Retirement

Nearly 875,000 employees increased their contributions to 401k plans in 2010, a 21% increase over 2009’s level of 721,000 employees, according to BofA/Merrill Lynch’s Retirement & Benefit Plan Services report.

This afternoon, the Senate HELP Committee (Health, Education, Labor and Pensions) will meet to discuss the retirement security crisis — specifically, how to help Americans save more for retirement and make better saving decisions.

New data by Aon Hewitt show 57 % of 401(k) plan sponsors offered automatic enrollment in 2010, compared to 24% in 2006. Thirty-six percent of plan sponsors who don’t offer the feature said they are likely to add it in 2011.

To say that the industry's segmentation and understanding of defined contribution plan advisers is crude would be quite an understatement. At the grossest level, the industry looks at whether advisers are commissioned or fee-based and whether they serve the small-plan market or the large-plan market.

Every year brings something new in this business, but the changes you'll see this year - and the ones you'll be anticipating - could be dramatic. That's thanks to a bevy of new regulations, some final and some still in the proposal stage, from the Department of Labor.

Contributions to 401(k) plans increased in the last year, Principal Financial found in a survey last fall of 1,159 employees and 529 retirees.

As companies act to attract and retain good employees, many are choosing to offer financial planning as one of the perks of employment. But in the words of Albert Einstein and Alexander Pope, a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing.

Assets held in domestic exchange-traded funds reached a record $995 billion at the end of last year.

Gen-Y Americans showed notable caution regarding their personal finances, according to the Western Union Payments Money Mindset survey.

A greater number of U.S. households are at risk of falling short of money in retirement because of the housing and financial crisis, according to a report.