“A retirement plan’s success depends on what your employees make of it. But how do you measure success, and more importantly, how can you position employees to take advantage of and better understand the savings opportunities offered to them? Learn more about how to encourage…
At a glance, compliance tests assure that every retirement plan is producing a meaningful benefit to rank and file employees and that it demonstrates a level of fairness in the benefits those same employees get as compared to the benefits achieved by owners and other…
…opportunity for rank and file employees to participate while giving owners a more generous savings path. And don’t forget, the IRS provides all employees over the age of 50 the opportunity to make what are called “catch up” contributions. This might be the best named…
…example. Don Martin is the owner of Don’s Precision Machining, a small successful business operating with 5 employees. Don opened his doors for business when he was 40 and with his hard work his business has thrived. At age 67, after 27 years in business,…
…other factors. So, a simple formula might allocate 3% of compensation to all eligible employees. Participants share on a pro rata basis. A company owner might ask – can we include the contributions we make to social security as a factor in our formula? The…
…save. Some may want a way to contribute a share of profits to their employees’ retirement. Some are looking to provide an incentive for employees to stay around longer. And some need a competitive retirement benefit to attract and retain top talent. If we truly…
…and other entities as a means of helping plan sponsors and participants navigate the pandemic. One in particular relates to Form 5500, developed jointly by the DOL, IRS and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), designed to ensure that employee benefit plans can satisfy the…
…about how participant loans affect long term retirement outcomes. On one hand, it’s not hard to appreciate that employees may be more motivated to enroll in a plan that includes a loan feature since it provides comfort that they’ll be able to access their savings…
…Roth. With a traditional 401(k), employees contribute pre-tax earnings to their retirement plan, where the funds are allowed to be invested in various options made available in the plan. Only when a withdrawal is made from the account does the participant have to pay taxes…
…to save at a high enough rate to meet real income needs later in life. An important way to help employees of company-sponsored retirement plans make real progress for themselves is to offer auto-enrollment and auto-escalation features to retirement plans. Both can positively influence retirement…
…the workplace—including how they communicate with respect to employee benefits. Traditional methods of educating employees with a one-on-one meeting is not necessarily the way millennials like to communicate. Rather, it’s more about “Can you text that to me?” or, “Is there an app for that?”…