401(k)

Fear and loathing of lost wages and dramatically depressed stock prices have young investors losing sight of their retirement goals.

Fidelity Investments has appointed William C. Carey president of Fidelity Institutional Retirement Services Co., the nation's largest 401(k) plan provider.

Participation in 401(k)s has dropped to 73%, its lowest number since 1991.

Half full? In these dire times, we tend to think half empty, if not drained, when it comes to our retirement plans. Over the last three years, the downturn has eradicated at least $678 billion in U.S. retirees' savings, according to the University of Michigan.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - Communication, education, strategic partnerships and outsourcing are the name of the game for the "401(k) sales champions" who took to the podium to share their expertise with attendees at the American Society of Pension Actuaries (ASPA) here.

Is Gary Winnick, chairman of beleaguered telecom Global Crossing, trying to save his own hide by making a public pledge of $25 million to those among his employees who lost large sums of their 401(k)s plan during the recent telecom bust? Or, is he, as he recently told Congress, trying to set a precedent in corporate moral responsibility?

Most 401(k) investors took a hands-off approach to their retirement plans last year, declining to make trades or adequately diversify their assets.

And you thought the baseball contract negotiations were tough.

ARLINGTON, Va. - Mutual fund companies have done a good job of banking assets in 401(k) plans, but with so many people retiring or changing jobs, fund companies often lose those assets at those rollover junctures. With some strategic marketing and some personal advice, however, funds can increase their chances of hanging onto money that rolls out of 401(k) plans, reports Boston-based Cerulli Associates in a recent study, "The Retirement Income Market and Asset Retention Strategies."

An announcement by 401(k) plan provider CitiStreet last week that it will provide workers with expanded advice about investment choices in their retirement plans may be pushing government regulations to their limits in an aggressive effort to retain rollover assets, observers said last week.

WASHINGTON - Saving enough for retirement is tough these days. While there are a large variety of retirement vehicles to choose from and last year's tax bill increased contribution limits, as life expectancies increase, saving for retirement has become a tremendous challenge. Consequently, so has providing retirement-oriented investment products, according to Jonathan Pond, an investment adviser and financial writer in Watertown, Mass.

Two competing bills in the House and the Senate that would reform 401(k) plans to protect investors in the wake of the Enron bankruptcy appear to have polarized legislators. The two biggest points of contention are whether 401(k) investors should be allowed to own company stock and whether mutual fund companies in a plan are capable of providing objective investment advice.

In the wake of the Enron collapse, 401(k) plan providers and plan sponsors have been in a quandry over whether to provide investment advice.

More than a decade ago, Fidelity Investments of Boston formed Institutional Retirement Services Co. to target the small-business 401(k) market. Today, with the retirement plan market tighter than ever, fund firms have begun to pursue the ultimate small business: individual 401(k)s.

The downfall of Enron of Houston evidently has not caused some retirement plan participants to be wary of how much they have invested in their company's stock, according to a recent survey by Boston Research Group of Hopkinton, Mass.

Transamerica Retirement Services, a Los Angeles-based retirement services provider that specializes in small to mid-sized companies, has found that smaller companies are moving faster than anticipated to help their employees take advantage of increased retirement plan contribution limits set forth in the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001.

Hartford Life of Hartford, Conn., is expanding its 401(k) small-business operations, a niche that has been largely ignored by many other retirement savings plan providers. So far, the strategy has worked for Hartford Life. It expanded its 401(k) business by 55% in 2001, with sales of $850 million.

Lawmakers in the House and Senate last week reviewed two 401(k) reform bills that now include provisions designed to make it easier for investors to get advice about their retirement plans.

The financial collapse of Enron, and reports that the firm's workers lost millions in their retirement plans when the company declared bankruptcy, has spawned a spate of recent legislative measures designed to protect 401(k) investors. But many of the initiatives are facing criticism from industry officials who say that lawmakers should be cautious in reacting to the Enron debacle.

Retirement plan providers are closely eyeing the new employer-only 401(k) plans as a vehicle that could capture greater rollover assets, open new markets and provide inroads to the high-net-worth crowd.