Do Your Clients Offer Retirement Ready 401(k) Plans?
Here are some plan attributes generally felt to promote employee retirement readiness.
Few Alternatives to Mutual Funds in 401(k) Plans
Are the options advisers can offer likely to expand in the near future?
True Active Management Works
Many experts believe it doesn't make sense to invest in actively managed mutual funds. They say there is not a substantial enough difference between the returns that index and actively managed funds generate to justify active managements higher fees.
Self-Directed Brokerage Accounts in Retirement Plans: Generally a Bad Idea
In practice, few participants less than 1% in most plans tend to access brokerage window options.
Most U.S. Workers Not on Road to Retirement Readiness
The situation is not hopeless for them, but time is not on their side.
The Worst Investment Anyone Could Possibly Make
This one is so bad it shouldnt be allowed in any retirement plan, with only one exception.
Is there a Future for the First World Currency?
International investors taking note of bitcoins crypto-currency.
Does Re-enrolling Participants Make Sense?
Five reasons plan sponsors seek to keep QDIA selections current.
Is a Great Rotation Coming?
The scaling down of the Fed's quantitative easing program could incent bond fund holders to liquidate their holdings and look for other more promising investments.
The 3-legged Stool Needs Another Leg
If retirees want to maintain 100% of income in retirement, this is what they should accept.
What’s Right About Target Date Funds?
The product is evolving to meet market expectations.
Are Lifestyle Funds Dead?
Most observers agree that target date funds are easier and safer to use for both retirement plan participants and plan sponsors.
Favorite Emerging Market: Middle-America
Some see a number of signs contributing to a reawakening of the rust belt.
Retirement Readiness: Employee Responsibilities
In order to successfully reach their goals employees must begin embracing the concept of Retirement Readiness with the same commitment as their employers.
Employer Responsibilities Impact Retirement Readiness
There is no assurance that any 401(k) plan can place participants where they need to be when they wish to retire.
5 Ways to Improve 401(k) Plans
How can our 401(k) plans be improved so that there is a better chance we are able to retire and receive reasonable benefits someday?
Five Reasons Why Active Management Makes Sense
Recently a number of market observers have suggested banning actively managed mutual funds from retirement plans as a way of increasing participant balances. Their logic is that actively managed funds don't beat market averages or benchmarks often enough to justify their higher fees. Also, it is said that actively managed funds tend to be recommended by advisers who profit from their sale and therefore aren't objective.
Obama budget attacks retirement benefits
Using a complex formula, President Obama's 2014 proposed budget establishes a beachhead for taxation of previously tax-protected retirement benefits. Under the proposal, an individual's total lifetime balance across all retirement accounts (pension, profit-sharing, 401(k), IRA) will be limited to the amount necessary to purchase a life annuity generating an annual payment of $205,000 for a 62 year old. Calculating the limit using existing assumptions yields a balance limit of $3.4 million. Many retirement plan experts were surprised at the proposal for the following reasons:
Regular or Roth 401(k)?
Robert C. Lawton offers participant age guidelines to aid this decision.
Retirement Readiness: Re-setting Expectations
Most participants are not contributing near enough to their 401(k) plans to adequately fund retirement.