Retirement benefits

When Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey froze its cash balance retirement plan in 2009, the organization knew it had to make its new benefit model work for current employees. And as a company charged with making health care work for both its clients and its employees, it realized that the only way to do so was through more education.

Each year Brightscope, a company that aggregates retirement plan data, releases a list of what it believes are the best large 401(k) plans. Here are the six plan features Brightscope says result in a 401(k) plan receiving a high ranking on its list.

Baby boomers are redefining retirement, with many saying their ideal retirement will include working – often in new, more flexible and fulfilling ways. As a result, employers should be preparing for a new battle to keep their older workers engaged as they near retirement.

Social Security will still be around when your employees retire, it just might look a little different. Here are five changes to expect in the coming years.

The challenges faced by plan sponsors as they design, update and execute their 403(b) plan documents are sometimes left undiscovered until they are identified under audit.

Running out of money in retirement trumps other stress-inducing pressures such as public speaking and gaining weight for affluent Americans. But despite the prospect of not having enough money to live on later in life, many are unwilling to cut spending on indulgences now in order to invest for retirement .

Commentary: Blogger Aaron Friedman discusses how benefit advisers can counsel employer clients on switching up 403(b) plan communication.

As states across the country take steps to address the financial needs of retiring workers, Illinois lawmakers are considering a new bill that would establish a retirement savings program for private sector employees that will be funded through automatic payroll deductions.

Public sector employers in Oklahoma are one step closer to creating a defined contribution retirement plan for workers with the passage of House Bill 2630, also known as the Retirement Freedom Act. The bill was approved this week by a majority in the state’s House of Representatives.

A recent revenue ruling from the Treasury Department and the IRS eases the administrative burden for 401(k) plan sponsors wanting to accept rollovers from other employers’ plans, but the fiduciary risk posed by inactive accounts still remains.

The life insurance and annuities market continues to grow, but advisers hoping to capitalize on that will first need to meet the challenges of a diversifying U.S. population.

Recently Senator Marco Rubio, a 2016 Republican presidential hopeful, shared his thoughts on reforming America's retirement system. Blogger Robert C. Lawton rates Rubio's proposals on a scale of one to five.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is calling for a complete revamp of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation board of directors to include plan sponsors from company and employers affected by the federal agency’s supervision.

Retirement plan administrators routinely receive requests from employees to accept rollover contributions. When processing these requests, plan administrators must be mindful of IRS guidelines.

A new proposal to raise Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation premiums to the tune of $25 billion over the next decade for companies that offer defined benefit pension plans is being contested. Not surprisingly, many in charge of administering their company’s pension benefits see the increase as crippling to their industry and the economy.

Analytics and the use of big data by corporate America are increasingly growing as companies look to make better business decisions. Client, internal information and databases collected over long periods of time are helping companies better understand their business and where to spend their money. The same is true for public retirement systems.

Flexibility, tax benefits and the overall attractiveness of Roth 401(k) plans are encouraging more employers to offer them.

Many studies have shown that the average 401(k) participant earns at least 2% to 3% less each year than the mutual funds in their plans. Because so many of us give in to our emotions and chase markets higher, buying at tops. Then we get scared and sell when markets fall.

Commentary: Columnist John Ludwig says there's no "silver bullet" to solving all employers' financial wellness problems, but looking at certain demographic factors of your group is a good place to start.

Connecticut legislators have approved the creation of a new board to study the feasibility of creating of a public retirement plan for private sector workers in the state who don’t have access to an employer-sponsored plan.