For investment Committee members of employee-directed retirement plans, such as 401(k)s or 403(b)s, crafting and monitoring your Investment Policy Statement (IPS) is essential to maintaining your fiduciary responsibilities. Continued yearly education is important for Committee members to stay on top of the necessary practices and measures.
“Are my employees on track for their financial picture?”
It's a question we get asked all the time, and whether you're an employee at an organization, an HR executive, or a Retirement Plan Committee member, everyone wants to know if financial wellness programs are worth all the “buzz”. In this short video, I give my thoughts on why meaningful financial wellness programs are so essential, and I also encourage anyone to check out our 2017 whitepaper, Beyond Retirement: An Examination of Financial Wellness for Employers. This report aims to provide a clearer picture of what an average working American's financial situation looks like and how organizations can create programs to help their employees reach goals throughout their career for today, tomorrow, and their long-term future.
You see them all over the place – seemingly random letters and symbols following your advisor’s name, in their email signature, on their business cards, and across their website. But what do those letters even mean, how does someone earn them, and are there any that are more important than others?
This content was originally published by Theodore P. Stein, Esq.
On March 13, 2018, the U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Maryland, issued a Memorandum Opinion in one of my cases granting summary judgment to my client, a defendant, and dismissing a claim that my client had breached its fiduciary duty under ERISA, the federal statute governing employee benefit plans. The case is Damiano v. Institute for In Vitro Sciences, et al. Although the Court ruled in favor of the defendant, the decision should be a wake-up call to employers about the danger of misrepresenting the benefits under a welfare or pension plan—even if the misrepresentation is accidental.
For many companies and organizations, the task of crafting the perfect investment menu can be an overwhelming mission; but it doesn’t need to be. It can be as simple as picking a dish from a menu. A well-made investment lineup is similar to the restaurant menu that offers just the right amount of options to make selecting the perfect dish an enjoyable experience.
When we’re constructing an investment menu for our clients, we advise committee members to build-out their investment menu to satisfy three types of investors: 1) the active investor, 2) the passive investor, and the 3) do-it-for-me investor. First and foremost, committee members need to be familiar with their plan's investment policy statement in order to design the line-up fittingly. Below, we detail a few items often included in a well-rounded investment menu.
Many millennials are looking for their company’s employee benefits program to go beyond the typical healthcare and retirement plan by also addressing other key priorities, such as student loan assistance, financial education, and flexible schedules. While news headlines sometimes turned their demands into stories of “entitled” or “needy” millennials, at the core, their goals are similar to past generations - they want help to take actionable steps towards achieving a healthier lifestyle - mentally, physically, and financially.
When you think about a 401(k) plan, do you consider why it has risen to such a popular option over a pension plan? Initially, when the IRS created the code that introduced 401(k)’s in the early 1980s, it was to give high ranking executives an added benefit to their pension plan. Today, most companies have done away with pensions plans and exclusively use defined contribution plans, such as 401(k)s and 403(b)s, as a way to mitigate costs.
What is Meltdown and Spectre and What Devices Can They Affect?
Last week the world of technology and the Internet of Things were in a panic because of Meltdown and Spectre, the latest security flaws to come on the scene.
As more organizations begin to expand their employee benefits, are Health Savings Accounts, or HSAs, a good fit for your employees? An HSA is a savings vehicle designed to assist with out-of-pocket medical expenses, but it can double as another way for your employees to save for retirement. Currently, only those enrolled in a high-deductible health insurance plan are eligible to take advantage of an HSA. Employees can use the funds to pay for qualified medical expenses such as premium payments, deductibles, copays, and prescriptions.
As employee benefits professionals, much of your focus is probably towards ensuring employees are saving in the company-sponsored retirement plan. Participation rates, deferral amounts, and match formulas might fill your day-to-day thoughts on the financial standing of employees, and it's for good reason: An employer-sponsored retirement plan has steadfastly become the primary vehicle people in the United States use to save for their futures.