Retirement benefits

Commentary: A few months ago, two major announcements were made in the retirement plan space that profoundly affected retirement plan sponsors and participants.

The Department of Labor is giving the financial services industry and consumer advocates more time to comment on its controversial fiduciary conflict-of-interest rule proposal.

If employees are not well prepared for retirement it should be a major concern for both employees and their employers, experts say.

The state of Nevada Public Employees’ Deferred Compensation Program chose Voya Financial, Inc.’s retirement business to serve as its single service provider.

When people speak about retirement and security, women often get overlooked, but they are one of the most vulnerable segments of society.

The Department of Labor recently announced a proposed set of regulations about retirement plan fiduciary responsibility. Here are the answers to nine frequently asked questions employers have about their fiduciary duties.

As a younger generation of investors begins to grapple with retirement planning, advisors and fund companies should take note of the distinct concerns that those millennials bring with them

Multi-employers that continue to offer health care benefits to retirees are embracing retiree-only plans as a cost-saving measure. While retiree-only plans are not subject to all of the rules of the ACA, there are still requirements employers and advisers should be aware of.

While the majority of employers offer a company match on their 401(k) plan, employees are not taking advantage of the benefit, passing up the chance to potentially receive thousands of dollars every year.

It’s a myth that older workers cost significantly more than younger workers, says AARP. And while such a conclusion might be expected from an advocacy group whose members fall into that demographic, it’s based on an empirical review of a variety of metrics for employee productivity and cost, including employee benefits.

Although an important aspect of retirement, Social Security is just the backbone on which defined benefit and defined contribution plans should build upon.

Employer-sponsored defined contribution plans have become the go-to retirement vehicle for the majority of workers in the U.S. but more needs to be done to get employees to not only save but to save more.

The DOL’s proposed fiduciary rule could have dire consequences for the business of benefit advisers, according to NAIFA. The association is taking its concerns straight to The White House and lawmakers in Washington, D.C.

Commentary: Do loans and hardships really help solve what the plan was designed to do? Columnist John Ludwig doesn’t think so. In the end, they are a detriment to most participants’ retirement dreams, he says.

April was a better month for the 100 largest U.S. corporate pension plans, with their funded status rising to 82.6% from 80.9%.

When saving for the future, many people opt focus on their children’s opportunities rather than their own. The College Savings Plan Network encourages employers to offer benefits options, such as a 529 college investment plan, to help their employees save for their children’s college educations.

Nearly one year after the U.S. Supreme Court’s June, 2014 ruling in the landmark Fifth Third Bancorp v. Dudenhoeffer case, employers that use company stock in their retirement plans are gearing up for changes.

Commentary: There are certain areas of an asset allocation where there is real danger to blindly investing in passive investments.

Commentary: Many workers prefer to access financial products, including insurance, in the workplace. This intersection of employer awareness and employee preference has created an opportunity for employee benefit advisers, says Prudential’s Lori Fouché.

As U.S. employers move away from defined benefit pension plans in favor of self-directed retirement accounts, workers have become responsible for their own investment and longevity risk in retirement – something they’ve never had to deal with before and don’t understand very well.