Financial planning

Although Americans remain concerned about retirement readiness, new research shows many employees have never increased their retirement plan contributions, unveiling a need for better engagement and education on the part of employers and their advisers.

We all know how markets have traded most of the time since the 2008 crash. One day everything is moving up in value, the next everything is falling. But things are changing.

Millennials, Gen Xers and single parents have different savings goals in mind that will require benefit advisers and employers hoping to increase retirement plan participation to target the needs of these differing employee populations.

The expanded role of target-date funds has contributed to increased participation in 401(k) plans, highlighting a retirement plan strategy benefit advisers should be sharing with their employer clients.

As employers try to figure out how best to prepare their workforces for retirement, experts in the benefits and investment industries recommend that an individual retirement account – either the traditional or Roth version – can be a good complement or standalone option for an employee’s retirement path.

Globally, defined-benefit retirement plans are becoming a thing of the past and defined-contribution plans more widely accepted as the preferred alternative, a trend that could spur inquiries from international employer clients.

Many companies have frozen their defined benefit plans to new hires. Others have abandoned their pensions in favor of a 401(k) or other defined contribution plan. But not everyone is happy with DC plans because they often leave participants to fend for themselves when most have never had to make investment decisions.

With the Form 5500 deadline fast approaching, 401(k) plan sponsors should be aware of common mistakes that can easily occur when filing the form.

Benefit advisers and their employer clients are in a unique position to help the newest members of the workforce overcome investment fears and prepare for retirement.

Retirees should move beyond the long-held “4% Rule” and take into account the full range of financial opportunities and risks they could face going into the golden years.

Overall, employers have failed to move the dial on overall retirement confidence levels for their female workforce, despite that demographic’s dominance in handling their households’ day-to-day expenses.

Learn about how technology can demonstrate the link between volatility and risk in retirement planning — a distinguishing factor from other advisers, according to columnist Craig Davidson.

Wellness and retirement educational tools are paramount in an ever-changing landscape of employee benefits, and Mercer has taken a unique approach in its newest endeavor, Mercer Benefits U.

Commentary: This fall will be a time for plan sponsors to take on additional decisions, as many prototypes sponsors are going through the process of getting their documents updated for the upcoming restatement process. While columnist John Ludwig says this is a necessary process for everyone, he shares decisions that plan sponsors should think about as they go through this process.

When it comes to retirement savings, no family structure is apparently better prepared than same-sex couples without kids, who reported having $276,200 tucked away – the very model of successful workplace savers.

A recent increase in formations of employee stock ownership plans, known as ESOPs, has put the spotlight on the combined employee benefit and small business management succession tool that has been in existence since 1956.

According to one 401(k) expert’s poll, employees need to be saving 20% of their earnings for retirement. How they get there is where you come in.

Many employees who change jobs choose to roll their 401(k) accounts into IRAs rather than leaving them in place or rolling them into their new employers 401(k) plan. Rolling a 401(k) account into an IRA is generally a really bad idea, for the following reasons.

In contradictory fashion, paying off debt was cited as the top reason for taking out a loan from retirement plan savings (46%), yet only 26% of respondents said paying off debt was a good reason to take out a loan.

Commentary: Blogger Aaron Friedman reports good news for benefit advisers interested in working with employers on 403(b)s