Benefits Think

Commentary: Blogger Cyndy Nayer discusses a new and important opportunity for advisers to bring value to consumers — the potential for subsidy issues around reported income to the public exchanges.

Will virtual currencies supplant the dollar as the currency of choice for international transactions? Probably not any time soon. Recently the Securities and Exchange Commission, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and the Internal Revenue Service issued statements designed to strongly discourage the use of virtual currencies.

Commentary: Blogger Sam Fleet submits that in order for a wellness initiative to be truly comprehensive, benefit advisers and their employer clients must look at other components of employees’ lives.

The IRS has launched a compliance check program to better understand how plan sponsors are complying with Roth deferral provisions in 401(k) plans. If asked to participate, failure to to respond could trigger an audit.

Commentary: Columnist Craig Davidson explores the future of employee benefits in the kick-off to a new series about what’s to come and how to prepare for change.

Commentary: Columnist Nelson Griswold explores the value of selling this product line for benefit brokers and advisers.

Commentary: Columnist John Ludwig says employers and their benefit advisers still have a long way to go to help workers be retirement-ready.

Virtually all large employers are committed to conventional wellness programs. Because of this market saturation, wellness vendors and their commercial partners, benefits consultants, are now setting their sights on smaller employers. These groups would do well to learn what hasn’t worked in wellness and avoid wellness programs built around health risk appraisals, biometrics, and preventive medical care.

Commentary: A technique that blogger Andy Torelli uses to establish new hires’ natural skills in the workplace could be put to use in optimizing the best service teams for new clients. Hear his theory out.

People managers should not underestimate the impact of coaching their people to success around individual and shared goals. It’s one of the rare benefits that accrues to the organization as much as its employees.