Wealth management

Participants using the company’s retirement app have an average deferral rate 11% higher than the average deferral for all participants covered by plans, according to a recent survey

A new survey finds that while most wealthy Americans have a retirement plan in place and feel confident about their retirement readiness, they may be underestimating how much money they will need once they retire.

The American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries is applauding a bipartisan push to make it easier for workers to repay withdrawals they make from their employer-sponsored defined contribution plans.

As part of EBN’s upcoming portrait of Generation Y’s financial planning, we spoke with a trio of young investors. Unsurprisingly, the one who’s doing the most to help her 401(k) works in the benefits field.

“We find ourselves moving — ever so tentatively — into a financial future with seemingly only one certainty: It will likely be very different than the investment world in which we all grew up,” Putnam Investments CEO Robert Reynolds said at a recent industry event.

The 23rd annual Retirement Confidence Survey, the longest-running survey of its kind, reports 28% — the highest level in the survey’s history — are not at all confident about being able to afford a comfortable retirement

More than one-third (37%) of respondents in a Franklin Templeton poll say they are more concerned about outliving their assets or having to make major sacrifices to their retirement plans today than 12 months ago.

The number of employers offering a sponsored retirement plan slightly increased in 2012 from four years prior, while matches and employer contributions remained near constant, according to a survey released today by WorldatWork and the American Benefits Institute.

More than eight in 10 Americans (84%) expect to see their dentist this year for regular cleanings while less than half (43%) plan to meet with their financial adviser to review their investment strategies, according to a survey on retirement from the PNC Financial Services Group.

Western European nations, backed by strong health care and retiree social programs, dominated the top of the list, snagging the first 10 slots in an index based on data from sources including the World Bank and the United Nations.

MassMutual’s fourth quarter data show that the average 401(k) deferral rate for female participants was 5.38%, an increase of 1.6% for the quarter. In comparison, male participants are saving at 5.81% on average, an increase of 1.2% from the previous quarter.

New 401(k) loan transactions were down approximately 5% year-over-year, and total hardship and in-service withdrawals were down nearly 8%, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s most recent 401(k) Wellness Scorecard, released Thursday.

At least one expert at a panel at this week’s ASPPA 401(k) Summit in Las Vegas said the plans work well for people who can afford to contribute large amounts and who don’t withdraw the money, but acknowledged they do little for low- to moderate-income workers.

At the ASPPA 401(k) conference, going on this week in Las Vegas, financial advisers said that too often, plan sponsors pick their recordkeeper and then default to the investments options offered, when it should be the other way around.

ERISA plans, as financial entities, will be required to clear certain over-the-counter swaps (i.e., not executed on an exchange) at a “derivatives clearing organization.”

How many Gen X and Gen Y consumers are saving for retirement? Not nearly enough, according to industry research group LIMRA.

Rental car agency Avis Budget Group puts its 401(k) plan participants in the driver’s seat with access to investment advice.

After inputting age, income and additional retirement savings information, individuals are shown personalized scores that reflect the amount of their retirement savings as a multiple of their annual income.

“As an emerging market, DIAs have experienced significant growth in 2012,” says Joe Montminy, assistant vice president and director of LIMRA annuity research.

Investors with $150,000 to $249,000 in income are especially receptive to learning about annuities, according to a recent Nationwide Financial survey.