Employee benefits

A recent survey of 401(k) practices found that 68% of employers allow employees to contribute 25% or more of their earnings into their 401(k) plan, according to marketing research company Business and Legal Resources.

While 45% of pre-retirees say they expect to rely on 401(k) plans or individual retirement accounts to fund their retirements, the number is shrinking, according to a new Gallup poll.

The Insured Retirement Institute on Thursday sent a “broad, comprehensive” response to the request for information on lifetime income that the U.S. Departments of Treasury and Labor recently issued.

The Department of Labor announced that beginning in August, it will require asset management firms to provide further information on the risks and benefits of investing in target-date funds, including details on their glidepaths, to employers and employees.

Affluent parents can creatively help their children while still holding them responsible for educational expenses.

Assets in 401(k) plans and other retirement accounts are up 18% from a year ago and have nearly erased losses from the recession as investors continue to pump money into their plans and take advantage of lower prices, according to a report from the Spectrem Group.

At MetLife’s sixth annual benefits symposium in Washington this week, Treasury and Department of Labor officials discussed the difficulties of including annuities in 401(k)s. The two agencies have asked the public for comments through May 3 on including lifetime income solutions in employer plans.

Charles Schwab is encouraging people receiving tax refunds to resist the temptation to use the money for impulse purchases, but, rather, to use the money for long-term financial goals, especially retirement, and paying down high-interest debt.

Collective investment trusts are growing in popularity among large companies seeking to provide employees with lower-cost retirement savings options, but some experts worry that these plans don't offer investors enough disclosure.

Fidelity Investments expects sales of its 401(k)s to continue to increase through third-party financial advisers to small and midsized companies-and the company plans to reduce fees to gain additional share. In August, Fidelity plans to switch its Advisor 401(k) platform to a system where the adviser receives a flat fee from Fidelity instead of several different fees in the form of 12b-1 fees.

A few employers are beginning to offer eldercare as a benefit, realizing that many Baby Boomers have parents in need of a much-needed lifeline. In fact, 19% of Americans over the age of 18 are caring for someone 50 or older, according to the National Alliance for Caregiving.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the 401(k), the revolutionary retirement savings vehicle that has been annihilating pension plans, empowering individuals to take part in the stock market-and, sadly, that left retirees with the misfortune of leaving the workforce in 2000 or 2008 very badly off.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the 401(k), the revolutionary retirement savings vehicle that has been annihilating pension plans, empowering individuals to take part in the stock market-and, sadly, that left retirees with the misfortune of leaving the workforce in 2000 or 2008 very badly off.

Be it the dismal disappointment of seeing their 401(k) balances fall, loss of a job or a wage cut, 48% of Americans are savings less for retirement, according to a Country Financial survey of 2,340 working Americans.

A bill to end private lenders' role in government guaranteed student lending — assumed to be on its way to quick enactment — has suddenly become a hotly contested debate.

While workers’ confidence in their ability to retire and at least pay for basic expenses has rebounded since the start of the recession, Americans clearly are not setting their expectations high enough.

The company launched an FDIC-insured, high-yield online savings accounts and certificates of deposit.

Bona fide 401(k) investment advice could finally become standard practice in defined contribution plans, thanks to the Department of Labor's proposed rules limiting the actions of investment professionals who take commissions.

529 college savings plans have attracted $100 billion in 11 million accounts, roughly a quarter of the money parents in the U.S. have set aside for their child’s education. But that’s far short of the hundreds of billions of dollars asset management firms expected them to attract.

Fidelity Investments expects its retirement assets to continue to increase this year as both employers and employees become more engaged with 401(k) plans.