Headlines about "Ret plans - info for employees"

Gathered from the web by the editors at BenefitsLink.com.
Debate: Should All Advisors Be Required to Meet the Fiduciary Standard, or Should Everyone Fall Under a Suitability Standard
Excerpt: "At the heart of this debate lies a contentious word: fiduciary. In essence it means that advisors who fall under the fiduciary standard, namely investment advisors who run a fee-based business, must always put clients' interests before of their own. This generally means recommending the lowest-priced product that meets the client's needs and disclosing all conflicts of interest. On the other hand, broker-dealer registered representatives must meet a 'suitability' standard of care." (On Wall Street and SourceMedia, Inc.)

Bill with Retirement Plan Fee Disclosure, Investment Advice Rules Advances
Excerpt: "Specifically, the bill would require the following: Fees would have to be disclosed by 401(k) plans as a single figure in a worker's quarterly statement. Service providers and plan administrators would have to disclose fees to plan sponsors, broken into four categories: 1) administrative fees; 2) investment management fees; 3) transaction fees; and 4) other fees. Plan administrators would be obliged to provide investment information to participants, including information about risks, returns and investment goals." (Thompson Publishing Group)

2009 Employee Benefits Survey Report
Excerpt: "SHRM's 2009 Employee Benefits survey report provides comprehensive information about the types of benefits U.S. employers offer to their employees. In 2009, 274 benefits were explored, covering the areas of health care and welfare benefits, preventive health and wellness benefits, financial and compensation benefits, paid time off benefits, family-friendly benefits, flexible working benefits, personal services benefits, housing and relocation benefits, and business travel benefits. The report breaks the benefits down by organization staff size and organization sector and covers trends in benefits offerings over the last five years." (Society for Human Resource Management)

Defined Benefit Funding Relief at Risk Over an Advice Provision
Excerpt: "A House committee yanked a pension bill provision safeguarding existing investment advice arrangements for DC plans -- jeopardizing employer support for a package that also provides critical funding relief for DB plans. At the 11th hour, Democrats on the House Education and Labor Committee deleted the provision that would have made clear the legislation would not pre-empt existing investment advice arrangements that rely on the Department of Labor's SunAmerica advisory opinion or other DOL advice exemptions." (Pensions & Investments)

401(k) Has Advantages Even If Employer Cuts Match
Excerpt: "Given the severity of the downturn, employees have learned to live with a certain amount of corporate belt-tightening. But cutbacks in matching contributions to your 401(k) plan are much harder to stomach. More than a quarter of large companies have suspended matching contributions to their employees' 401(k) plans or plan to do so in the near future, according to a survey by CFO Research Services and Charles Schwab. The company match has always been a powerful incentive for contributing to a 401(k) plan, at least up to the match. But what if there is no match? Should you still contribute?" (USA Today)

Life Cycle Finance and the Design of Pension Plans
Excerpt: "This article reviews recent scientific literature on consumer financial decisions over the life cycle outlining its implications for the design of pension plans. It begins with a review of advances in the theory of rational financial planning and wealth management. It then summarizes the recent empirical literature on the actual behavior of households regarding saving, investing, and insuring their consumption in old age. Finally, it briefly comments on the practical implications of the theory for the design of pension systems and outlines areas of future research." (Boston University School of Management Research Paper Series via Social Science Research Network)

Capital Income Taxes With Heterogeneous Discount Rates
Excerpt: "With heterogeneity in both skills and preferences for the future, the Atkinson-Stiglitz result that savings should not be taxed with optimal taxation of earnings does not hold. Empirical evidence shows that on average people with higher skills save at higher rates. Saez (2002) suggests that with such positive correlation taxing savings can increase welfare. This paper analyzes this issue in a model with less than perfect correlation between ability and preference for the future." (Center for Retirement Research at Boston College)

What's Your Number? How Much Money Do You Need to Retire?
Excerpt: "I've been asked this many, many times in my years as a personal-finance columnist. I used to take a deep breath, then begin a discourse on pensions, Social Security, life expectancy, plans to pass assets to children, business succession, expected rates of return, inflation . . . . Then, finding that people really wanted a simple, easy answer, I came up with one: 'three million dollars.' That's what you need to retire. No matter who you are, where you live, what your expectations. Trust me. I like this figure because it's high enough to force most people to tighten their belts and take investing seriously. But it's not so out of reach as to make them give up." (The New York Times; free registration required)

[Opinion] Joint-Trade Letter Concerning H.R. 1988, 'The Conflicted Investment Advice Prohibition Act of 2009' (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "Under ERISA, anyone providing investment advice to a plan or its participants or beneficiaries is already a fiduciary and subject to the highest standards of duty. There is no evidence of a violation of these standards, and Representative Andrews has not presented evidence of any problems with the current system. HR 1988 is not necessary. By establishing new barriers for firms who are well-qualified to provide advice, it will result in fewer American workers, including baby-boomers approaching retirement, receiving critically important investment advice." (U.S. Chamber of Commerce)

Managing Risks in a Market Meltdown: Effects on Portfolios and Retirement (PDF)
11 pages. Excerpt: "Among various outcomes, the current environment has the potential to wreak havoc with an individual's retirement savings and thus their plans for retirement. A recent TIAA-CREF Institute survey of TIAA-CREF participants age 50 and older found that a substantial minority have delayed their planned date of retirement and changed how they plan to live once retired as a result of developments in the financial markets. This in turn means that managing retirement patterns on campus, already a challenge for many colleges and universities, only becomes more challenging. On April 24, 2009, the TIAA-CREF Institute [held a symposium] to discuss addressing the challenges raised by the dramatic drops in financial markets for both individuals and colleges and universities; in particular, issues related to risk management in individuals' retirement portfolios and managing and facilitating employee retirements." (TIAA-CREF Institute)

Improving Consumer Financial Literacy under the New Regulatory System
June 25, 2009. Witness List is on the target page. (U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services, Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit)

House Committee Approves Bill That Restricts 401(k) Advice to Independent Advisers
Excerpt: "Today's bill merged two proposals that were introduced this year: one made by Rep. Rob Andrews, D-N.J., focused on conflicted investment advice, the other sponsored by the committee's chairman, Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., would have required increased disclosure of fees and expenses in 401(k) plans. The new bill incorporates a proposal to provide corporate plan sponsors with temporary relief from making required contributions to their traditional defined benefit pension plans." (Investment News; free registration required)

Employers' Response, or Lack of, to the Retirement Income Savings Challenge (PDF)
Excerpt: "The survey results indicate that, in today's 401(k) world, employers continue to see retirement-related initiatives as a way to attract and retain employees but are essentially unresponsive to the need to retire employees in an orderly and predictable fashion." (Center for Retirement Research at Boston College)

Executive Summary: Effect of the Economic Crisis on Employee Attitudes Toward Retirement: Retirement Timing
Excerpt: "The economic crisis will further extend the length of working careers, which have been increasing for the past decade. Half of workers aged 50 and over now plan to work past age 65. Employees with a defined benefit (DB) plan, however, are more likely to retire before age 65 than those with only a defined contribution (DC) plan." (Watson Wyatt Worldwide)

Amendment to Conflicted Advice Bill Regarding Retirement Education (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "Page 27, add at the end the following: SEC. 4. EXPANSION OF OUTREACH TO PROMOTE RETIREMENT INCOME SAVINGS TO INCLUDE PROMOTION OF EDUCATION ON FINANCIAL LITERACY WITH RESPECT TO INVESTMENT FOR RETIREMENT." (U.S. House of Representatives via The Spark Institute)

Three Ways to Get Your 401(k) Back on Track
Excerpt: "The easiest fix would, of course, be a full recovery of the stock market. But the returns necessary to repair your retirement accounts are unlikely to happen any time soon. Baby boomers over age 55 who wish to retire in the next two years will need annual investment returns of 13.64 percent to recoup their losses between January 1, 2008 and April 30, 2009, according to calculations released today by Mercer, a benefits administrator and consulting company. Investors who have 5 years to recover will need returns of 5.44 percent annually to get back to where they were a year and a half ago. Those with a longer time horizon will need only a 2.72 annual rate of return to recover over 10 years and just 1.81 percent annually over 15 years." (U.S. News & World Report)

Financial Well-Being for Employees: A Case Study (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "NCCI [Holdings, Inc.] developed a comprehensive program -- combining retirement planning with a wider view of employees' financial health -- to address employees' life goals and empower them to take charge of their financial lives. The company sought help from external vendors and partnered with its retirement provider, Charles Schwab. Schwab's broad approach to financial education, onsite workshops, and personal financial consultations played an important part in the effort. NCCI introduced plan changes in late 2007, including the launch of automatic enrollment, auto savings increases, and a Roth 401(k) option. The three-year education effort was rolled out in phases in preparation for the plan changes on January 1, 2008." (Schwab Retirement Plan Services, Inc.)

Bill Would Allow Independent Advisers to Counsel 401(k) Participants
Excerpt: "This bill aims to allow only independent investment advisers -- essentially those advisers whose compensation is not affected by the counsel they provide -- to work directly with 401(k) participants. . . . [The] bill effectively would repeal the Labor Department's ruling update this year of the Pension Protection Act of 2006." (Investment News; free registration required)

The Future of Retirement: Fact Sheet for the United States (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "The fifth annual HSBC Future of Retirement report builds on the previous year's reports in exploring the current attitudes and behaviour towards retirement. Whilst for many people in the US retirement is viewed as a new age of opportunity, the issue that needs to be addressed is how families envisage funding and supporting their retirement years. The report explores how Americans are responding to the new responsibility of being increasingly accountable for their pension provision. The report also identifies the current 'preparedness gap' ? the feeling shared by that the vast majority of people in the US that they are currently doing too little to actively prepare for a comfortable retirement." (HSBC Insurance Holdings Limited)

The Future of Retirment, 2009 (PDF)
64 pages. Excerpt: "This report is inspired by the rapid improvements in longevity witnessed in the last half century. With these trends set to continue, the way in which we fund retirement will become one of the most profound challenges facing the world. The presence of a demographic mega-trend will affect every aspect of our economic and social life. This will include changing working patterns, family life, as well as the need to reassess funding healthcare and what will, in all likelihood, be an extended retirement." (HSBC Insurance Holdings Limited)

Pension 'Perfect Storm' Could Derail Retirement Plans, Global Study Finds
Excerpt: "Unless people prepare for it properly in advance, a perfect storm of demographic and financial trends could derail people's retirement plans, a global survey from HSBC Insurance finds. In its fifth annual Future of Retirement study, HSBC's It's Time to Prepare finds 9% of the 15,000 people it surveyed in 15 countries expect to delay their retirement because of the economic downturn and only 19% intend to retire as they had previously planned. Many are doing the opposite of what they should be doing: 17% are reducing retirement savings or have stopped saving for retirement altogether." (The National Post Company)

Retirement-Planning Software Needs Overhaul
Excerpt: "In the past year, improbable financial events became all too real, calling into question some commonly-held beliefs about retirement planning -- and forcing a closer look at software tools that use probability models as a basis for helping people prepare for retirement. These days, savers, retirees and advisers are looking in the rearview mirror, questioning the value of software that failed to live up to its billing. Likewise, firms -- perhaps validating the notion that such software failed -- are rolling out new versions of their retirement-planning tools in hopes of meeting the needs of savers in a world where nothing is guaranteed." (MarketWatch)

[Opinion] American Benefits Council Proposed Modification of H.R. 1988, The Conflicted Investment Advice Prohibition Act of 2009 (PDF)
Excerpt: "H.R. 1988 is easily modified to achieve its intended purpose through a very simple amendment. Under such amendment, the following would be inserted on page 23 between lines 12 and 13: '(E) This paragraph shall not apply to investment advice provided to a plan or to a participant or beneficiary if such advice . . . ." (American Benefits Council)

Leaving 401(k) Money With Former Employer, Instead of IRA Rollover, Can Protect Savings
Excerpt: "Depending on the state where you live, leaving a plan in the sheltering arms of a former employer might offer more protection from creditors than a rollover IRA" (The Wall Street Journal)

Jobs That Still Offer Traditional Pensions
Excerpt: "Traditional pensions that pay out guaranteed benefits for life aren't easy to come by these days, as most employers have long since abandoned their traditional pension plans in favor of 401(k)'s. Still, there are some holdout industries that continue to reward lifelong employees with gold-plated retirement benefits. Here are a few places to look for jobs that may offer the coveted traditional pension." (U.S. News & World Report)

Get Used to a Working Retirement
Excerpt: "There is a major social and cultural message in the current economic collapse to the future retirees of the U.S.: Forget retirement." (BusinessWeek)

Protecting Your Social Security and Pension from Creditors
Excerpt: "Federal law says creditors can't take Social Security, veterans, disability and pension benefits to pay a debt. But it happens anyway. . . . Most [bank] account applications . . . include fine print stating the bank maintains the right of 'set off' -- that is, to take money from your checking, savings, or other accounts to repay a debt you owe the bank. But banks aren't allowed to 'set off' exempt funds . . . ." (Ellen E. Schultz in the Wall Street Journal)

Rethinking Conventional Wisdom About 401(k) Loans: Better In Debt to a Plan Than a Credit Card Company
Excerpt: "Americans could save as much as $5 billion a year -- or $275 per household -- by borrowing from their 401(k) retirement accounts instead of more costly consumer loans, Federal Reserve economists Geng Li and Paul A. Smith conclude in a recent Fed working paper." (Wall Street Journal)

[Guidance Overview] Debtor's Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Filing Was 'Presumptively Abusive'; 401k Loan Repayments Not 'Necessary Expense'
Excerpt: "Applying the 'means test' from the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (BAPCPA), the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit held (in an issue of first impression for the court) that the section 401(k) plan loan was not a 'secured debt' or a 'necessary expense' of the debtor." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

MassMutual Participant Report, First Quarter 2009 (PDF)
2 pages. Excerpt: "Analysis of first quarter account activity suggests that participants continue to save for retirement and most are riding out economic uncertainty without drastic changes. In general, they are still concerned about the economy, want to talk to someone about their plan and are interested in secure investments." (Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company)

How Investment Losses Affect Retirement Plans
Excerpt: "Among all age groups, those who suffered the greatest investment losses are also the most likely to consider delaying retirement. Less than a third (29 percent) of employees who lost less than 20 percent of their savings plan to work longer than originally planned, compared to 42 percent of those who lost between 20 and 40 percent of their nest egg and 59 percent of Americans who lost 40 percent or more of their life savings." (U.S. News & World Report)

Boost 401(k) Plan Participation: Avoid Returning Funds to Highly Compensated Employees
Excerpt: "[M]any highly compensated executives are less than thrilled when they have to take back money they have already contributed to their company's 401(k) retirement plan because it fails to meet non-discrimination rules. Failure typically occurs when the gap between what highly compensated employees defer on average and what non-highly compensated employees defer on average exceeds IRS guidelines. Unfortunately, this is happening with growing frequency. The 401(k) Profit Sharing Council of America (PSCA) reported that 58% of all non-safe harbor plans failed their non-discrimination test in 2008, an increase of 20% from the previous year." (planadvisor)

Financial Literacy: Evidence and Implications for Financial Education
Excerpt: "The paper discusses financial literacy in the United States in the context of retirement planning. Due to the long-term shift away from defined benefit to defined contribution pensions, it is important to examine whether workers are adequately equipped to manage the resultant increased responsibility for planning their retirement. Given that financial literacy is an important predictor of retirement planning and other important financial decisions, widespread illiteracy is a serious cause for concern. Implications for policymakers as they consider financial education programs include the importance of targeting specific groups, simplifying financial decision-making, and providing specific steps and guidance to the least financially knowledgeable." (TIAA-CREF Institute)

Informed Participation: The Path to Retirement Security (PDF)
3 pages. Excerpt: "Automatic plan design sets a new paradigm for financial education in the workplace. Since the goal of getting employees into the plan can be met largely through automatic enrollment, sponsors can focus on what participants need to know about the value of the plan, and how to use it to achieve financial security in retirement." (Retirement Made Simpler)

[Guidance Overview] Introduction of 'Conflicted Investment Advice Prohibition Act of 2009'
Excerpt: "Congressman Rob Andrews (D-NJ) recently introduced the 'Conflicted Investment Advice Prohibition Act of 2009,' a bill that would significantly restrict the types of advice programs that providers and sponsors of 401(k) plans could offer to participants. In this article we review the bill, focusing particularly on the issues of fiduciary exposure and compliance for plan sponsors." (JPMorgan Chase & Co.)

Traditional Company Pensions Are Going Away Fast
Excerpt: "The number of companies offering traditional defined benefit pension plans was shrinking even before the recession, but the downturn has accelerated the decline. Since the beginning of the year, at least 20 companies have frozen their defined pension plans, exceeding the number of plan freezes for all of 2008. A recent survey by Watson Wyatt found that, for the first time, the majority of Fortune 100 companies are offering new salaried employees only one type of retirement plan: a 401(k) or similar 'defined contribution' plan. . . . [Pension freezes are] particularly hard on older employees, who have less time to make up the difference by saving more. In addition, traditional pensions 'are worth a lot more at the end of your career than at the beginning of your career,' Friedman says. 'If the freeze comes in your 40s and 50s, you end up with a much smaller benefit.'" (USA Today)

Extending Life Cycle Models of Optimal Portfolio Choice: Integrating Flexible Work, Endogenous Retirement, and Investment Decisions with Lifetime Payouts
Excerpt: "This paper derives optimal life cycle portfolio asset allocations as well as annuity purchases trajectories for a consumer who can select her hours of work and also her retirement age. Using a realistically-calibrated model with stochastic mortality and uncertain labor income, we extend the investment universe to include not only stocks and bonds, but also survival-contingent payout annuities. We show that making labor supply endogenous raises older peoples' equity share; substantially increases work effort by the young; and markedly enhances lifetime welfare. Also, introducing annuities leads to earlier retirement and higher participation by the elderly in financial markets. Finally, if we allow for an age-dependent leisure preference parameter, this fits well with observed evidence in that it generates lower work hours and smaller equity holdings at older ages as well as sensible retirement age patterns." (Pension Research Council; registration required to download fulltext of paper)

How Well Are Employees Saving and Investing in 401(k) Plans: 2009 Hewitt Universe Benchmarks (PDF)
4 pages. Excerpt: "Hewitt recently released a study which analyzes the quality of participation, plan balances, investment behavior, account activity, and demographics of over 2.7 million employees. The report shows that despite the significant decline in the stock market during 2008, most participants did not change their saving and investment behavior throughout the year. Overall participant rates across the universe remained flat from last year. Contribution rates declined slightly. In terms of trading behavior, only one in five participants made a transfer throughout the year, similar to the year before. There was an increase in overall withdrawals, and specifically hardship withdrawals, but little change in loans." (Hewitt Associates via MJM401k, LLC)

Retirement Increasingly Elusive in Today's Economy
Excerpt: "'You get three benefits by working longer,' says Stuart Ritter, a certified financial planner with the investment management company T. Rowe Price. 'Each year you work you get one more year of contributions to a retirement plan. You have one less year that your investments have to support you in retirement. And you get a 7 to 8 percent inflation-adjusted increase in your Social Security payments for each year you put off taking Social Security until age 70.'" (NPR.org)

Finding Out How Your Company's Retirement Plan Compares with Others
Excerpt: "[T]here are a few ways you may be able to evaluate your 401(k) in terms of the cost, breadth of offerings, the company match and other policies, and perhaps even get a sense of how it rates versus other plans. The first place you should try is the Web site of a new independent rating service called BrightScope. The company uses data culled mostly from public filings to assign numerical scores to company 401(k) plans on a scale of 0 (lowest) to 100 (highest) based on such factors as the generosity of the employer match, the quality of the investment options, the vesting schedule and the level of fees." (CNNMoney.com)

[Opinion] Let's Rebuild Retirement's Three Legs
Excerpt: "For decades, the U.S. retirement system was described as a three-legged stool. One leg was the Social Security system, the second was the employer-sponsored retirement plan, and the third was personal savings.Unfortunately, all three legs of this metaphorical stool have become fragile. . . . Robert Reynolds, president and chief executive of Boston-based Putnam Investments, is on the right track in proposing changes to 401(k) plans to reduce the risks for participants and in urging other financial industry leaders to join him in pushing Congress for action, as reported in InvestmentNews last week. He has identified the two most critical changes that are needed. First, all employers should be required to enroll all employees in a 401(k) or similar plan, and all employees should be required to contribute a minimum percentage of their pay to the plan." (Investment News; free registration required)

Consider Consequences of Lump-Sum Distributions from Retirement Plans
Excerpt: "Lost tax-deferred growth opportunities. When you take a lump-sum withdrawal from a qualified retirement plan or IRA, you are removing your funds from a tax-deferred environment. Even if you reinvest this money (instead of spending it), you're still missing out on tax advantages. When you reinvest the funds outside of the retirement plan, your earnings generally will be on a taxable basis. Over time, taxes greatly cut into the growth that you're able to achieve. Even if you immediately reinvest your lump-sum amount in another tax-deferred vehicle (such as an annuity), you will still be required to pay income tax on the amount of your lump-sum withdrawal. For that reason, if you're planning to buy an annuity, it may make sense to do a rollover to an IRA (to avoid income tax) and then buy the annuity inside your IRA." (Chillicothe Gazette)

What the 2008 Stock Market Crash Means for Retirement Security
Excerpt: "The one-third drop in the S&P 500 index between year-end 2007 and 2008 raises concerns about retirement security since Americans now hold more equities through their retirement plans. Those near retirement will fare the worst because they have no time to recoup their losses. Midcareer workers will fare better because they have more time to rebuild their wealth. They may even gain income if they buy stocks at low prices and get above-average rates of return. High-income groups will be the most affected because they are most likely to have financial assets and to be invested in the stock market." (The Urban Institute)

Hot Topics in Retirement: 2009 (PDF)
29 pages. Results of a survey of human resource professionals. (Hewitt Associates)

Even in Face of Major Economic Downturn, 401(k) Participants Stay Steady, According to Survey
Excerpt: "Hewitt said employee investments in equity fund allocations were at record lows last year. A Hewitt news release about its annual Universe Benchmarks study, which examines the saving and investment behaviors of more than 2.7 million employees eligible for 401(k) plans, showed that the median rate of return during 2008 was -28.3%. The average 401(k) balance dropped from $79,600 in 2007 to $57,200 at the end of 2008, while 43% lost 30% or more of their savings. Only 11% of employees were able to break even or see a gain in their 401(k) portfolios, Hewitt reported. Despite these losses, workers continued to save. Hewitt's research shows that 74% of employees participated in their 401(k) plan in 2008 with the average deferral rate dropping only marginally, from 7.7% in 2007 to 7.4 % in 2008." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

The Art and Science of Delivering Bad News on Layoffs/Benefit Cuts in the Workplace (PDF)
Pages 1-3 of 12 pages. (Milliman)

What Social Security's Underfunding Means for Your Retirement
Excerpt: "Social Security and Medicare's annual checkup revealed that the recession and longer life expectancies are taxing the health of the entitlement system. The Social Security Board of Trustees report found that program costs will exceed tax revenues in 2016, a year sooner than predicted in last year's report. The trust fund will be exhausted in 2037, four years sooner than the 2008 estimate. Here's a look at how the projections could affect your retirement plans." (U.S. News & World Report)

Helping Tomorrow's Retirees Better Prepare Today: A Defined Contribution Participant Survey (PDF)
Excerpt: "Current investor education efforts are coming up short. The respondents' collective view of educational materials supplied by 401(k) providers and their employers is that they are: Difficult to understand: 34% of respondents felt the materials included terms or concepts that they did not understand and were not adequately explained; A commodity product: 41% agreed that the materials do not contain information that could not be easily found elsewhere (19% disagreed); Ineffective: Fewer than 19% of respondents indicated that the educational resources led to changes in retirement planning behaviors or practices." (String Financial, LLC.)

Participants Could Accept 'Mortality-Contingent' Products, According to Retirement Study
Excerpt: "A new study by a Hartford-based retirement services firm asserted that service providers looking to help participants get ready for retirement should concentrate on improving investor education and providing mortality-contingent products. A news release from String Financial, LLC about its recent study claimed 30% of participants surveyed would definitely or likely be willing to trade the ability to have a portion of their portfolio set up to go to their heirs on their death if such a trade meant they could generate more lifetime income than would be possible otherwise. Some 40% said they possibly would consider such a move." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

Older Workers: Recareering in Later Life
Excerpt: "The research concludes that later-life career change seems to be an important part of the retirement process. Many changers later in life appear to be pushed into new lines of work involuntarily following job layoffs or business closings. Others, however, appear to place a high premium on leaving 9-5 work and moving into more flexible positions, even at less pay. Some older workers may change careers in hopes of finding more meaningful jobs that give added purpose to their lives." (AARP)

Wi$eUp: Financial Planning for Generation X & Y Women
Excerpt: "Wi$eUp is a financial education project targeted to Generation X and Y women. The centerpiece of the program is an eight-module curriculum offered online, as well as in a classroom setting, in educational institutions and other organizations in all ten Women's Bureau regions. In the online program, the curriculum is complemented by an 'Ask the Experts' feature, which permits participants to send questions by e-mail to volunteers with financial expertise. Another feature available to participants in both the online and classroom-based versions is a series of bi-monthly, free one-hour teleconference calls with featured speakers and a question and answer session." (U.S. Department of Labor Women's Bureau)

Creative Communications for 403(b) Plans
Excerpt: "Plan sponsors can leverage the Web and their providers to create useful communication strategies for 403(b) participants, according to panelists at PLANSPONSOR's 403(b) Summit. . . . There are two types of communication strategies 403(b) sponsors utilize: required and non-required." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)

Creative Ways to Increase Low-Income Employee Participation in 401(k) Plans
Excerpt: "Research from the Retirement Security Project . . . indicates that low-income individuals can, and will, save given the right circumstances. So what exactly are the right circumstances? If you are thinking outside the box like Staples, you partner up with Progress Through Business, a nonprofit organization focusing on poverty alleviation issues, and H&R Block to offer discounted tax preparation to low-income employees of Staples, Inc. thorough a pilot program called Tax Break first rolled out in January 2007 and run again in January 2008. . . . What made Tax Break unique was the inclusion of opportunities for low income employees to enroll in both employer and government benefit programs in the tax preparation process." (Retirement Plan Blog)

Rep. Rob Andrews' Investment Advice Bill
Excerpt: "Pension and financial industry lobbyists say that the legislation, if enacted, would result in fewer DC plan participants receiving advice about their investment options." (Workforce Management; free registration required)

Changes Coming for the 401(k) Plan as Democrats Target Fees and Enrollment
Excerpt: "Proposed legislation gaining momentum in the House and Senate would require the industry to break out 401(k) fees on investors' statements, and would essentially repeal Bush administration regulations allowing mutual-fund companies to offer personalized advice to 401(k) participants in the plans the companies manage. In another proposed change, President Obama's 2010 budget calls for the future establishment of a program in which all workers would be automatically enrolled in employers' retirement plans. Now, in most cases, they must opt in to participate. Also under the administration's plan, employers that don't offer a retirement plan would be required to enroll their employees in a direct-deposit individual retirement account. Employees would be able to opt out of either approach." (The Wall Street Journal)

Retirement at the Tipping Point: The Year That Changed Everything (PDF)
20 pages. Excerpt: "This study examines the new retirement fears, hopes, attitudes, advice, and plans among four generations of Americans. In addition, we examine several major changes over the past year by comparing insights from this survey with results from Rethinking Retirement?, a survey Age Wave conducted in collaboration with Charles Schwab Corporation and Harris Interactive exactly one year earlier. The following report summarizes the key findings of our latest study. We discovered anxiety and uncertainty, and shifting plans and lives, but also a renewed focus on what is most important, and a surprisingly optimistic outlook as the purpose of retirement is re-visioned." (Age Wave)

Survey Findings: Hot Topics in Retirement 2009
Excerpt: "Hewitt Associates surveyed employers to learn their likely areas of focus and action in 2009 regarding the design, management, and delivery of their defined contribution, defined benefit, and retiree medical plans for their active, salaried U.S. employees. Responses from more than 140 employers provide a preview of the changes likely to take place in the retirement landscape in 2009." (Hewitt Consulting)

Pension Lobbyists Wary of Investment Advice Change
Excerpt: "Pension and financial industry lobbyists are concerned that, along with slamming the door on the Bush administration's effort to loosen the advice regulations, Mr. Andrews' bill also could undermine existing advice arrangements offered under the DOL's SunAmerica advisory opinion. Under the SunAmerica opinion, mutual funds can offer advice to plan participants when that advice is generated by a computer model created by an independent third party, such as Financial Engines or Ibbotson Associates." (Pensions & Investments)

Hourly Employees Spared Painful Benefits Cuts in Chrysler Bankruptcy
Excerpt: "Union employees will still receive company-sponsored health care. CEO Bob Nardelli says 'all qualified employee' pension and 401(k) funds would be protected from Chrysler's creditors." (Workforce Management; free registration required)

HR Leaders Turning to New Products and Tools Designed to Strengthen Defined-Contribution Plans
Excerpt: "[P]lummeting returns are contributing to the enormous pressure on HR leaders to arm their workforces with better fund choices and a more expansive toolset for making informed decisions about retirement planning. [M]ore and more companies are also making available auto-pilot features to simplify enrollment, deferrals and fund choices. They're also offering investment advice and annuitized new products designed to make defined-contribution plans act more like defined-benefit plans by guaranteeing payouts for life." (Human Resource Executive Online)

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