Paula Aven Gladych

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.

In the past five years, employers have realized just how precarious a position their employees are in when it comes to retirement and they have begun to put plans in place to help get them moving in the right direction.

In light of anticipated new fiduciary regulations from the DOL, employers are becoming more aware of potential conflicts of interest and the importance of protecting employees in their 401(k) plans.

Managing small retirement accounts for employees who no longer work for you can be time consuming, and labor intensive, but there are some employer benefits to keeping past employees’ 401(k) accounts on your books or having new employees roll their past retirement accounts into yours.

Companies that sponsor 401(k) plans need to consider employee demographics when deciding which types of qualified default investment alternative to offer, according to research by Manning & Napier.

No matter how the U.S. Supreme Court rules in Tibble v. Edison International, one thing is clear: employers will need to be more vigilant about the investments they choose for their company-sponsored 401(k) plans in the future to avoid litigation.

Many companies have frozen their defined benefit plans to new hires. Others have abandoned their pensions in favor of a 401(k) or other defined contribution plan. But not everyone is happy with DC plans because they often leave participants to fend for themselves when most have never had to make investment decisions.