Retirement education

The wide range of 401(k) plan fees paid by small plan sponsors and participants might be indicative of the opportunity many such sponsors have to trim those expenses.

How many of your employees will be short of money in retirement if they ignore the prospect of requiring long-term care? Answer: All of them.

Commentary: Follow these formulas to drive participant outcomes as employers look to help employees save for retirement by helping them get to a higher savings rate.

Commentary: It’s time to start thinking outside the box and considering life insurance and fixed indexed annuities as alternative investments or sub investment classes within fixed income for retirement plans.

Fidelity Investments has taken over the retirement plans of HanesBrands, which sells apparel under the brands Hanes, Champion, Bali, Playtex and Maidenform.

Commentary: Distant financial needs are rarely addressed by workers on their own, which is why employers should enhance retirement education to make up the deficit.

The 6th Circuit recently reversed Rochow v. Life Ins. Co. of N. America in an en banc opinion. The new decision determined that unless there is a showing that that the remedy for denial of benefits under 502(a)(1)(B) is inadequate to make plaintiff whole, equitable relief under Section 502(a)(3) is unavailable.

Illinois’s remedy for the state’s worst-in- the-nation $111 billion pension-funding shortfall was disliked by lawmakers who voted for it, the new governor who inherited it and public employee unions who sued to void it.

Consumers Union, the owner of Consumer Reports, agreed to eliminate the March 15 deadline for approval of an employment contract that includes an adjustable pension plan employees had bargained for in 2013.

For small employers hesitant about the cost and workload involved with administering a retirement plan, benefit advisers can offer SIMPLE IRAs as an option.

The vast majority of employers realize that retirement medical benefit security is important to their retirees, but rising costs and risk concerns have prompted many of them to adjust their offerings.

Republican House members are challenging the DOL’s efforts to require retirement advisers to follow a fiduciary standard, saying it reduces access to options and conflicts with the Dodd-Frank Act.

Two major deals were responsible for the $8.5 billion in total sales, a LIMRA survey finds.

In the past five years, employers have realized just how precarious a position their employees are in when it comes to retirement and they have begun to put plans in place to help get them moving in the right direction.

Can employees stressed out about their personal finances be as productive as those who are not? Not likely.

In light of anticipated new fiduciary regulations from the DOL, employers are becoming more aware of potential conflicts of interest and the importance of protecting employees in their 401(k) plans.

Working with a financial adviser doubles the likelihood of outlining a plan and boosts confidence about saving for retirement, LIMRA says.

Managing small retirement accounts for employees who no longer work for you can be time consuming, and labor intensive, but there are some employer benefits to keeping past employees’ 401(k) accounts on your books or having new employees roll their past retirement accounts into yours.

Commentary: A number of large plan sponsors have dumped all of their actively managed funds, including for better fiduciary compliance. Is it a good idea?

Increasingly diverse workforces are creating a benefit communications challenge for employers and their advisers.