Posts Tagged ‘Savings’

New Survey By Diversified?s Retirement Research Council Reveals That Setting Retirement Savings Goals Leads to Increased Engagement and Savings

New Survey By Diversified’s Retirement Research Council Reveals That Setting Retirement Savings Goals Leads to Increased Engagement and Savings

Diversified is a leading provider of customized retirement plan administration, participant communication and open architecture investment solutions for mid- to large-sized organizations.

Harrison, NY (PRWEB) May 05, 2011

When people set a goal for their retirement savings, they tend to be more engaged in actively planning for their retirement. This includes increasing the amount they actually save and staying on top of news associated with their specific retirement plans. The survey of more than 2,400 plan participants, conducted by Diversified’s Retirement Research Council, showed that employees have become more active in their retirement planning within the last year.

Specifically, 29% of respondents established a retirement income goal in the past year, an eight percentage point increase from 2010. Forty-one percent increased the amount they are saving for retirement, a three percentage point increase over last year. In addition, 62% of those surveyed said they monitored their retirement outlook to assess where they stand vis-à-vis their retirement income goals and for insight into how they can adjust their asset allocation or contribution level to improve their outlook.

The survey also underscored the benefit of educating participants about goal setting, with 71% of respondents who are not confident they will have enough for retirement saying they were likely to contribute more to their retirement savings accounts if they were educated on how much they actually needed to retire. Participants overall indicated they want this kind of assistance as well – 57% expressed interest in getting help with setting goals and 50% would welcome assistance with monitoring goal progress.

“These results are a very positive indication that people have become much more attuned to the responsibility they have in meeting their retirement needs and that participant communications and education can have a meaningful impact on helping them reach a funded retirement,” noted Patricia Advaney, senior vice president of Participant Solutions for Diversified. “This is really a call to action to the industry. Even though the burden of funding retirement has decidedly shifted to participants, employers and plan providers can play a critical role in helping them to that end.”

Among the survey’s other findings:

    Participants are saving more for retirement—66% of participants are saving 6% or more, a six percentage point increase over the number of respondents doing so a year ago.
    While most participants have a retirement goal, they are not very confident they will have enough for retirement and 35% were simply guessing about the amount they needed.
    Less than one-in-three participants are confident about the amount of income they will have in retirement: only 7% said they are extremely confident and 21% said they are very confident. Those without a goal are even less confident, with only 2% saying they are extremely confident and 6% very confident.
    The good news is that participants are increasingly interested in seeking help to establish a retirement income goal: there was an eight percentage point increase in the number of participants who want help in creating goals over last year (now 57%). Fifty-two percent want help understanding their investment options (a 12 percentage point increase from last year’s survey) and 50% want help measuring progress toward their goals (a 10 percentage point increase over last year).

About Diversified

Diversified is a leading provider of customized retirement plan administration, participant communication and open architecture investment solutions for mid- to large-sized organizations. The company’s expertise covers the entire spectrum of defined benefit and defined contribution plans, including: 401(k) and 403(b) (Traditional and Roth); 457; nonqualified deferred compensation; profit sharing; money purchase; cash balance and Taft-Hartley plans; and rollover and Roth IRA. Diversified helps two million participants save and invest wisely for and throughout retirement.

Headquartered in Harrison, NY, the company’s regional offices are located in Arkansas, California, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin. To learn more, visit http://www.divinvest.com.

About Diversified’s Retirement Research Council™

The Retirement Research Council, the research group of Diversified, is dedicated to:

    Portraying a comprehensive picture of the institutional retirement plans market;
    Detailing trends to assist with the strategic evaluation of retirement plans; and
    Providing retirement plan sponsors and their advisors with comprehensive benchmarking information.

Drawing on more than 50 years of experience in retirement plan management, the Council periodically assembles a panel of experts from all facets of the retirement plans market to evaluate the current and future impact of trends shaping our industry.

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©Copyright 1997-

, Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC.
Vocus, PRWeb, and Publicity Wire are trademarks or registered trademarks of Vocus, Inc. or Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC.

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Brand New Employer Sponsored Plan Is A Hybrid Of A Traditional 401(K) And A Roth Ira-January 1st, 2006 Is Start Date For New Roth 401(K) Retirement Savings Plan

Brand New Employer Sponsored Plan Is A Hybrid Of A Traditional 401(K) And A Roth Ira-January 1st, 2006 Is Start Date For New Roth 401(K) Retirement Savings Plan

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) December 7, 2005

Income tax rates have been cut, the marriage penalty done away with, and the “death tax” is also on a path to no more. All of this is a result of the Bush administration’s Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act which was passed by a Republican congress in 2001. Another provision of that act goes into effect on January 1st, 2006, a hybrid of a traditional 401(k) and a traditional Roth IRA called the Roth 401(k).

Yet another employer sponsored savings plan, the new Roth 401(k) works in almost the same way as a traditional 401(k) plan. Workers invest a portion of their income into a fund along with contributions from their employer (if any). The difference is that the traditional 401(k) is funded with “pre-tax” dollars and the Roth 401(k) plan uses “after-tax” dollars. However, with the Roth 401(k), withdrawal of your money at retirement will be tax free like a Roth IRA. The traditional 401(k) plan defers the tax owed during your career until retirement.

Although it may sound like the best of both worlds, it is important to note that no employer is required to offer this new Roth 401(k) plan. In fact, a recent survey by employee benefits consulting firm Hewitt and Associates found that only 31 % of employers currently offering the traditional 401(k) plan are considering implementing the new Roth 401(k).

Employees may now want to begin inquiring whether their employer will be offering the new retirement plan in 2006. Contribution limits for the retirement plans are: in 2005, $ 14,000 for a 401(k) and $ 4,000 for an IRA, whether Roth or traditional. In 2006, this amount will increase to $ 15,000 for both 401(k) and IRAs.

For in depth answers to your retirement and investment questions visit http://www.HowMuchAnswers.com – providing simple and easy to understand information about 401(k) plans and IRA accounts.

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©Copyright 1997-

, Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC.
Vocus, PRWeb, and Publicity Wire are trademarks or registered trademarks of Vocus, Inc. or Vocus PRW Holdings, LLC.

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Ultimate Savings Guide

Ultimate Savings Guide
Learn how to set up a realistic buget, get out of debt, save money, and more. You’ll also learn to save money on the things you buy without changing your lifestyle.
Ultimate Savings Guide

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Wedding Savings

Wedding Savings
Secret Ways To Uncover Secrets and Negotiate Prices & Save Thousands of Dollars On Your Wedding.. At Least Put a Few Thousand Dollars Back Into Your Pockets! see http://weddingsavings.biz/affinfo.html
Wedding Savings

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Lastest Retirement Savings auctions

Retirement Savings on eBay:

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Helping Small Business With Employee Pension And Savings Programs

Helping Small Business With Employee Pension And Savings Programs

Business owners seeking to hire the best and brightest employees compete to offer great work environments, opportunities and benefits. But some small business owners in Canada who would like to offer pension and retirement savings plans to their employees are challenged by the complexity and costs of running such a program.

Already more than 50 per cent of Canadians working in the private sector have some sort of group retirement savings or investing program. Increasing opportunities for the balance requires some changes to Canada’s retirement savings system, according to the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association.

“Business owners and operators recognize the enormous value of helping their employees save for their retirements, but many – particularly small business — are handcuffed by tax and administrative regulations that make running a program more expensive and time consuming,” says Frank Swedlove, president of the Canadians Life and Health Insurance Association Inc. “We need to make regulatory changes so that company pension plans become less complex and costly to operate.  And we need to allow employers to band together in multi-employer plans that pool contributions and achieve efficiencies in cost and operations.” 

Changing the law that requires that group pension programs only be offered by a single employer to its employees is one way to help employers. Doing so would allow for the creation of multi-employer pension plans where contributions are pooled and the administrative burden to each individual employer is reduced. Allowing for the creation of such multi-employer pensions plans would also let the self-employed participate in a pension program.

Employers recognize that providing a good company pension or group retirement saving program helps retain existing employees. Often they can improve the firms’ business reputation and help attract capable new employees. And, most importantly, they help give employees peace of mind.

Initiatives are underway to review Canada’s retirement savings programs. Capitalizing on many employers’ desire to help employees save, plus the efficiency of group programs, will play a big role in ensuring a successful system for future generations.

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Social Security Network

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Pensions and Pension Information

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Don’t Die Broke – Retirement Savings – personal Finance

Retirement Savings on eBay:

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US $24.99 End Date: Tuesday May-22-2012 9:41:07 PDT Buy It Now for only: US $24.99 Buy it now | Add to watch list

US $1.00 End Date: Tuesday May-22-2012 15:09:16 PDT Buy It Now for only: US $1.00 Buy it now | Add to watch list

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Most popular Retirement Savings auctions

Most popular retirement savings eBay auctions:

Charming Tails Saving For Tomorrow Scrapbooking Retired

US $24.99 End Date: Tuesday May-22-2012 9:41:07 PDT Buy It Now for only: US $24.99 Buy it now | Add to watch list

US $1.00 End Date: Tuesday May-22-2012 15:09:16 PDT Buy It Now for only: US $1.00 Buy it now | Add to watch list

US $4.00 (0 Bid) End Date: Wednesday May-23-2012 4:42:43 PDT Buy It Now for only: US $5.00 Bid now | Buy it now | Add to watch list

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Most popular Retirement Savings auctions

Some recent retirement savings auctions on eBay:

US $5.98 End Date: Wednesday May-30-2012 11:08:47 PDT Buy It Now for only: US $5.98 Buy it now | Add to watch list

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Reform Aimed At Personal Finance And UK Savings

Reform Aimed At Personal Finance And UK Savings

The Pensions Policy Institute (PPI) has issued a report which supports the Pension Commission’s recent demand for reform in the structure of the basic state pension. In fact the report goes further than simply backing the report, it calls for reforms to be implemented more rapidly than the Commission has recommended.

Essentially, the reforms that are proposed are for simplifications to be made to the current variations in available state pensions for those who are eligible. Means testing, currently used in determining eligibility and the extent of the pension available, would be dropped in favour of an across the board pension rate. Additionally, tax breaks for those who try to save for a personal pension would be put in place to encourage saving.

These reforms would serve to make pension availability, and budgeting for retirement, much clearer to understand and buy into, thereby preventing nasty surprises for the individual late in life, or the government as a generation becomes dependant on a state pension. A recent survey by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) concluded that very little provision is being made for the future by those aged 18-40 and that a very large number of UK citizens could well become dependant on state pensions.

Personal finance has become a boom sector amongst that same generation, with online access to personal finance databases such as Moneynet (http://www.moneynet.co.uk ) and Motley Fool (http://www.fool.co.uk ) providing a wealth of options for UK consumers. However despite the fact that many of those options include savings and pension schemes, it appears that they are rarely taken up, with consumers opting for credit card deals, mortgages, insurance, and personal loans instead.

Pension experts have showed their backing for the proposed Pension Commission reforms with their overwhelming response in the PPI report, and it is to be hoped that the simplifying of the state pension will bring the importance of the issue to the attention of the age range identified by the FSA.

Disclaimer

All information contained in this article is for general information purpose only and should not be construed as advice under the financial Services act 1986. You are strongly advised to take appropriate professional and legal advice before entering into any binding contracts.

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Pensions and Pension Information

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