Paula Aven Gladych

Despite the best efforts of workplace-sponsored retirement plans and even the relatively positive status of Social Security, many baby boomers say they have lost confidence in their ability to live comfortably in retirement.

The Affordable Care Act has had one unintended consequence for small businesses. It has prompted employers to beef up their retirement benefits as a way to attract and retain good employees.

Employers around the world are pushing free transparency and seeking better investment outcomes for their workers, which is leading to a greater availability of low-cost investment options in employer-sponsored plans.

Modestly higher equity markets in the first quarter of 2015 were not enough to offset the effects of lower interest rates, resulting in lower pension funding ratios among U.S. defined benefit plans.

Designing the ultimate defined contribution plan isn’t just about the investments chosen to be in the plan. It is about strategy, a company’s mission and core values and the demographics of the workers being served by the plan.

Nobody is sure what the economy will do in 2015, but investment fund managers remain positive about investments in equities and alternative assets over the long-term.

Because employees aren't actively engaging in their retirement plans on a regular bases, a slight uptick has been seen in employers including managed account options in their workplace 401(k) and 403(b) plans.

Workers and retirees know what they should be doing to prepare for retirement but when it comes to action, neither group is prepared.

Defined contribution plans have become one of the fastest-growing segments of the retirement industry, representing $7 trillion of the $24 trillion in retirement system assets in 2014, and while private companies have been at the forefront of the change, but government entities are following suit, which means DC plans will become even more important in the years ahead.

Employers may want to take note of the qualifying longevity annuity contract rules that were put in place last year under the required minimum distribution rules of the Internal Revenue Code.

The amount of money socked away in retirement accounts jumped up 6% with U.S. retirement assets totaling nearly $25 trillion at the end of December 2014.

At current savings rates, Americans are on track to replace over half of their current income in retirement. Having access to a workplace-sponsored retirement plan, meanwhile, is the No. 1 factor in determining retirement success.

Numerous lawsuits have been filed against employer-sponsored retirement plans in the past few years because plan participants are getting more savvy about things like fees and fiduciary duty, thanks in part to the Department of Labor’s recent focus on both issues.

A lack of understanding about the benefits of having both an individual retirement account and a 401(k) or 403(b) may help explain why some Americans are not contributing or considering an IRA as part of their retirement strategy.

The funded status of all U.S. multiemployer pension plans dropped from 81% at the end of 2013 to 80% at the end of last year.

Fidelity Investments has taken over the retirement plans of HanesBrands, which sells apparel under the brands Hanes, Champion, Bali, Playtex and Maidenform.

After nearly 50 years, the American Society of Pension Professionals & Actuaries and its affiliates have rebranded under a new name, the American Retirement Association.

Consumers Union, the owner of Consumer Reports, agreed to eliminate the March 15 deadline for approval of an employment contract that includes an adjustable pension plan employees had bargained for in 2013.

As corporations continue to freeze or eliminate defined benefit plans, American workers may be getting increasingly concerned about their financial security in retirement and looking for guaranteed income options.

The vast majority of employers realize that retirement medical benefit security is important to their retirees, but rising costs and risk concerns have prompted many of them to adjust their offerings.