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Friday, April 2, 2021

Knowledge is retirement power According to the latest Fidelity Retiree Health Care Cost Estimate (2020), an average retired couple age 65 may need approximately $295,000 saved (after tax) to cover health care expenses in retirement. Of...

 

Tuesday, March 30, 2021

Let’s play a little fill-in-the-blank game. Complete the following sentence: Those poor _________ (Millennials, GenXers, Boomers)! They really got the short end of the retirement stick, especially in light of the pandemic. Which...

 

Friday, March 26, 2021

Cultivating a realistic budget can help you harvest a better financial future Spring is here and it’s time to think about growth potential—for both your garden and your journey toward financial wellness! The following steps...

 

Friday, March 26, 2021

Q: Our business was hanging on in spite of COVID-19, but then our area was hit by wildfires. Can employees who participate in our 401(k) plan take money out of their accounts under the COVID relief provisions? A: No, but there may be...

 

Friday, March 19, 2021

When you get to a certain age, you may find yourself daydreaming about retiring early, or at least before the “traditional” age of 65. It’s only natural—the COVID-19 pandemic has caused many people to rethink...

 

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Friday, March 12, 2021

Here are some easy ways to protect the environment and improve your budget at the same time. Wash your clothes in cold water. They get just as clean, but without the energy needed to heat the water. Take shorter showers. Shaving even...

 

Thursday, June 15, 2017

Many Plan Sponsors understand that plan design has a big impact on participation and savings rates in their retirement plan. However, most fail to correlate how the plan design can have a big impact for plan sponsors depending on the...

 

Friday, March 24, 2017

Follow Hardship Distribution Rules to Keep Plan Status While many employees today understand the importance of retirement readiness, some plan participants may seek a 401(k) hardship distribution to accommodate crucial, more immediate...

 

Sunday, March 5, 2017

Now is the perfect time for planning to find ways to increase employee participation and savings rates in your company retirement plan. A well-designed 401(k) plan can play a significant role in helping you and your employees...

 

Friday, March 3, 2017

Do investors rely on emotion when investing? Many behavioral economists and psychologists believe they do. As much as we recognize the need to save, many small obstacles tend to get in the way. It turns out the decisions we make about...

 

Friday, March 3, 2017

Fostering retirement plan engagement is important, especially since it's a sure first step to helping create successful outcomes for participants. According to Milliman, the key is integrating your participant education and...

 

Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Few, if any, retirement plan sponsors want to face an audit, yet a successful private retirement system necessitates occasional employer audits by the Internal Revenue Service’s Employee Plans (EP) compliance program. Plan...

 

Friday, February 10, 2017

No one likes to make mistakes—especially retirement plan mistakes that can result in costly fines or even litigation. In 2014, the Internal Revenue Service/Department of Labor collected nearly $600 million for plan restorations,...

 

Wednesday, February 1, 2017

No matter the business or service, no one likes paying excessive fees. This is especially true with retirement plans. Participants are setting aside money for retirement, and the last thing they want is to have those precious dollars...

 

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Eighteen years ago, the retirement industry rolled out automatic enrollment to help combat employee inertia, increase participation in workplace retirement plans, and foster higher savings rates. Still, a surprising number of plan...

 

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

While the de facto options for most retirement plans are target date funds (TDFs) and risk-based funds, not all QDIAs are created equal. When evaluating funds and providers, watch out for red flags, such as unreasonably high fees or...

 

Thursday, October 27, 2016

The Internal Revenue Service today announced cost of living adjustments affecting dollar limitations for pension plans for the 2017 tax year. Many of the pension plan limits remain unchanged from 2016 to 2017.Listed below are the...

 

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

The Safe Harbor plan makes it easy for business owners to maximize contributions to their own accounts while reducing some of the limitations associated with adhering to IRS testing. The Safe Harbor Plan allows you to: Contribute the...

 

Monday, September 26, 2016

Did you know that a Safe Harbor 401(k) plan is not actually a separate plan from the traditional 401(k), rather it is an optional provision that can be added to the 401(k) plan document? Electing to be a Safe Harbor 401(k) plan is...

 

Monday, August 15, 2016

Are your employees prepared for retirement? Why does it matter? Organizations can face unintended consequences when retirement-eligible employees remain working because they have not saved enough in their company's retirement plan....

 

Monday, August 15, 2016

This summer so far has been anything but quiet. Between the June Brexit vote, several headline-grabbing jobs reports, the winding path of oil prices, and all-time highs for stocks, there has been a lot of activity to absorb in these...

 

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

At the midyear point of 2016, LPL Research proposes a vote of confidence: in the economy, the market, and most importantly, in our ability as investors to remain focused on our long-term goals. This is not always easy. We may be entering th

 

Sunday, November 1, 2015

WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today announced cost‑of‑living adjustments affecting dollar limitations for pension plans and other retirement-related items for tax year 2016. In general, the pension plan limitations...