Retirement benefits

Many are asking about retirement readiness self-analyses.

Most participants are not contributing near enough to their 401(k) plans to adequately fund retirement.

A new study shows strong employer objections to state-run plans such as those recently proposed by legislatures in California and Massachusetts.

The largest exchange-traded fund tracking the $3.7 trillion U.S. municipal-bond market is selling at a discount to its underlying assets for the longest stretch since 2011.

If you’re an adviser who works with business owners, you know that the “retirement plan season” is the end of the year. It’s that time when many business owners decide to set up a retirement plan before the year end deadline.

The burden of saving and investing has shifted to the plan participant

Consolidating multi-vendor retirement plans, a how-to guide

EBA Financial Fitness Challenge helps remake retirement benefits for six Indiana school districts

New EBA retirement columnist John Ludwig on deferral rates for auto enrollment

Nonqualified deferred compensation plans are on the upswing.

The use of online calculators and retirement advisers has been linked to higher levels of retirement confidence.

In a recent letter to Acting Secretary of Labor Seth Harris, six members of the Congressional Black Caucus warned that if the DOL’s 2010 fiduciary proposal is re-proposed this year without significant changes, the rule “could disparately impact retirement savers and investment representatives in the African-American community,” according to the letter.

On the last day of 2012 the IRS updated the Employee Plans Compliance Resolution System (EPCRS), published as Rev. Proc 2013-12. The program allows plan sponsors to declare, fix and pay penalties (where applicable) for certain operational or demographic missteps under the “voluntary correction program” (VCP)

Apparently some plan sponsors and even advisers overlook a basic resource when conducting 401(k) enrollment and education sessions: The TPA. “Advisers are sometimes surprised to see a TPA at the meeting,” says Beth Harrington, president of Benefit Resources Inc. in Sacramento. “That shocks me.”

T. Rowe Price, the mutual fund giant, recently completed a study which showed that participants should average 15% in contributions into their 401(k) plan accounts each year to achieve retirement readiness. Approximately three years ago, Alliance Bernstein conducted a similar study which came to basically the same conclusion.

Many 401(k) plan financial professionals have already capitalized on the opportunity in the 403(b) market by leveraging their 401(k) plan skills, and being able to distinguish themselves by being savvy in the dynamics that make a 403(b) plan a little different, says guest blogger Aaron Friedman of The Principal Financial.

If plan sponsors are serious about getting stellar 401(k) participation rates, the evidence is stronger than ever that auto-enrollment is a powerful way to achieve it. More hold-outs are getting the message and considering taking the plunge, although only a slim majority already do.

It was only four short years ago that the banter in our participant education sessions revealed that most employees were in the same mode as the capital markets. In a word, they were dismal. Sounding already defeated, it was common to hear things like “I’m never going to be able to retire now,” and “why bother planning…nothing seems to work anymore”.

With taxes on everyone’s mind, Jerry Kalish offers something to talk about with a prospective client who is thinking about starting a retirement plan.

The ability to provide a balance of risk between sponsor and participant through a hybrid design is drawing interest--even among small employers.