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Stay the Course on Contribution Levels Despite MAP-21 Segment Rates, Milliman Says

"Milliman is recommending that most of its clients use the rates to calculate their minimum funding obligation for 2012 but to contribute at about the same level they did in 2011.... With that strategy, employers can avoid a 'bulge' in pension underfunding after 2013 when the positive effects of the new rates begin to phrase out[.]"

Boosting Retirement Confidence

"Of those who do not have a retirement plan, 69% are not too confident or not at all confident [about a comfortable retirement].... It may well be that a good portion of that 69% has 401(k) or similar retirement savings vehicles available at their employers, but they are not utilizing them.... [E]mployers need to be continually encouraging their employees and educating them on the power of 'starting early,' the benefits of tax-deferred growth, and how they are leaving money on the table if there's a match."

Rewriting Retirement Readiness: Will the USA Retirement Funds Act Amend Your Plan?

"MyRA provides for a supplement to the current retirement system; the Retirement Security Act would modify it; the USA Retirement Funds Act would profoundly alter it. How? ... [All] employers with 10 or more employees would be required to offer a retirement plan with automatic enrollment and a lifetime income option."

How Long Will You Live in Retirement? Want to Bet on It?

"The [DOL] now offers a tool to help employees assess their paths toward providing for their retirements.... The tool makes a simplifying assumption that may cause employees to underestimate how much they will need at retirement. It assumes each employee will survive in retirement according to an average life expectancy (roughly age 85 to 90, depending on retirement age, gender, etc.).... Relying on any tool to calculate how much we can spend in retirement may cause our retirement account balances to run out sometime around our late 80s. What happens then?"

VAPPs: Coming Soon to a Retirement Plan Near You?

"[V]ariable annuity pension plans (VAPPs) are regaining interest for retirement plan sponsors because their structure combines many of the strengths of traditional defined benefit plans with the strengths of traditional defined contribution plans.... While the level of the benefit may not be guaranteed, stabilization strategies exist to dramatically reduce the possibility of retiree benefit declines and the participant does not need to worry about running out of money during retirement."

The Boomerang Generation's Retirement Planning

"The Millennial generation has gotten a bad rap concerning their retirement planning habits -- or lack thereof.... [This infographic] features 12 tips Millennials should consider when developing their retirement strategy."

Retirement Plan Leakage and Retirement Readiness

"There is no clear answer to the leakage problem in plans. A good retirement plan design can greatly influence the behavior of its participants. It has to include and encourage regular employer and employee contributions to help build retirement accounts. Withdrawal provisions and loans in plans don't signify poor plan design, but tighter administrative controls around the plan provisions, such as allowing only one in-service withdrawal per year, helps keep money in the plan."

New Mortality Assumptions Proposed for Defined Benefit Retirement Plans

"Plan sponsors should not draw any conclusions of the financial impact on actuarial liabilities or possible increases in cash contributions for a specific pension plan. The benefit formulas, plan demographics, status ('frozen,' 'partially frozen,' 'open'), and other complex variables are unique to a given plan and must be carefully evaluated."

Weighing Income Options Can Prepare Individuals for Retirement

"Many pension plans offer the choice between a lump-sum payout (into a rollover for example) or an annuity. When presented with all or nothing, most retirees select lump sums, when in many -- if not most -- situations, allowing a mix or partial annuitization and partial lump sum would be better for the participants and welcomed by them.... When their money exits the plan, as a rollover for example, they face retail pricing, which is significant. The move to a lump sum/rollover paradigm has transferred not only the varied risks to participants, but also the ongoing and significant administrative and management costs as well."

Baby Boomers and Millennials: Two Generations Prepare for Retirement

"One notable difference in the generations is technology preferences and usage. Millennials are used to communication through employer websites, email, texting, and even social media sites such as Facebook. While these concepts certainly aren't foreign to older generations, Millennials are more likely to expect their employers to communicate with them electronically rather than through traditional methods such as regular mail. Another difference between the two groups is whether or not they expect to be able to rely on Social Security."