Practice management

Retirement relates to all other parts of the financial pie, and that’s the conversation advisers should be having with clients.

More brokers are inquiring about the product these days, and industry experts anticipate recent growth to continue as awareness spreads.

Commentary: Changing the course of ongoing consumer engagement will empower consumers to embrace the new consumer-directed health care dynamic and start changing their own behavior.

Commentary: This practice may be eliminating opportunities for investors to purchase products which could greatly improve the emotional and financial well-being of the client in their retirement.

Commentary: Employers should be vigilant when developing strategies which can run afoul of new rules. The penalties are severe.

Benefit advisers can be a ‘vital’ resource for low-income earners who, according to new research, need better understanding of and engagement with their employers’ benefit offerings.

Commentary: While these policies can be a win-win for both employers and employees, they are not without some legal risk. Here are the top risks associated with such policies and tips for how employers can mitigate those risks.

Employers facing benefit enrollment challenges or looking to streamline the enrollment process could benefit from the service of outsourcing the enrollment process. Choosing the appropriate benefit enrollment firm requires careful selection by the employer and its benefit adviser.

By now, some of your clients have come to you with a problem: How do I address this tax filing for IRS 6055/56? For some reason, their payroll vendor is unable to deliver or wants an arm and a leg to do the filing. You hold out hope that somehow this will blow over and get resolved. But as we get into the summer months, a greater number of your clients lacking in options will…

CMS says agent fees and commission cannot be excluded from issuer MLR reporting requirements — unless these very specific criteria are met.

Commentary: Most millennials are not attracted to the idea of working in insurance. With that in mind, you must draw college students in and capture their attention in ways that more alluring industries don’t typically need to, says millennial adviser Eric Silverman.

The proposals for Healthcare.gov plans are subject to a review process before the final rates are published by Nov. 1.

Commentary: The changes you may need to make to compete effectively in a future benefits world may be dependent on some prediction as to where you think the market is going.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but all 350 MHBT employees will join MMA under a new company name.

There’s not only a digital transformation of industry going on, but also an information explosion — one that can have “huge positive impacts or devastating impacts,” says technology consultant Scott Klososky.

Despite nearly 9-in-10 enrollees through California’s state-run public exchange receiving a subsidy to help pay for their insurance, almost half say it is difficult to afford the monthly premium.

Fiduciary responsibility requires the careful selection of default retirement investments. Benefit advisers can add value with knowledgeable advice on qualified default investment alternatives, including through the use of selection tools.

A bee will travel miles to pollenate an attractive flower, but it will only tell its hive about the experience if the nectar was wonderful. The same lesson applies to customer experience — and it’s one benefit advisers must keep in mind in this age of growing consumerism, said Martha Rogers, founding partner at management consulting firm Peppers & Rogers Group. …

If the DOL's proposal to impose new fiduciary responsibilities on advisers in the retirement space becomes rule, many financial professionals fearing legal liability could abandon that market altogether, and cut off services to low- and middle-income investors, according to FINRA chief Richard Ketchum.

Commentary: Recent guidance issued jointly by the U.S. Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services and the Treasury clarifies how the Affordable Care Act's requirement to provide cost-free coverage for preventive care applies to several types of products and services.