Archives for September 2011 | Compass Corporate Retirement Solutions BLOG

05 Sep

Fiduciary Support Not a Focus in Provider Search

Although regulatory changes to fiduciary responsibilities and
disclosures loom on the horizon, plan sponsors of all sizes say that
strong fiduciary support services falls low on the list of factors that influence their choice of plan providers.

Retirement Planscape 2011, a new study by Cogent Research, shows fiduciary support services is ranked 12th overall, being lowest among micro plans (those who oversee plans with less than $5 million in assets) where only 9% say it matters.
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05 Sep

Uncertainty Makes It Hard to Plan for Retirement

Shifting and uncertain retirement dates are becoming the norm in the
American workforce, making it harder for employees to establish
meaningful financial plans, recent MetLife research indicates.
According to the company’s 9th annual Employee Benefits Trends Study, four out of ten employees have changed their predicted retirement date since last year, and 30% raised their expected retirement age. Furthermore, this trepidation about hitting retirement goals could be accelerating; 59% of workers in the study expect to work beyond age 65, compared with 52% one year ago.

Given these indistinct targets, many employees lack confidence in their ability to prepare for the culmination of their working years, with only 39% feeling assured about managing the funds in their employer-sponsored retirement plan, according to the survey findings.
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05 Sep

401(k) Law Suppresses Saving for Retirement

A 2006 law designed to boost employees’ retirement-savings is having the opposite effect for some people. Under the law, companies are allowed to automatically enroll workers in their 401(k) plans, rather than require employees to sign up on their own. The measure was intended to encourage more people to bulk up their retirement nest eggs—a key goal in a country where millions of people aren’t saving enough.

But an analysis done for The Wall Street Journal shows about 40% of new hires at companies with automatic enrollments are socking away less money than they would if left to enroll voluntarily, the Employee Benefit Research Institute found. The nonprofit performed a complex computer simulation of savings patterns drawing on data from more than 20 million 401(k) participants.
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