier. Today, the Insured Retirement Institute (IRI) echoed the increase, reporting first-quarter sales at $40 billion, up 2% from $39.2 billion in the previous quarter.

Historically, the retirement industry hasn’t been required to publish all fees and expenses associated with 401(k) products. That’s about to change. The Labor Department noticed that the majority of 401(k) plan sponsors are in the dark regarding the fees they’re paying. To add insult to injury, most are under the impression that their plan is free. …

The aging of the U.S. baby boom generation may slow an already weak recovery as boomers sell stocks to pay for retirement, according to research released Monday from the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank.