News Highlights

6 Ways to Measure the Success of a 401(k) Plan When companies set out to measure how successful their 401(k) plan is, they generally don’t do it based on how comfortably their former employees are supporting themselves in retirement. Instead, employers evaluate how many employees use the plan and whether the benefits offered are competitive with other companies in the same industry. Here is how you could potentially measure the success of a 401(k) plan. Source: US News

Why Plan Sponsors Fail Research in the past several years has illuminated how behavioral economics affects participants, but employers understand a lot less about how it has an impact on employers themselves. Plan sponsors make most of their decisions in groups and committees, so they are vulnerable to both group and individual biases. Source: Plansponsor.com.

Marketing HR Messages Should HR leaders turn over their internal communications and engagement efforts to marketing professionals? No, say HR experts, but their organizations sure could benefit by HR learning more about the marketing mind-set. Source: HREonline.com.

Employers Offering Workers More Help to Meet Retirement Goals According to a report released by Aon Hewitt companies have little confidence that workers are taking the actions necessary to meet their retirement savings needs. Some are taking steps to help. Source: 401khelpcenter.com.

Breaking the Myths: Mistake to Mix Target-Date, Other Funds? According to a recent Vanguard Center for Retirement Research paper, mixed target-date investors in defined contribution plans, more than half (54%) of participants holding target-date funds in their retirement accounts in Vanguard-recordkept plans also own other plan investments. Because target-date funds are designed to be single, all-in-one investments, are these "mixed investors" missing the point? Source: Vanguard.

Non-Fiduciary Investment Consultants This article examines an actual contract between a fiduciary-consultant and a plan sponsor, and shows how the consultant is able to claim that it’s an ERISA fiduciary while, at the same time, not bearing any real fiduciary responsibility - and therefore any real liability - to plan participants. Source: Prudentllc.com