Retirement

Commentary: You don’t need to be one of the world’s best writers to communicate effectively with clients about their retirement needs.

Worry is never constructive. It is even less helpful when it alters the way we manage our 401(k) plan investments. Recent behavioral finance studies have shown that the more we worry about our investments, the more conservatively we invest.

Fidelity Investments has concocted a new educational product suite – to be available on your nearby desktop computer – that will ease the burden that faces both defined contribution plan sponsors as well as plan participants in managing future saving needs.

Are your clients prepared for a 401(k) plan audit? When the Employee Benefits Security Administration knocks on the door and starts requesting plan documents, financial records, account statements, contracts and more, it can be overwhelming. The best offense is a good defense, so be prepared. Take a glimpse into a recent audit and the laundry list of documents requested.

Commentary: Automatic features have all helped retirement plan participants, but what should employers and committees discuss this year as they plan for future improvements in their plans as a way to seek to improve the retirement outcomes for their participants?

Connecticut lawmakers are considering a new plan to offer individual retirement accounts to private sector employees in a need of future retirement assistance.

Employees are much more fearful of making bad investment decisions than they are of doing nothing and missing out on a potentially good investment, leading many to invest too conservatively in their 401(k) plans.

As someone who has reviewed hundreds of retirement-related studies, I admit to being quite jaded with respect to retirement statistics: Various versions of "people are not saving enough", with no one telling me what I do not already know. However, I have to admit these figures - excerpted from pbs.org - caught even me off guard. See if you are as shocked as I was by these five statistics:

Good news for baby-boomers! More employers are actively recruiting workers 50 and over; while fewer mature workers say they plan to put-off retirement, a CareerBuilder Survey shows.

A new TIAA-CREF survey of employee-sponsored retirement plan participants uncovers a divide in that Americans are either not familiar or dissatisfied with their investment options.