Retirement planning

Conventional wisdom has it that today’s low investment yields tend to harm low-income retirees, who receive little or nothing from the bank accounts and bonds they had counted on for spending money. That’s certainly the case, but a recent study from the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) found that low yields have even more impact on younger workers as well as on people with high incomes. Agreeing with those conclusions, Barton Close, vice president of investments, in the Chattanooga office of Raymond James & Associates, told On Wall Street, “Those low yields have turned around my strategies 180 degrees. Now I put more focus on current cash flow.”

As Roth 401(k) plans continue to spread, young workers increasingly are voting to go Roth. In the first quarter of 2013, 10% of all participants in Wells Fargo-administered defined contribution plans contributed to a Roth 401(k), when available, up from 8.9% a year earlier. Leading the way were employees under age 30: 16.9% chose the Roth route, a jump from 15.2% participation in last year’s first quarter. (Only 4% of participants in their 60s chose the Roth version this year.)

With minimal impact on current tax rates and the potential for tax-free withdrawals as they age, Roth 401(k) plans are catching on with the young and not-at-all-wealthy.

Specific rules govern how a 401(k) beneficiary designation is changed, and an advisor’s failure to help a client comply fully could send his or her hard-earned money to unintended recipients.

Over the past two decades, investors have paid less and less to own shares of mutual funds. That's because investors demand low-cost funds, and because the fund industry is one characterized by competition, innovation, and economies of scale.

PIMCO last month teamed up with product and technology platform provider Aria Retirement Solutions and insurer Transamerica Advisors Life Insurance Company to market contingent deferred annuities to asset-based fee-only registered investment advisors.

Starting in January 2014, 51% of retirement plan sponsors will change their investment lineups, paving the way for more mutual funds to fill their needs, according to a Cogent Research study.

When Wells Fargo Advisors held a conference to discuss elder financial abuse, it seemed at times like nearly every one of the 200 people in attendance was personally acquainted with a family member or friend who has been victimized. But Danny Ludeman, the CEO of Wells Fargo Advisors, write that perhaps that’s not surprising, given the scope of the crime and the rate at which it’s growing.

Global retail and retirement assets under management are set to cross the $70.4 trillion mark by the end of 2013, an increase of $20 trillion from 2008, according to new findings from Cerulli Associates.

The tools were developed to help the “woefully low” number of people on track for a secure retirement and compel them to take action.

F-Squared Investments has appointed Paul Gamble as head of F-Squared Retirement Solutions, responsible for F-Squared's customized and private labeled target date strategies and funds, collective trust funds and sub-advisory partnerships in the retirement market.

Francis Picarelli has been promoted from vice president to senior vice president at consulting shop Segal RogerCasey.

Warning of a growing public pension debt crisis, Sen. Orrin Hatch introduced reform legislation on Tuesday that would allow state and local governments to invest in annuity contracts with private life insurance companies.

A study by the Congressional Budget Office counteracts longstanding conventional wisdom that retirees should hold at least some of their portfolio in annuities

Christine Carolan has been appointed by Mercer Investments to the role of Investment Director for the Western region of the U.S.

It looks like Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company will have its day in court come January 2014 to defend itself against a mutual fund lawsuit.

Nearly 70% of Millennials have no retirement plan, according to a new survey.

Non-traditional investment allocations in defined contribution plans, while commonplace in defined benefit pension portfolios, are a rare sight in today's retirement plan lineup.

Eighty percent of investors under the age of 40 don’t feel like they are getting adequate financial advice from their advisors, according to new findings from Cerulli Associates, leaving the doors wide open for asset managers and retirement plan recordkeepers to fill the advice gap.

The conversation about millennials' retirement is just beginning.