Retirement benefits

Writing out retirement income plans is a great way for financial advisers to increase client satisfaction, gain more referrals and ultimately increase assets — yet few of them do it, according to a new study from Fidelity Investments.

When financial advisers look to work with women, they should keep two things in mind: the wooing process tends to take longer, but they are usually more loyal, according to Sallie Krawcheck, president of Bank of America Merrill Lynch's global wealth and investment management unit.

A recent survey from Principal Financial Group confirms that employees who use a financial adviser do significantly better at meeting their retirement savings goals than those who do not.

Almost 80 percent of employers anticipate that there will be an increased demand for access to savings and investment advice about their 401(k) plans, according to a new survey.

As the saying goes, there's no such thing as a free lunch. Yet, according to a recent survey by AARP, 71% of 401(k) plan participants reported that they pay no fees for their plan. When told of the fees, six in ten (62%) were not aware of the amount they pay in fees to maintain their account. Just under one quarter (23%) of those surveyed said that they do pay fees.

A new report from MetLife suggests that financial advisers need to do a better job of educating their clients about the importance of managing their emotions as well as their spending and investing behavior during and close to retirement just as they did — presumably — when they were younger and saving up for their golden years.

WellPoint plans to buy privately held Medicare specialist CareMore to expand its presence in the U.S. government program for the elderly. The deal will advance WellPoint's plans to become a bigger competitor in Medicare.

The Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration has extended the deadline for 401(k) plans to disclose fees and expenses to participants to 120 days after the Jan. 1, 2012 deadline. Originally, the deadline was 60 days after the effective date. As a result, plans now have until April 30, 2012 to provide the information.

Transamerica finds HR concerned that employees don’t have the tools they need to properly prepare for retirement

Defining and discovering "alpha" in participated-directed defined contribution retirement plans is perhaps the most difficult and important discussion in the industry today. Alpha in DC plans is very different than what asset managers pursue when they strive to beat their benchmarks, which is the hallmark of their abilities and ultimately defines their success. Alpha in DC plans is a measure of participants' success in replacing income within the plan.

With the uncertainty of today's market, guaranteed lifetime income options, or GLIOs, are emerging as a promising new way to help retiring employees protect their retirement income streams over a longer time horizon. EBA recently spoke with Ben Yahr, an actuarial adviser and part of Ernst & Young's Insurance and Actuarial Advisory Services practice, to find out more about GLIOs.

Cash balance plans are becoming increasingly popular with small businesses as well as Fortune 500 companies, says Dan Kravitz, president and CEO of Kravitz, Inc., an independent firm of retirement consultants headquartered in Southern California.

Despite the widely held belief that younger investors have become tremendously risk-averse due to the economic crisis, Vanguard is finding that younger investors have increased their equity exposure considerably.

Many investors are unaware of the options available for their 401(k) account left with a previous employer, Fidelity Investments found. Nearly one-third (30%) who made a job transition are unsure of what to do with their workplace retirement savings.

AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company has introduced a structured investment option for its EQUI-VEST® series of variable deferred annuities available to employer-sponsored retirement savings plans.

The future of the investment advisory industry depends on reducing the cost of doing business, said Mark Casady, Chairman and CEO of LPL Financial, in the opening keynote at the Money Management Institute’s 2011 annual convention, held last week in Boston.

A pension expert panned federal lawmakers’ efforts to increase oversight of state and local governments’ public pension plans.

With the equity markets’ recent woes in the past, variable annuity sales perked up in 2010, according to the Insured Retirement Institute in Washington, D.C.

Payroll and benefits outsourcing provider Paychex has acquired online 401(k) administrator ePlan Services.

The vast majority of U.S. benefits managers reported that their organizations do not do enough to help employees make critical decisions at the point of retirement, according to new survey commissioned by Transamerica Retirement Management.