Wealth management

How does your investment fund line-up compare to the market? Do you have too many investment options or too few? Regular blogger Robert C. Lawton outlines some best practices with regard to investment menus.

Wondering whether your plan design is still market competitive? Leading-edge 401(k) and 403(b) plans have the following plan design features in common.

As hopeful evidence that a half-decade of retirement savings doldrums may finally be over, a new examination of employee 401(k) participation suggests workers are back on the savings path – and increasingly using HSAs as a new form of long-term financial planning.

Typically thought of as the employees’ responsibility, plan sponsors should actually facilitate all aspects of required minimum distributions – from alerting participants about them to activating the fund withdrawal.

Current regulations don’t require a retirement plan provider’s investment advice be in the best interest of plan participants, but most employers want that to change, an AARP study finds.

Fewer than a third of plan sponsors measure the effectiveness of their defined contribution plan’s investment offerings by evaluating if projected participant income replacement ratios are being met at retirement, finds a new poll from SEI.

Self-directed brokerage account windows in 401(k) plans have always been controversial. Recently the Department of Labor indicated it intends to provide additional guidance on the use of brokerage account windows. Experts believe it is likely to be unfavorable for proponents of brokerage windows for several reasons.

For retirement plan advisers – and the plan administrator community – it remains more than a bit problematic to cope with the prospect of a new threshold of responsibility for the financial decisions of plan participants. Or, having their hands tied and only being able to offer extremely financial guidance, as the case may be.

Although U.S. workers on a whole are more satisfied with their current financial situation than in years past, most (58%) remain concerned about financial stability in retirement and say they plan to continue working until age 70 or later, a new Towers Watson survey shows.

Commentary: Employer group waiver plans provide a solution for the struggling public sector

Retirement confidence among Americans regained some of the losses reported over the past five years – where approximately 18% are very confident and 37% are somewhat confident with the future financial needs – according to a new survey from the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

Both the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and Dr. Nouriel Roubini, famed economist (also known as Dr. Doom) and a professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business, recently expressed unflattering opinions relative to the crypto-currency bitcoin.

Women face additional challenges when it comes to planning and saving for retirement. They often earn less than men and take more time out of the workforce over the course of their careers, which affects retirement plan eligibility and savings.

As employer-sponsored retirement plans are expected to see premium increases from the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation this year, along with a possibility of an unsteady market economy and longevity issues, retirement officials are urging plan sponsors to consider de-risking techniques.

New data indicates that target-date funds are used by roughly 55% of the participants in 401(k) plans at Vanguard, referencing a growing attraction to balanced investment options that automatically cuts down risk with age.

The Department of Labor requested public comments this week on a proposal to amend its 408(b)(2) fee disclosure regulations to require service providers to provide plan sponsors with a guide for navigating fee disclosure documents.

Worry is never constructive. It is even less helpful when it alters the way we manage our 401(k) plan investments. Recent behavioral finance studies have shown that the more we worry about our investments, the more conservatively we invest.

Are your clients prepared for a 401(k) plan audit? When the Employee Benefits Security Administration knocks on the door and starts requesting plan documents, financial records, account statements, contracts and more, it can be overwhelming. The best offense is a good defense, so be prepared. Take a glimpse into a recent audit and the laundry list of documents requested.

Employees are much more fearful of making bad investment decisions than they are of doing nothing and missing out on a potentially good investment, leading many to invest too conservatively in their 401(k) plans.

As someone who has reviewed hundreds of retirement-related studies, I admit to being quite jaded with respect to retirement statistics: Various versions of "people are not saving enough", with no one telling me what I do not already know. However, I have to admit these figures - excerpted from pbs.org - caught even me off guard. See if you are as shocked as I was by these five statistics: