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Although the scars are still visible since the economy’s near-collapse, investors today are more optimistic than they have been since 2007.

Commentary: Promote the need for life insurance coverage before enrollment season, says The Standard’s John West, who provides several talking points advisers can address with clients.

As more and more companies are flooded with administrative duties due to the Affordable Care Act, cloud-based HR and benefits systems such as Zenefits are starting to gain a substantial hold in the employer market.

The organizations on Working Mother magazine’s 100 Best Companies nurture employees’ careers with benefits such as flex time, advancement programs and paid leave to new parents.

Those who purchase health insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s state and federal exchanges will have more choices for coverage beginning in 2015, according to a Department of Health and Human Services report released Tuesday.

Commentary: High-limit personal umbrella coverage can be a door-opener for brokers and consultants, says Sam Fleet, president of AmWINS Group Benefits.

Despite this past summer’s Supreme Court decision in Fifth Third Bancorp v. Dudenhoeffer, which found that fiduciaries of employee stock ownership plans are subject to the same duty of prudence that applies to ERISA fiduciaries in general, companies with ESOPs and stock purchase plans are seeing an increase in plan assets and are using the plans as a retention tool.

Patients with a consumer-driven health plan receive fewer preventive services than patients in traditional health plans, a study by the Employee Benefit Research Institute found. The results give advisers an opportunity to work with clients to proactively address any differences in quality between CDHPs and traditional plans.

Premiums for health plans purchased on the Affordable Care Act’s Small Business Health Options Program exchanges were slightly cheaper than plans only offered elsewhere, a recent study found, but advisers say the study misses the big picture.

The Employer Measures of Productivity, Absence and Quality program, originally launched in 2001, is getting a new life after a two-year pause thanks to the National Business Group on Health’s partnership with Truven Health Analytics.