Employee benefits

Employers must focus on the right objectives if they want a long-term ROI on their wellness plan. That includes engaging in four pillars of lifelong well-being.

One of the largest causes for lost workdays in America is back pain. It’s such an issue that plan sponsors and employers of all sizes have been looking at how best to help employees with these problems.

With the Affordable Care Act hitting its five year birthday and the second open enrollment period nearly finished, Americans are turning their attention and wishes for Congress and the Obama administration to a focus on prescription drugs.

The right employee benefits consultant partners with you to remove obstacles and help simplify today’s complex benefit issues so that you can focus your core business objectives. The time you invest up front can pay off enormously if you find a consultant who understands your needs and can help you build a strategy around them.

Employee retirement confidences levels have risen to their highest since the recession. And although confidence levels have jumped in recent years, many are still expecting to work further into their retirement years to make up for any unpreparedness.

Generations X and Y prefer an adviser to give retirement information face-to-face rather than searching online, survey finds.

Voya Financial, Inc. has hired a new CEO of retirement. Charles Nelson will join the company on May 1, overseeing tax-exempt and corporate markets and retail wealth management.

In human resources and insurance circles, we’ve been talking about wellness for quite some time. And most employers have dived in and now offer a wellness program. So, how are these wellness programs performing? Too often, the answer is “not well.”

Financial experts say that people should try to replace 70%-80% of their current income in retirement, but current statistics suggest that employees need to make the right arrangements to do so.

Recently BlackRock, the largest asset manager in the world, announced that it would follow Fidelity and Federated in making changes to its money market fund offerings. These changes are in response to SEC reform rules announced during the summer of 2014, which will permit floating NAVs, redemption fees and liquidation windows in prime money market funds.

Employers are bracing for double-digit pharmacy cost increases in the next year, but advisers can help them to take steps now to mitigate those cost increases for both their active and pre-retiree populations.

Commentary: All Americans are concerned about escalation of health care expenditures. But, does anyone really want the government in the middle of how we access care? Legislation in New York could make that happen.

Commentary: Employees can make the transition to high-deductible health plans and be successful when provided some key education and support from the financial services marketplace.

If I had a dollar for every time an industry professional reacted to my choice of college major with, “Risk Management and Insurance?  I didn’t know you could major in that,” I would be a rich man. From what I see, many people who make up the industry did not set out with the intention of working in insurance or employee benefits. So why would a young professional just entering the job market choose employee…

Gibson Insurance and its CEO Tim Leman are known in industry circles for their trailblazing social media presence, but many brokerages still wonder, what is the real return on investment from online marketing?

Commentary: Despite all the media coverage of the Affordable Care Act, there is still a fair amount of confusion and misunderstanding about the law, even among employees whose job it is to administer benefits.

Commentary: When evaluating the nonmedical space and the products with the greatest level of applicability to an employee, auto and home insurance provide significant protection, comfort and well-being to an employee and their family.

Medical tourism is gaining traction among Americans, and it can be a tool for brokers seeking to keep their self-funded clients’ health care costs down.

There may be a convergence of public and private exchanges and if that happens carriers need to adopt a more holistic approach and consider multiple retail channels to distribute their products as part of a multi-carrier approach or alliances such as those seen within the CO-OP market.

Commentary: More disclosures and transparency is not a bad thing, but how does this ruling truly help make things easier to understand and provide the leadership needed for retirement readiness, asks EBA columnist John Ludwig.