Imagine I told you about a special savings account that you could contribute to with money automatically deducted from your paycheck every pay period. Sounds like a great way to save, right? Now imagine that this account earns no interest and has no possibility of any growth or future earnings. Continue reading “The Worst Savings Account in America”
Does more choice offered through a self-directed brokerage window lead to better asset allocation for 401(k) participants? Based on what I’ve seen over the past few weeks, I’d have to say no. Having almost unlimited investment options can sound appealing to some employees, but unfortunately in many cases the employees are not putting in the time and effort they need to manage their accounts. Continue reading “The Risks of the Self-Directed 401(k) Brokerage Window”
With so many upcoming tax law changes, many of which are still up in the air, employees may be starting to feel the financial stress of worrying how these changes will impact them. Now is a great time to start planning for a year-end tax education workshop for your workforce to help prepare them for the following tax law changes: Continue reading “Providing Workplace Financial Education Doesn’t Have to be Taxing”
It’s been two years now since the IRS issued Notice 2010-84 to provide guidance on in-plan Roth rollovers for 401(k) and403(b) plans, but have you had many employees take advantage of this option? The majority of employees I’ve spoken to over the past few years have shied away from doing an in-plan rollover due to the tax implication, with the exception of those employees who had previously made after-tax contributions and could roll those funds to the Roth without much, if any, of a tax hit. I had tended to agree with many of the employees who couldn’t justify paying taxes on income that had been deferred with the sole purpose of delaying that same tax, but now with the large tax increases scheduled to take effect in 2013 without congressional action, I am having second thoughts on the benefits of considering an in-plan rollover. Continue reading “Is Now the Time for an In-Plan Roth Rollover?”
The IRS has perfectly timed the annoucement of the 2013 pension limitations during National Save 4 Retirement Week, which ends this Saturday. Notice IR-2012-77 declares the COLA adjustments that will impact the dollar limitations for pension plans and other retirement accounts for tax year 2013 for both employer and employee contributions. It is important to let your employees know how these increases can help them save more for retirement, so make sure to share this information with your workforce in the messaging format that best fits your workplace culture. Continue reading “When’s the Last Time You Got Good News from the IRS?”
Some of the most common questions that I’ve been receiving from employees during recent retirement planning workshops relate to confusion around the proper use of target-date funds. Ironically, these investment options are designed to simplify rather than complicate the process of saving for retirement. When used correctly, target date funds can help employees allocate and re-balance their investment assets appropriately to achieve their retirement goals with one stop diversification. In fact, more than three-quarters of all 401(k) plans now offer target-date fund options for plan participants and in many plans, they serve as the default investment for automatic enrollment. Continue reading “What Your Employees Don’t Know About Target Date Funds Could Hurt Them”
Permanent life insurance has a whole host of benefits, especially for taxpayers in a high tax bracket, but does it make sense when you don’t have dependents? We got this question from one of our Facebook fans (yes- you can ask a question and we’ll answer it for you here.) Continue reading “Is Life Insurance a Good Investment?”
With the yearly chore of tax filing upon us, all those year-end retirement account statements can become quite confusing for your group of employees who have chosen to remain in the workforce into their seventies. Which accounts can they still contribute to? Which accounts do they need to take a withdrawal from? Continue reading “Educating Older Workers on the ABCs of RMDs”
A friend of mine posted this comment on Facebook last week “Yeah! The market is up 345 points! Finally it is going in the right direction.” Well, I was NOT happy at all to hear this news. You see, that day (Thursday October 27th) was the day our company made its annual contribution for all of our employees – the employer matching contributions to everyone’s 401(k). I was certainly happy to receive a company contribution but not so happy about the timing. Because mutual funds pick up the end of day pricing, that means everyone in our company received a contribution to their 401(k) AFTER the market went up that day. If the contribution had been made a day earlier, all of us who invest in stock funds would have been over three percent richer. Continue reading “A Bear Market is Your Friend”
With our current inflation rate running over 3%, the IRS recently released increased contribution levels for employer sponsored retirement plans. In order to plan effectively, employees should be notified of these higher limits so they can begin to prepare their 2012 financial plans. Continue reading “Most Retirement Plans to Get a Jolt with COLA Increases”
With the recent roller coaster ride of the stock market, many employees have taken a closer look at their asset allocation within their retirement plans, and to the surprise of many, they find their investment strategy is way off base. Continue reading “You Have HOW MUCH of Your 401(k) in Company Stock?”
Now that Kate Middleton is officially the Dutchess of Cambridge, many of your workers are probably still in the midst of planning their own royal weddings as we enter the most popular months for weddings – May and June. We Americans certainly don’t spend as much as the multi-million pound price tag of the Westminster Abbey royal ceremony, but we do spend an average of $20,000 on our own version of the wedding fairy-tale. As the magic day approaches, your female workers might spend as much as 25% of their workdays planning their weddings, and my guess is the pending grooms spend less than a minute of their days even thinking about the event until the bachelor party begins. Continue reading “It’s Wedding Season – Are Your Workers Daydreaming About Their Fairy-tale Day?”
In my blog, Danger Spots When Getting Rich Quick!, I talked about a few ways to STAY wealthy when people become millionaires overnight. While becoming a millionaire overnight sounds really exciting and fun and maybe even a little glamorous, it’s not how most of the millionaires I have met during my career have become wealthy. OK, so if that’s not how they got there, what have they done? Continue reading “Get Rich Quick, or Not so Fast?”
