Retirement benefits

Low cost, no minimum investment and daily trading are reasons for their increased use over the past 10 years.

Historically, financial planners have advised that retirees could expect to derive their retirement income from three sources: Social Security, corporate retirement plans and personal savings. That might not be the case anymore.

Employers will devote more mind share to retirement programs in the coming year, in part because of increased confidence about compliance with the Affordable Care Act.

Despite great investment returns recently, the nation’s largest corporate defined benefit pension funds have been defenseless against growing liabilities resulting from dropping discount rates.

Lawmakers in Springfield, Ill., decided this week to green light a new statewide private sector retirement program that will consist of individual retirement accounts to be funded by automatic employee payroll deductions.

End-of-year reviews of retirement plan success strategies should also include a candid examination of the job a plan adviser has been doing. Here are some benchmarks to help with that process.

Commentary: Advisers provide great value to colleges and universities, a Transamerica Retirement Solutions survey shows. Brodie Wood shares four specific areas that participants say are of the most value.

Employers are taking a more engaging and firm approach to making sure employees take retirement saving seriously, making use of automatic enrollment and escalation, as well as personalized tools. And both employers and retirement plan providers are noting changes in the savings attitudes of employees.

Employers looking to amplify their employees’ retirement prospects might look to the growing individual retirement account field, as involvement in employer-sponsored retirement plans remains largely unchanged.

With its sights set on maintaining lifetime retirement income for the American workforce, a new final rule from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation hopes to limit any obstacles participants face when rolling over their 401(k) money into traditional pension plans.

While 401(k) plans may not be the perfect retirement plan vehicle, they do have a number of important attributes that most probably take for granted.

What health, retirement, technology, voluntary, and wellness issues will benefit professionals be wrestling with next year? The editors of Employee Benefit Adviser and Employee Benefit News have put together a web seminar series with top benefit experts to offer insights on the biggest 2015 trends.

Health insurance industry has lowest satisfaction rating in nearly a decade, report says.

Sound investment advice is hard to come by. Here are four ways to tell if you and your investment committee are getting good investment advice from your adviser.

Plan sponsors see a growing need to use technology in retirement plan communications, with the majority saying they will increase their use of technology to deliver information to employees over the next two to three years.

Millennials are not saving enough to take full advantage of their employer’s 401(k) company match, but benefit advisers say there are many tools employers can use to turn this trend around and engage the younger generation.

Plan design plays a significant role in the success of a 401(k) plan, and there are opportunities for design to be catered to better suit employee needs and retirement objectives.

Commentary: As open enrollment season moves into full swing, columnist John Ludwig turns your focus to financial wellness, a growing concern for employers.

The wisdom of offering 401(k) loans has long been debated, with some arguing that allowing them is an incentive for employees to participate in the plan, while others believe they do more harm than good since employees often reduce or stop saving in their 401(k) plan after taking a loan from it.

Preparing Americans for retirement is at the forefront of priorities for lawmakers and industry, as putting off saving for retirement for even a few years will woefully shortchange employees in their golden years.