Retirement benefits

"In the small plan market, we try to bubble wrap the plan sponsor from fiduciary issues," says John Hancock Retirement Plan Services CEO Peter Gordon.

More sophisticated mobile apps and better industry partnerships are being credited with easing access to 401(k) plan information and paving the way for wiser retirement planning decisions.

Earlier this year BlackRock, the largest asset manager in the world, announced that it would follow Fidelity and Federated in making changes to its money market fund offerings.

In certain circumstances, a Roth IRA conversion can incur an immediate tax liability – but, fortunately, the decision to a conversion doesn't have to be all or none. A partial Roth conversion is not only permissible – in practice it's often the optimal strategy.

In 2015, lower-paid plan participants contributed an average of 5.8% of their salary into their 401(k) plan, while higher-paid participants contributed an average of 6.9% of their salary to their workplace retirement plan.

The funded status of the nation’s largest corporate defined benefit plans ended just as it did in 2014, due in large part to a rise in interest rates that were offset by a weak global stock market.

With people preoccupied with planning a get-together or last-minute shopping, 401(k) communications during the busy holiday season might get lost in the shuffle.

Plan sponsors need to be aware of what will happen to 401(k) plan loans now that rates have gone up.

It bears paying attention in the coming year as to what inroads digital-first firms can make into the DC space.

Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew announced that the administration's "myRA" retirement plan will be available nationwide, with an expanded menu of funding options.

Municipal bond sales in the U.S. are set to decrease in the next month while the amount of redemptions and maturing debt rises.

Almost half of U.S. workers didn’t have a company-sponsored retirement plan in 2013, compared with 39% in 1999, according to an analysis of Census Bureau data by the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis at the New School for Social Research in New York.

The median state pension last year had 70% of the assets needed to meet promised benefits, up from 69.2% in 2013.

Small market participants have less access to support and appear to be less knowledgeable and engaged in their workplace retirement plans.

Employees are gaining confidence in their short-term finances but the majority is still not saving enough for retirement.

Having developed robo platforms for retail clients and advisors, Betterment is expanding further into the asset management industry with a 401(k) offering for businesses.

"Many expect to continue working in retirement,” says Catherine Collinson, president of the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies.

With retirement savings plans directly in focus, the Labor Department is one step closer to implementing a new fiduciary standard whose scope heartens supporters and troubles critics.

Asset managers took lead roles to vehemently oppose the DoL's fiduciary standard proposal. In the course of the Department's hearings, some representatives fared better than others under scrutiny.

While most people in the retirement industry agree that the Department of Labor has its heart in the right place in wanting to protect individuals from conflicts of interest, many don’t believe the agency has gone about its rule-making in the right way.