Headlines about "Ret plans - info for employees"

Gathered from the web by the editors at BenefitsLink.com.
48 Percent of U.S. Workers Target Age 67 for Retirement, According to a Survey Released by Sun Life Financial
Excerpt: "The data also showed that only 46 percent of those surveyed are 'very confident' they will have enough money to take care of basic living expenses at 67, and 28 percent are 'very confident' they will be able to take care of medical expenses." (Workforce Management; free registration required)

EBSA Schedules Advice Rule Public Hearing
Excerpt: "The U. S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) has scheduled an October 21 public hearing on its proposed regulation for providing retirement plan investment advice." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

Total Retirement Income at Large Companies: The Real Deal 2008
Excerpt: "The Hewitt survey . . . examined the projected retirement levels of nearly 2 million employees at 72 large U.S. companies using actual employee data and behaviors. The study measured projected retirement income and retirement needs, and also quantified the impact of longevity risk, different employer plan structures, and gender. [The 5-page survey report is at http://www.hewittassociates.com/_MetaBasicCMAssetCache_/Assets/Articles/2008/Survey_Highlights_Total_Retirement_Income_0708.pdf.]" (Hewitt Associates)

[Opinion] ERIC Files Comments on DOL Proposed Regulation on Investment Advice
Excerpt: "ERIC on October 6 submitted to the Department of Labor comments on a proposed regulation and proposed class exemption on investment advice. DOL on August 22 published in the Federal Register the proposed rule under the Pension Protection Act (PPA) along with the proposed class exemption allowing fiduciary advisers to provide investment advice to participants in 401(k) type plans and individual retirement accounts (IRAs). ERIC's comment letter addresses a number of areas of concern . . . ." (The ERISA Industry Committee)

PSCA's Annual Survey of 401(k) and Profit-Sharing Plans Finds Increase in Automatic Enrollment
Excerpt: "The Profit Sharing/401k Council of America (PSCA) has released its 51st Annual Survey of Profit Sharing and 401(k) Plans, which provides up-to-date information on current practices and trends in profit-sharing and 401(k) plans. The survey reports on the 2007 plan year experience of 1,011 plans with 7.4 million participants and more than $730 billion in plan assets." (Wolters Kluwer)

[Opinion] Pension Rights Center Comments on Proposed Regulations and Class Exemption on Investment Advice (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "The Department has issued a class exemption from the prohibited transaction rules for certain investment advice that goes well beyond the statutory exemption that is the subject of the proposed regulations. The exemption permits conflicted investment advice so long as the advice is preceded by investment recommendations generated by a computer model (similar to that described in the proposed regulation). Alternatively, the exemption permits advice so long as the compensation earned by the actual person giving advice (rather than the entity employing them) does not vary depending on the basis of any investment option selected by the participant. In our view, the potential for conflicted advice is even greater in these situations than in the more circumscribed statutory exceptions interpreted by the proposed regulations." (Pension Rights Center)

Employment-Based Retirement Plan Participation: Geographic Differences and Trends, 2007 (PDF)
40 pages. Excerpt: "This Issue Brief closely examines the level of participation by workers in public- and private-sector employment-based pension or retirement plans, based on the U.S. Census Bureau's March 2008 Current Population Survey (CPS), the most recent data currently available." (Employee Benefit Research Institute)

Retirement Security or Insecurity? The Experience of Workers Aged 45 and Older (PDF)
22 pages. Excerpt: "There are several implications of this study: (1) Employer-provided pension coverage needs to be greatly increased; (2) There is considerable distress among vulnerable elements of the population suggesting that the most at-risk individuals may be the hardest hit; (3) Middle-aged workers (45-49) need to make saving for their retirement a priority; and (4) Most workers are relying on working longer to compensate for retirement nest-egg shortfalls." (AARP)

Leaving Employment by the Federal Government Before Retirement? What Happens To Your Benefits?
Excerpt: "What happens to Your Benefits if you leave before you retire? As many of us periodically think of leaving federal service for various reasons (the grass is greener or the boss from Hell are common reasons) this information is important and can help us make the right decision when or if the time comes." (FedSmith Inc.)

U.S. Supreme Court Denies Hearing Promised Benefits Suit by Former Quaker Oats Co. Employees
Excerpt: "The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a request to hear the case of two former Quaker Oats Co. employees fighting to receive additional pension benefits they say were promised by Quaker. In making its October 6 decision, the high court let stand a ruling by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that representations made to the employees were innocent mistakes and that anything told to them orally did not carry the same weight as what the court said were clear plan documents . . . ." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

[Opinion] American Benefits Council Comment Letter to DOL/EBSA on Investment Advice Proposed Regulations (PDF)
7 pages. Excerpt: "The proposed regulations and their companion proposed class exemption represent very significant steps towards enhancing and expanding access to professional, high-quality investment advice for IRA owners and participants in individual account plans that permit participant investment direction . . . . The Council believes that, if finalized, these proposals have the potential to greatly improve retirement savings for millions of working Americans, and we urge EBSA to move expeditiously in finalizing the proposed rules. We provide . . . a number of suggestions for improving and clarifying the proposals." (American Benefits Council)

One in Five Baby Boomers Cuts Retirement Saving
Excerpt: "One in five middle-aged workers stopped contributing to their retirement plans in the last year, and one in three has considered delaying retirement, according to a new survey by AARP, an advocacy group for older Americans. The numbers, from an AARP survey conducted last month, provide the latest evidence that the deteriorating economy and stock market are creating a less-than-golden outlook for the huge tide of baby-boom Americans surging into retirement age. This demographic, born between 1946 and 1964, numbers around 78 million." (The Wall Street Journal)

Plan Now to Fix Your 401(k)
Excerpt: "Save more. You can't control what the stock market will give you, but the single biggest factor in the size of your nest egg is the amount you save. Odds are good that you'll barely notice it if you contribute 1 percentage point more of your salary to your 401(k) plan." (USA TODAY)

Six Ways to Quash Employees' 401(k) Anxieties Over the Financial Crisis
Excerpt: "Lynn Unsworth, regional manager of Capital Associated Industries, offers a few tips to help employers ease workers' concerns about their 401(k) balances in light of the recent mood swings of the stock market." (Employee Benefit News; free registration required)

Bailout Brings With It Diverse Perks
Excerpt: "DEPOSIT INSURANCE The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation will back bank deposits of as much as $250,000 per account holder, up from $100,000, through the end of 2009. That means accounts held by two people would be covered up to $500,000. Retirement account coverage was held steady at $250,000." (The New York Times; free registration required)

Average American Feels Alone in Retirement Planning
Excerpt: "Many Americans who don't have an adviser think they don't have enough money to attract an adviser, according to a survey by AARP Financial Inc." (planadvisor)

The Five Elements of a Realistic Retirement Strategy
Excerpt: "People preparing for retirement need a vision of what they can afford to spend and how it relates to their expected income. You should monitor expenses, draw up a budget and project spending changes in retirement. As a rule, plan on spending in retirement 70 to 90 percent of what you do now. Factor in inflation at 2 to 5 percent yearly." (The Arizona Republic via azcentral.com.)

As Investments Plummet and Pensions Vanish, People in Their 50s and 60s Rethinking Retirement
Excerpt: "Baby boomers are rethinking retirement as they watch their investments dwindle. Plummeting home values, fading 401(k) accounts, shrinking interest on CDs and worries about their own jobs are driving the trend. Fears about the future of Social Security and defined-benefit pensions only add to anxiety for the over-50 set. 'Even people who are five years away from retirement are nervous,' . . . . More than half of people surveyed in an Associated Press-GfK poll released last week said they worry they'll have to work longer because the value of their retirement savings has declined." (PressDemocrat.com)

How Does Modeling of Retirement Decisions at Family Level Affect Estimates of Impact of Social Security Policies on Retirement?
Excerpt: "This paper applies structural models of retirement and saving of two earner couples to explore the effects on retirement of two actuarially neutral policies, which we know from previous work can have a substantial effect on retirement if heterogeneity in time preference rates is allowed. The main question being investigated here is whether using a model that explicitly incorporates the retirement interactions of two working spouses yields a different evaluation of policies than when a much simpler model that treats the retirement decisions of the second spouse as exogenous is used." (University of Michigan Retirement Research Center)

[Opinion] Investment Advice—ERISA's Culture War
Excerpt: "The genesis of the issue comes from DOL's broad interpretation of the prohibition on self-dealing in section 406(b). DOL takes the position that a fiduciary engages in self-dealing if it uses its authority to affect the amount or timing of its compensation. This, according to DOL, is an automatic, per se violation regardless of the terms of the transaction and whether it is in the interests of plan participants." (Pension & Benefits Blog)

Younger Workers Expect to Work Longer, According to Sun Life Financial Unretirement Index
Excerpt: "New research finds dramatically different levels of optimism about when generational groups plan to retire and what they expect to rely upon in retirement. While nearly half (48%) of America's workers plan to work past the age of 67, younger generations are more often planning to retire at age 67 than their older counterparts. A full 58% of workers age 30-39 believe they will be retired at 67, compared with 45% of those aged 60 and above." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

Older Workers Worried About Promised Medicare and Social Security Benefits
Excerpt: "A new study has found that many older workers, and particularly those without employer-sponsored retirement plans or other financial resources, do not expect to receive their full Social Security or Medicare payments after they retire. Confidence is particularly low among those who are younger, female or have a lower level of education, according to a recent survey." (Watson Wyatt Worldwide)

The Housing Bubble and Retirement Security
Excerpt: "The question is whether the housing boom made people better or worse prepared for retirement. If they extracted the equity from their home through some form of housing-related debt and consumed all their borrowings, they will be left with additional debt and no additional assets and probably will be worse off in retirement. If they did not borrow and consume their equity, they will have more housing wealth to tap in retirement and will be better off." (Center for Retirement Research at Boston College)

401(k) Hardship Withdrawls and Borrowing Rise, Leading to Worries That Workers Will Have Even Fewer Funds for Retirement
Excerpt: "For Americans just scraping by, the only savings they've salted away are in a 401(k). That was fine in a growing economy. But now that it's slumping, inflation is up and layoffs are spreading, a small but increasing number of people are tapping those accounts. T. Rowe Price says 401(k) withdrawals rose 19 percent last year through June 2008. Vanguard reports its hardship 401(k) withdrawals rose 22% in 2007. Though just representing 1.5% of all plan holders -- these numbers are nonetheless troubling. Moreover, withdrawals aren't the only threat to the 401(k) assets of 44 million American workers." (Treasury & Risk)

Persuading Employees to Participate in Company Retirement Plans Isn't Getting Any Easier
Excerpt: "'Younger, hourly workers are living hand-to-mouth, and no level of education appears to convince them to save for a distant retirement date,' said a CFO in the consumer-goods industry. Still, companies persist. More than half (55 percent) of respondents say they expect their company to increase the amount of time and money it commits to employees' retirement readiness over the next five years; only 6 percent plan to reduce resources." (CFO.com)

Helping Employees Make the Most of the Benefits their Companies Offer
Excerpt: "If you want to offer employees an inexpensive benefit that will foster loyalty and boost productivity, consider a navigation system. No, not a GPS, but a tool that will guide them in making a host of decisions about everything from tuition-reimbursement programs to 401(k) strategies to consumer-directed health plans. By offering more and better education around benefits, companies not only help employees make the most of their perquisites, but also gain from increased retention, higher productivity, and related forms of goodwill." (CFO.com)

The Sun Life UnretirementSM Index
Excerpt: "The Sun Life Financial UnretirementSM Index is a new national study on American attitudes toward retirement that will be updated several times each year. Sun Life created this Index because American attitudes toward retirement today are dramatically different from those of previous generations. As traditional views on the 'golden years' continue to evolve, so will the financial needs and retirement lifestyles of future generations. The UnretirementSM Index will monitor these generational and demographic changes. [Results of the first study are at http://www.sunlife-usa.com/unretirementindex/results.cfm.]" (Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada (US))

Are You Risking Your Own Retirement to Care for a Parent?
Excerpt: "According to a study last year by the health care coordinator Evercare and the Maryland-based nonprofit National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC), about half of all those caring for someone older were helping them out financially -- at an estimated average level of $5,531 a year. That worked out to more than 10 percent of the median income of the group surveyed, with those earning lower incomes often carrying the heaviest burden." (AARP)

Fact Sheet: Your Employer's Bankruptcy - How It Affects Your Employee Benefits (PDF)
Excerpt: "This information sheet focuses on bankruptcy's effect on pension plans and group health plans." (U.S. Employee Benefits Security Administration)

Are Low-Wage Workers Destined for Low Income at Retirement?
Excerpt: "This brief assesses whether boomers with low earnings between ages 22 and 62 are destined for low income at age 67. We find that nearly two-thirds of this group will end up with low income at retirement, but more than one-third will manage to defy the odds and escape being among the lowest-income older Americans." (The Urban Institute)

[Opinion] Will the 401(k) Allow for Retirement?
Excerpt: "The trend away from defined-benefit plans toward defined-contribution plans makes it harder for workers to have adequate retirement income. And even with default enrollment and other provisions in the pension-reform act, it's likely that many workers will not be able to stop working." (Dallas Salisbury via Human Resource Executive Online)

Few Employees Are Benefits Experts Despite Importance of Worker Buy-In
Excerpt: "A new survey of human resources officials and benefits managers finds, while there is widespread agreement that it is important employees think their workplace benefits package is a good deal, comparatively few workers actually hold that view. The Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Company poll of 650 HR/benefits executives found 90% knew employee buy-in was important. However, a Colonial news release said, 21% thought workers at their companies had a good understanding of their benefits package while nearly 5% of respondents thought their employees knew nothing at all about their benefits." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

[Opinion] save our retirement funds now and create a more secure system of investments for retirement accounts
Excerpt: "The Treasury-Federal Reserve proposal should give not only investment banks but also retirees and those close to retirement the option to clear the junk -- bad mortgage-based securities and their derivatives -- out of their 401(k) accounts and invest in government-guaranteed bonds." (Teresa Ghilarducci via The New York Times; free registration required)

Automatic Enrollment in 401(k) Doesn't Take Care of Everything
Excerpt: "Don't confuse your employer's default contribution rate with a magic number guaranteed to provide you with enough money to live on in retirement. In fact, [experts] worry that for all the good automatic enrollment does, it also may create a false sense of security and discourage workers from putting more away. Financial planners often encourage people in their 20s to save at least 10 percent of gross income for retirement, including employer match money, and 15 percent or more if they got a later start." (Chicago Tribune)

'Those Close to Retirement Are Likely to Have a Substantial Reduction in Their Standard of Living,' According to Study
Excerpt: "Middle-income Americans now retiring will have to reduce their standard of living by an average of 24% to avoid outliving their financial assets, a new study finds. Even those still seven years out from retirement, less prepared, could be looking at a 37% reduction in their living standard. That holds true even when assuming that retirees can get by on 59% to 71% of their pre-retirement wages, according to the study, done by Ernst & Young LLP on behalf of the Americans for Secure Retirement coalition." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

What to Do If You Are About to Retire and It Looks Like Your Money Is Vanishing
Excerpt: "[I]t's easy for someone who is 25 years from retirement just to ignore the current gyrations, but if you're going to actually need that money? Or you already do? It's hard not to look. And what you see when you look probably isn't pretty. In fact, you probably feel angry, and fearful, and powerless to do anything about it. But there are a few things you can do to minimize the damage, and maybe even come out a bit ahead." (The Motley Fool)

[Opinion] Don't Panic - Re-Evaluate Conventional Retirement Plan Strategies
Excerpt: "So, besides not panicking, the second thing you can do is this. Every calamity creates an opportunity to revisit your investment plan. . . . For those who have a time horizon of five years or more, it's quite possible that you don't have to change a thing. Your standard 60% stocks and 40% bonds portfolio was built, presumably, to withstand this sort of volatility and bounce back some years later. For those who need to tap into their nest egg within five years, it's possible that you may not have to change anything either, especially when you factor in how long the portfolio has to last." (MarketWatch)

[Opinion] For Most People, Retirement is Just Not Going to Work - Until Education Measures Matter (PDF)
5 pages. Excerpt: "[T]oday's retirement education has no measures of individual success. How can retirement education be designed well or improved if no success measures exist? [A version of this article appeared in the July 2008 issue of Benefits & Compensation Digest.]" (Dennis Ackley)

BLS's New Employment Cost Indexes for 14 Metropolitan Areas
Excerpt: "This article presents a first look at new estimates from the National Compensation Survey (NCS): Employment Cost Index (ECI) 12-month change in total compensation and in wages and salaries for private industry for 14 selected metropolitan areas." (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)

National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in the United States, March 2008
The annual bulletin has Tables Organized by Ownership and Tables Organized by Benefits. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics)

An Examination of Retirement Income Adequacy Measures and Factors Affecting Retirement Preparedness
Excerpt: "This article uses a consistent methodology to estimate several retirement income adequacy measures for households that participate in two national surveys. In addition, we examine the impact of a variety of factors on retirement preparedness. We find that Survey of Consumer Finances households have higher income replacement rates, but lower consumption replacement rates, than Health and Retirement Survey households. We also find that replacement rate estimates are sensitive to the treatment of home equity and assumed retirement age." (Social Science Research Network)

Another Question is Answered in the Stop, Look & Listen: Railroad Retirement Q&A Column
The quarterly financial report of the National Railroad Retirement Investment Trust report (March 31, 2008)shows investments in JP Morgan and Lehman Brothers. How concerned should railroad employees be in regards to their Tier II benefits? Should a employee who is near retirement (3 years away) postpone retirement? (BenefitsLink.com)

Baby Boomer Retirements May Create Labor Crunch
Excerpt: "The labor supply may experience shortages in coming years as more Baby Boomers retire, according to a study by KPMG. The firm found there is a lack of Generation Y workers to replace those who are expected to retire in the years ahead. That could lead to a lack of consumer spending and a contraction in the tax base." (WebCPA.com via On Wall Street)

Older Americans with Investments Among Hardest Hit by Financial Markets' Turmoil
Excerpt: "Today's retirees have less money in savings, longer life expectancies and greater exposure to market risk than any retirees since World War II. Even before the last week of turmoil, 39 percent of retirees said they expected to outlive their savings, up from 29 percent in 2007 . . . ." (The New York Times; free registration required)

What Happens to Your Benefits After Bankruptcy
The article examines considerations of your retirement plan(s) and health insurance if your company is facing the possibility of bankruptcy. (The Wall Street Journal)

Biggest Pension Monthly Payout Not Always Best Choice
Excerpt: "Assuming you have made the decision to take your pension as an annuity instead of a lump sum, or you don't have the option of a lump sum, most likely there will be little or no difference in your pension options from an actuarial standpoint. But your health history and overall financial picture could make one option significantly better." (Newsday)

10 Secrets to a Financially Secure Retirement
The article details five ways to boost your income and five ways to reduce expenses and debts. (USA TODAY)

Survey Reveals Family Savings Concerns
Excerpt: "A recent online survey from Disney Family.com reveals 91% of parents say the U.S. economy is an extremely/very important issue for their families. According to a press release, 46% of parents surveyed say they are not able to save for their children's college education or have not yet started saving, expecting their child to get student loans or earn scholarships. In addition, 61% of respondents indicated they are nervous about retirement." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

To Retire Comfortably - It All Boils Down to Time
Excerpt: "T. Rowe Price researchers examined what it would take for a 62-year-old to turbocharge his eventual retirement purchasing power from his own savings and Social Security. If he managed to save 25% of his paycheck each year, he could boost his annual retirement income by 8.2% for every year that he continued his herculean savings. So if he quit work at age 65 rather than at 62, his retirement purchasing power would jump nearly 25%. . . . That savings regimen would strike most people as extreme . . . . But it doesn't have to be painful . . . . How come? Because even if a worker doesn't save a dollar more after passing up early retirement at age 62, she could retire with roughly the same 25% boost of income just by working till age 66 -- just one year longer than the aggressive saver." (USA TODAY)

National Save for Retirement Week, October 19-25, 2008
See the Plan Sponsor Resource Center on the right side of the page. (National Association of Government Defined Contribution Administrators, Inc.)

Safety Nets Depend on the Kind of Assets You Own
Excerpt: "There are safety nets to catch you when your financial institution fails, but how much protection you have depends largely on the kind of assets you own and where you hold them, be they certificates of deposit, a pension plan or a checking account." (The Seattle Times)

Baby Boomers Come Face to Face with America's Faltering Economy
Excerpt: "For retirement-minded boomers, the current economic slowdown -- not to mention last week's dizzying stock market -- couldn't have come at a worse time. And, for boomers who haven't saved as much as they should have or would have liked to, it's serving as one very stark wake-up call." (Las Vegas Review-Journal)

DOL Website Provides Updated Contact Information for Hurricane Victims
Excerpt: "The DOL announced that it has updated its website to give plan sponsors a way to provide updated contact information for hurricane victims: 'The U.S. Department of Labor's Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) today updated its Web site to give sponsors of retirement, health and other benefit plans a way to update their contact information following the disruption of operations due to Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. This information will allow employees, plan participants and their families, as well as the many support organizations that assist victims of the hurricanes, to reach plan administrators with questions and information related to their benefits." (ERISA Rules and Regulations)

Study Reveals Attitudes Play a Key Role in Participants' Deferral Rate Choices
Excerpt: "A recent study by the Spectrem Group revealed some very interesting points about participant decision-making on deferral rates. . . . Although the sample size from the study wasn't particularly large (just over 400 people) it does provide some useful insights . . . ." (TRI-AD)

How to 'Sell' the Savings Habit to Americans
Excerpt: "[C]ompanies in the financial-services sector - specifically banks, insurers, mutual fund firms and the like - have failed to create the cues to get Americans to develop the saving habit or break the spending habit. So the question arises: What lessons, if any, can financial firms learn from those firms so skilled at manufacturing habits? What are the cues needed to create the savings habit?" (The Wall Street Journal)

Is Your 401(k) Plan Protected?
Excerpt: "Q: What safety measures are in place to protect the money I have invested in my company's 401(k) account? A: The federal government has established rules for the people running your 401(k) plan, whether it's company officials - common in small companies - or a provider working with your company to administer the retirement plan. The Employee Benefits Security Administration, a division of the U.S. Department of Labor, is responsible for protecting pensions, health plans and other employee benefits held by about 150 million workers." (Forbes.com LLC)

How Does the Wall Street Meltdown Affect My Pension?
Excerpt: "In the past few days, large companies on Wall Street have been closing left and right, making the people who work at these companies jittery about many issues, including their retirement security. The good news for these employees is that the money in their pension and 401(k) plans is protected from creditors, so that even when a company goes into bankruptcy, they don't have to worry about their retirement money being used to pay back debts instead." (Pension Rights Center)

Identifying Local Differences in Retirement Patterns (PDF)
18 pages. Excerpt: "This paper investigates how local labor market and other economic conditions affect retirement transitions, a question that has until recently been overlooked in the retirement literature. In particular, local unemployment rates will affect both involuntary exits from jobs and the opportunity after either voluntary or involuntary exits to find bridge jobs that allow phased retirement. As another example, low or declining house prices may restrict a worker's ability to relocate." (Center for Retirement Research at Boston College)

9th Annual Transamerica Retirement Survey: Single Women in the U.S.A. (PDF)
37 pages. Excerpt: "The 9th Annual Transamerica Retirement Survey reveals a significant disconnect between single women's dreams of retirement versus their actions and behaviors when saving and planning for future retirement. While many single women dream of traveling, pursuing hobbies, and spending more time at home with family and friends, the survey found that many are unlikely to achieve these dreams or financial security in retirement unless they take action – now." (Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies)

Single Woman Far Behind the Retirement Savings Curve
Excerpt: "Many single women are ill-prepared and unlikely to achieve a financially secure retirement if they don't take action now, according to the Ninth Annual Transamerica Retirement Survey." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

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