Financial planning

Continuing a comeback after a difficult 2010, annuity sales through banks topped $4 billion in March to reach their highest level since exactly two years earlier, according to research firm Kehrer-LIMRA.

Despite the widely held belief that younger investors have become tremendously risk-averse due to the economic crisis, Vanguard is finding that younger investors have increased their equity exposure considerably.

Although annuities are getting more attention as a way to guarantee income in the wake of the 2008 market crash, clients aren't keen on the price that they have to pay, and advisers don't like the costly fees and commissions.

American workers polled by Financial Finesse had improved how they manage financial stress since last year, but even the most secure groups of Americans felt strained about their money and did not have their financial houses in order.

What are most Americans planning to do when they retire? The reality is that many don’t have a plan, or their plan is to never retire, which may not be an option if they fall ill or can’t work for some reason.

A perfect storm combination of eroding Social Security trust funds, high unemployment and a flood of baby boomers all hitting retirement age at the same time will put enormous strain on the system for the next two decades and result force retirees and their advisors to come up with alternative retirement income plans and strategies to make ends meet.

The majority of employers want to prepare their employees for a financially secure retirement, but have found educational campaigns unlikely to result in substantial changes in behavior. Instead, Steve Utkus, director of Vanguard’s Center for Retirement Research, recommended that employers use “participant inertia to their benefit and do it exclusively with plan design.”

Employee education programs can lead to positive retirement investment decisions, according to a roundup of first-quarter 401(k) savings rates from Fidelity Investments.

A group of Democratic members of the House, led by Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.), has written to the U.S. Department of Labor, criticizing a new regulation that would redefine the term “fiduciary” in the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA).

At a time when more Americans than ever are petrified they won't have enough set aside for retirement, a new LIMRA survey suggests that peace of mind could be just a phone call away.

While retirement confidence levels are low, employees are showing that they’re taking steps to financially recover from the 2008 recession and that they understand the importance of planning for the future, according to a new research report from Financial Finesse, a provider of workplace financial education.

Worries about the future of Social Security and Medicare, as well as the experience of the last market crash in 2008-2009 and the housing slump, have left an increasing number of Americans worried about whether they will have adequate resources to provide for their retirement years, which makes them more open to financial advice.

The vast majority of U.S. benefits managers reported that their organizations do not do enough to help employees make critical decisions at the point of retirement, according to new survey commissioned by Transamerica Retirement Management.

Our clients often ask us to define who in their organizations are fiduciaries to their retirement plans and exactly what it means to be a fiduciary. Many times, our clients are surprised by the answers that they get. You may be as well.

Four in 10 working Americans say they will never be able to afford to retire, a Harris Interactive survey of 1,005 adults for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants found.

Retirement planning is an important issue, but according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers study, many workers remain more concerned about making ends meet.

Despite the warnings from financial planners, relatives and the media, nearly two-thirds of baby boomers surveyed said Social Security will be either an "extremely" or "very" important source of income when they retire.

If anybody who had something to do with employee retirement plans needed a dose of reality regarding the level of understanding and knowledge participants had about their money, how it was being invested and what the outcomes were, a recent poll provided it.

Thirty-three percent of baby boomers are worried they won’t have enough money saved for retirement, 34% do not know the age at which they will retire, and 57% plan to continue working, according to a recent survey by the Insured Retirement Institute.

Generations X and Y are warming up to investing more than any other age group, according to a survey by MFS Investments. But they remain largely reticent investors.