Retirement benefits

Baby boomers and Generation X households improved their overall retirement income last year thanks to employer-sponsored 401(k)-type plans and gains from the financial and housing market, new data indicates.

Commentary: When it comes to qualified domestic relations orders, plan sponsors and their financial professional partners need to ensure they have a robust and detailed process that can actually work, says The Principal’s Aaron Friedman.

This is the time of year when most companies with calendar year plans start reviewing their discrimination test to see if they passed or if they have to refund any contributions to the highly compensated employee group. Columnist John Ludwig shares best practices for keeping your clients in compliance.

Some 403(b) plan sponsors believe that if they are exempt from ERISA, they cannot be held accountable as an acting-fiduciary. This is a misconception.

Coming just on the heels of President Obama’s unveiling of the new MyRA proposal, Senator Tom Harkin announced Thursday the finalized details for his Universal, Secure, Adaptable Retirement Funds Act – legislation he hopes will provide a stable and financially solid mechanism for the 75 million Americans without access to workplace retirement plans.

In this commentary, one retirement plan adviser says government efforts and taxpayer funds would be better directed to educating employees on the importance of contributing to their 401(k) accounts and providing additional tax incentives for those few employers that have not already established a 401(k) plan.

Being prepared for retirement is no longer an after-thought as President Barack Obama boldly claimed at last night’s State of the Union; TIAA-CREF’s new survey adds to this national conversation, noting that one-in-three covered Americans say they place guaranteed income at top of their retirement to-do list, but many are faced with problems that their traditional retirement offerings can’t answer.

The study of gerontology, the comprehensive analysis of aging and the problems of the aged, now makes up a new job description and possible new organization direction at Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s retirement plan and financial benefit business.

Among the steps the president outlined in his State of the Union address are raising the minimum wage to $10.10 for future federal contract workers and creating a retirement savings program for people whose employers don’t offer a 401(k) plan.

President Barack Obama offered more Americans the chance to save for retirement through payroll deductions with a plan for new government-sponsored savings accounts.

Although plan sponsors aren't required by law to have one, the investment policy statement is one of the primary documents the Internal Revenue Service and Department of Labor request when they visit employers for plan audits.

An overwhelming majority of Hispanic and African-Americans say that financial services firms need to hire more diverse staff, according to a survey conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Edward Jones.

Six things plan sponsors should expect from their retirement advisers in 2014 annual review season.

Beneficiary designations could be truly problematic with ERISA 403(b) plans when there are multiple service providers involved. Here's what advisers need to do.

Rising interest rates and a strong stock market contributed to a strong year for defined benefit plans, according to recent research from Towers Watson, with pension plan funding levels rising by 16% last year, the highest level since 2007.

The court agreed with the plaintiff’s contention that while a church-affiliated entity may “maintain” an ERISA-exempt church plan, only plans established directly by a church or convention of churches qualify as church plans.

What does next year look like for retirement plan sponsors and participants? Here’s an early call on what many experts expect to see.

As baby boomers plan to retire in the next five years, nonprofit organizations are readying for the challenges ahead. More than a third of nonprofits surveyed by the Plan Sponsor Council of America anticipate difficulties recruiting staff to fill vacancies left by retiring boomers.

Some 45% of workers in the new survey who found retirement income estimates less than “very helpful” say they did not understand the calculations behind the projections or were not confident in their accuracy, according to LIMRA.

Consider these for you next employee education session.