Wealth management

Good news for baby-boomers! More employers are actively recruiting workers 50 and over; while fewer mature workers say they plan to put-off retirement, a CareerBuilder Survey shows.

Recent behavioral finance studies have shown that most participants invest too conservatively. Helping employees understand and overcome ambiguity is a good first step toward making them better 401(k) investors.

401(k) and 403(b) plan sponsors – armed with a professional retirement plan adviser – are more likely to painlessly administer and achieve fiduciary needs for participants, according to a new study from the Retirement Advisor Council.

Lawmakers in Maryland and Wisconsin are working to make retirement plans more readily available to private sector employees. Their efforts follow recently enacted California legislation that requires employers to contribute 3% of a worker’s salary to a retirement account.

Chad Parks, CEO of The Online 401(k), debuts his film, “Broken Eggs,” which follows real Americans’ financial realities and retirement savings hardships.

The 5,800 U.S. employees of BlackRock, Inc. do get a nice side benefit to their company’s vast reputation for financial management: They have a holistic financial wellness program that most of us could only dream about.

Despite its reputation for money management, financial giant BlackRock, Inc. recognized that its own employees still needed help making the right decisions about retirement and health care savings.

While the intent of DOL fee disclosure regulations was to benefit retirement plan participants, results indicate there is much left to be desired. Employees have no idea what to look for or what their 401(k) fees even mean.

The “retirement crisis” facing America, a phrase coincidentally coined by BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, is a growing concern for defined contribution plan sponsors looking to provide a continued source of income to current and future retirees. As a direct result, the New York-based asset management shop said Wednesday that its CoRI Indexes can help to alleviate participants’ fears of running out of money.

The U.S. Supreme Court decision to hear arguments over Fifth Third Bancorp v. Duddenhoeffer – a case that questions whether it’s prudent for companies to offer employee stock ownership within 401(k) investment schemes – will be front and center for retirement plan sponsors this spring.

AOL Inc. is reversing a new policy for staff retirement plans that would have forced employees who leave before the end of the year to forfeit benefits.

AOL Inc. blamed President Barack Obama’s health care law for its plan to reduce spending on contributions to employees’ 401(k) retirement plans.

Cost-effective exchange-traded funds, relatively unknown in the 401(k) market, are now a reality for the 1.3 million retirement plan participants of Charles Schwab’s Schwab Retirement Plan Services, Inc.

The first trading day of February was one for the ages as equity markets dipped at historical levels and uncertainty still faces the Federal Reserve’s tapering plans. With these tumultuous market events swirling, 401(k) plan sponsors are keeping an eye on asset levels.

A joke, a good start or a breakthrough?

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.

President Barack Obama’s inclusion of retirement security in Tuesday night’s State of the Union Address was mostly welcomed by the benefits community, but left some disappointed by a perceived “attack” on the 401(k).

The president also touched briefly on the Affordable Care Act, challenging Republicans to let Americans know what their “specific plans [are] to cut costs, cover more people, and increase choice.”

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.