Retirement

Many employees may not be aware they have the option of a Roth 401(k), and those who do often don't have any idea which to pick -- the traditional 401(k) or the Roth 401(k).

Upfront information, auto features and tailoring communication and education specific to younger employees can help boost participation.

Commentary: As the boomer generation moves further into traditional retirement years, evolving employee expectations are altering the benefits landscape more significantly than at any other time in recent history.

While employers define the topic in different ways, most are focused solely on the physical.

Even when plan fiduciaries hire outside service providers to manage the 401(k) plan, they still maintain fiduciary responsibility for certain functions.

Participation in employer-sponsored 401(k) plans has slowly crept up over the past decade, in large part because of actions taken by plan sponsors.

Commentary: If the objective of the Chamber of Commerce’s study on the DOL’s proposed fiduciary rules was to scare small business owners, clearly it succeeded. But it certainly failed on another level.

Small businesses will pay a big price if the Department of Labor’s proposed changes to the fiduciary rules go into effect, says the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Generalists and small-market plan sponsors are likely to be the most negatively affected, according to a retirement conference panel.

Expanding the electronic options for delivering required financial information to 401(k) plan participants could benefit both employers and employees, but Department of Labor and IRS rules often conflict about when employers can use electronic communication for their retirement plans.