Employee benefits

The huge burden of meeting new Internal Revenue Service retirement plan regulations just got a lot easier.

Average investors are getting cheated out of thousands of dollars in earnings for their 401(k) plans by hidden fees and expenses, according to Bloomberg.

The Baby Boomer generation is once again taking credit for saving the economy, according to Reuters.

UBS Global Asset Management and Genworth Financial plan to introduce a guaranteed income for life option for 401(k) participants.

As traditional pension plans are increasingly being replaced by defined contribution plans, retirement income plan providers will need to adjust their tactics in order to keep up with the ever-changing retirement landscape.

The Department of Labor's proposed rules on 401(k) disclosure are insufficient, claim critics who say the disclosure isn't to the right people.

NEW YORK-Millions of Americans will be looking for 401(k) investment advice as they prepare for retirement, but until gaps are filled in relation to conflict-of-interest liability, most 401(k) administrators and sponsors will remain reluctant to offer guidance.

Fidelity Investments released the results of its first annual College Savings Indicator on Wednesday, which tracks how well prepared parents are to meet future college costs, which are currently projected to top an average of $100,000 nationwide for today’s high school seniors.

Although the Pension Protection Act permits 401(k) fund administrators to give advice to participants as long as fees collected from the advice remain constant, no matter what the investment choice, it doesn’t address the problems that arise when the advice steers investors into funds run by the 401(k) administrator itself, The Wall Street Journal reports.

A U.S. Supreme Court case of a 401(k) investor from Dallas who claimed his employer failed to execute an order, costing him $150,000, may pave the way for lawsuits by individual investors, rather than class-action suits.

Much as target-date funds are gaining traction in 401(k) plans, parents investing in 529 college savings plans are overwhelmingly preferring age-based funds that become more conservative as a child’s first year of college approaches, Investment News reports, citing speakers at the recent 529 Technical Conference.

Employers and employees at small businesses don't see eye to eye when it comes to 401(k)s, according to a Harris Interactive survey commissioned by ShareBuilder Advisors, a 401(k) administrator that specializes in serving small companies.

Legg Expects to Announce New Chief Executive Soon; Says Search is Progressing

After Two Month Suspension, China Again Approving Mutual Funds

The Department of Labor has decided not to include stable-value funds as one of its recommended default options for 401(k) plans under the Pension Protection Act. Instead, the DOL is advocating balanced funds, lifecycle funds and a professionally managed, diversified portfolio as the default choices.

While most 401(k) investors hardly give a thought to employer matches-and even employers usually don't promote them heavily to employees-an innovative investment solution from Barclays Global Investors of San Francisco specifically designed for company matches might finally generate some interest in this neglected company perk.

WisdomTree Retirement Services, a unit of WisdomTree Investments of New York, is the latest firm to launch a platform designed for the 401(k) market that offers plan sponsors a combination of ETFs and mutual funds, or a selection of all ETFs combined into preset portfolios.

Automatic enrollment and automatic escalation will be the two most significant developments of defined contribution plans over the next three years, according to 401(k) plan advisers polled by Putnam Investments.

Lifecycle funds are now taking another punch, and while this one may not be fully merited, it is one that fund companies might want to consider as a roadmap to improving such funds' performance and marketability.

Lifecycle funds are now taking another punch, and while this one may not be fully merited, it is one that fund companies might want to consider as a roadmap to improving such funds' performance and marketability.