Retirement

Insurance companies and investment firms offering retirement services to companies large and small are learning that attention to detail and improved communication with the plan sponsors and, indirectly, plan participants can dramatically improve their customer retention and satisfaction rates.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s retirement services unit is generating significant new business, much of it from existing clients of the bank.

More women are going to college and joining the workforce- and now women are becoming increasingly influential in the financial world, according to market research firm Mintel.

Women are closing the gap with men when it comes to life insurance ownership, but women’s coverage level, on average, is only 69% of men’s coverage, according to a life insurance study released by LIMRA.

Uncertainty about fluctuating interest rates and rapidly spiraling health care costs were cited as the two largest fears of both retirees and pre-retirees, according to a new survey conducted by the Schaumberg, Ill.-based Society of Actuaries.

The retirement conundrum of how much money is enough is an ongoing battle that impacts both men and women, but one area where men seem to be winning out is retirement confidence, according to EBRI’s 2011 Retirement Confidence Survey released last week.

American workers exited 2010 with more than $10.2 trillion invested in employer-sponsored retirement plans, up10% from the $9.3 trillion in play at the close of 2009, according to a new report from Chicago-based investor consultant Spectrem Group.

With regulatory reform bringing a wave of changes to defined contribution plans, retirement plan advisers need to be even more conversant in the ins and outs of legislative requirements and other complexities. Which is why BlackRock is beefing up its commitment to advisers who work with these retirement plans.

Employees improved all areas of their personal finances last year, according to a study by El Segundo, Calif.-based Financial Finesse, but many are concerned they haven't saved enough to retire.

Here's the greatest challenge to retirement planning: You may live a very, very long time.