Financial planning

Failure to identify all retirement plan fiduciaries is just one common mistake employers make that can lead to trouble.

There are more ways for defined contribution plan participants to gain access to professional investment management than by defaulting them into target-date funds or using a separately managed account.

What kind of employee takes advantage of the chance to select from potentially thousands of investment options available through a 401(k) brokerage account?

Student loan debt and jobs that don’t offer 401(k) plans put added pressure on retirement savings for millennial workers.

Friday’s landmark ruling on gay marriage poses both challenges and benefits to employers.

Women more likely than men to take advantage of workplace financial wellness programs, yet still experience more financial stress than men.

Commentary: The term ‘fiduciary’ is often hard to define and can be interpreted in many ways, so it begs the question: How can plan sponsors best fulfill their fiduciary responsibilities in the context of a mandatory distribution program?

The majority of investors still believe in the American dream but many workers do not have a written financial plan to help them achieve their retirement goals.

The average mutual fund investor typically underperforms the indexes each year by a wide margin. What can 401(k) plan participants (who comprise the majority of mutual fund investors) do to keep from sabotaging their annual returns?

While they have become a standard option in most employer-sponsored retirement programs, how much do participants really know about glide paths and real TDF performance?

With strategic federal-level assistance for retirement still lagging, states including Illinois, California and Oregon have stepped in with their own automatic IRA plans to boost employee savings.

Market timing and frequent trades within 401(k) plan mutual funds seem to be a thing of the past, according to the Government Accountability Office.

As participants age and their retirement investment requirements become less easily satisfied by cookie-cutter target date funds, the use of managed accounts as qualified default investment alternatives in 401(k) plans may grow.

When employers are talking to employees about retirement readiness, Social Security benefits should figure into the conversation, particularly for those nearing retirement.

Accounting for the needs of multiple generations in a financial wellness program can seem overwhelming.

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).

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.

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.