Everyone in the industry has been saying it — consumer-driven health plans are good for young, healthy individuals and the plans are the future of health insurance. New research released recently by the Employee Benefit Research Institute shows that right now, the young part of that equation may not tell the whole story.

A full three-quarters of the workforce thinks their employer will educate them about changes to their health care coverage as a result of reform, but only 13% of employers say educating employees about health care reform is important to their organization.

Guest blogger Mark S. Gaunya talks about what advisers must do in the 'Obamacare' world where insurers are assuming more risk and consumers more cost.

How many Doritos are in a serving? For most of us, it's whatever amount is left in the bag. Unless you're raiding your kid's lunchbox snack size stash. Then it might be two bags. While concerns about the amount of nutrition or serving size in that particular snack may be taking it to the extreme, the fact is that government mandated nutrition labels on our food have made more information clearly available about what we are eating than ever before.

WellPoint Inc. CEO Joseph R. Swedish won high marks from investors and analysts in his first public appearance since taking over for the ousted Angela Braly.

Mercer, The Hartford, Delta Dental and more announce personnel moves. Check to see if a colleague is mentioned today.

Mercer’s private exchange now has more than 20 carriers signed on to provide benefits, including dental, vision, life and disability products. Find out what carriers were added.

MetLife Inc., the largest U.S. life insurer, raised its dividend 49% in the first increase since 2007, after its exit from banking limited oversight from the Federal Reserve. The company gained the most since January in New York trading.

The legacy of Steve Jobs and the success of Apple can teach advisers a whole lot, according to David Patchen of Raymond James, a financial advising firm.

As brokers continue to search for voluntary benefits to supplement their sales in the coming years, legal plans might just be one of them.

A program airing yesterday cited excessive fees and lack of clear guidance for the failure of the 401(k) to prepare Americans for a longer and more costly retirement.

When managing money, the large majority of Americans today are not looking for shortcuts or get-rich-quick strategies, according to Northwestern Mutual’s 2013 Planning & Progress Study.

After small group reform passed California ten years ago, brokers feared the worse, says blogger Andrew Torelli. What lessons can that bill teach us what to expect with the ACA?

Recently a number of market observers have suggested banning actively managed mutual funds from retirement plans as a way of increasing participant balances. Their logic is that actively managed funds don't beat market averages or benchmarks often enough to justify their higher fees. Also, it is said that actively managed funds tend to be recommended by advisers who profit from their sale and therefore aren't objective.

A $15 billion asset increase, paired with a $14 billion liability decrease, reduces the Milliman 100 PFI pension funded status deficit to $285 billion.

Study Reveals Financial Industry Not Meeting Women’s Needs. Three-fourths feel they earn better returns teaming with financial professional.

Chili peppers and migraines have traits in common, a fact scientists are exploiting to develop drugs capable of preventing the debilitating headache’s painful symptoms before they attack.

Fewer than half of Generation X and Generation Y investors have made saving for retirement their top priority and a majority have little understanding of financial products and services, according to LIMRA research.

There may be a slightly silver lining to the murky clouds of health care reform: ancillary benefits, which often include voluntary benefits, are expected to grow substantially in the coming years. Advisers may do well to leverage these offerings with clients, says EBA Blogger and UBA CEO Thom Mangan.

Towers Watson reports that employers contributed $45.1 billion to their pension plans last year, up from $38.9 billion in 2011, but it wasn’t enough: pension deficits jumped 17%, or $42.5 billion, to $295.2 billion at year-end 2012.