Employee benefits

The Hartford is waging an educational campaign emphasizing tax-saving tips for retirement plan participants.

It was widely hoped that at least one silver lining in the recession of December 2007 through June 2009 would be chastened investors with a newfound respect for living within their means, saving and preparing for retirement.

Exchange-traded funds are likely to grab a “significant” share of the 401(k) market in coming years, according to Skip Schweiss, president of TD Ameritrade Trust Co.

The combination of a robust U.S. equity market and the proliferation of company-sponsored retirement plans helped push total assets in 401(k) pans over the $3 trillion threshold at close of last year, up 13% from 2009.

Whether it's a case of the comparatively small number of "haves" simply socking away a lot more money or a jump in smaller contributions by a larger group of middle class investors, Americans' total retirement investment assets surged to more than $17.5 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2010, up 9.1% for the year.

Even though 68% of workers are saving for retirement, nearly half, 46%, have less than $10,000 saved for retirement, and 50% are not confident they will have enough money to live comfortably in retirement, a survey by the Employee Benefits Research Institute found.

A majority of Americans find retirement planning confusing and want additional help, a study by the ING Retirement Research Institute conducted by the Boston Consulting Group found.

The Hartford found in a recent survey that 37% of Americans age 45 and older with incomes below $50,000 worry more about rising taxes than those with higher incomes, but are less likely to participate in a 401(k) or other retirement plan that could reduce their taxes. By comparison, 28.5% of those earning $50,000 to $100,000 have such worries, and 32% of those earning more than $100,00 are worried about taxes.

AllianceBernstein, having expanded the diversification of its target-date funds earlier this year to mitigate the effects of inflation, has just issued a white paper discussing the importance of grappling with inflation risk.

Putnam Investments announced Thursday that the Lifetime Income Analysis Tool it developed for 401(k) plans to show investors how much monthly income their savings will deliver, has motivated investors to increase their retirement savings rate by an average of 23%. Participants can use the tool to change their retirement date, portfolio mix and contribution rate to immediately see the impact.

Invesco has introduced PlanForward Foundations, a set of three toolkits to help advisers grow their defined contribution business.

American workers exited 2010 with more than $10.2 trillion invested in employer-sponsored retirement plans, up 10% from the $9.3 trillion in play at the close of 2009, according to a new report from Chicago-based affluent investor consultant Spectrem Group.The beefed-up portfolios is just the latest sign that investors are finally starting to regain confidence in the market and, perhaps more important, making a concerted effort to stash away assets for their golden years.

Fulltime students at four year schools received about $16,000 in aid this year.

Lincoln Financial Group is recommending that workers use the 2% reduction in Social Security tax as additional retirement savings. It joins the company of The Hartford and ING which have made similar recommendations.

Fidelity Investments recently reported that the average 401(k) account balance it managed reached a 10-year high of $71,500 at the end of 2010, and for those who had consistently contributed to their plan, $183,100.

Assets in 529 college savings plans have grown 56% in the past 24 months, beating industry estimates by 30%, Financial Research Corp. told the College Savings Foundation at its annual conference in San Diego yesterday.

Retirement plan participants using an online tool save at an average rate of 39% higher than other plan participants, according to a study by Principal Financial Group of its clients.

Male and female participants in MassMutual’s retirement savings plans had about the same among of their retirement assets in asset allocation options in the fourth quarter of 2010—24.3% for women and 24.0% for men. However, nearly all of the women’s allocation was to target-date funds, while the men had half their assets in target-date funds and half in risk-based options.

Fidelity Investments reported Wednesday that the average 401(k) account balance held with it hit a 10-year high of $71,500 at the end of 2010. For participants who continuously contributed to their 401(k) the average balance increased to $183,100 from $59,100 a decade ago.

MassMutual’s retirement services division is launching an interactive seminar series for participants on Feb. 23 called RetireSmart. The first session, on “Understanding What’s Driving the Economy,” will be presented by the firm’s Chief Economist Jerry Webman.