Ted Godbout
By Ted Godbout 10/11/2021
Fueled by strong market gains, HSA investment assets were up 73% year-over-year, soaring to more than $30 billion at the halfway mark of 2021, according to Devenir’s semi-annual health savings account report.
Devenir also found that there is now nearly $93 billion in more than 31 million HSAs—a...
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By Ted Godbout 10/1/2021
Despite the global pandemic and market volatility, young retirement “super savers” put away even more money over the past 18 months, proving that it doesn’t necessarily take higher earnings to improve retirement readiness.
Among the top retirement savers from Generations X, Y and Z, more than...
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By Ted Godbout 9/28/2021
In response to an increased threat of retirement account fraud, nearly a third of recordkeepers expect to boost their cybersecurity staff going forward, a new report from Cerulli finds.
Even though plan providers have always been subject to cyberattacks, this is an issue that has become more...
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By Ted Godbout 9/26/2021
Touted as a way to help gig workers, part-time workers and those without access to an employer-sponsored account, legislation has been introduced in both the House and Senate to create universal, portable retirement accounts.
The Portable Retirement and Investment Account (PRIA) Act of 2021...
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By Ted Godbout 9/26/2021
As their sense of responsibility grows in supporting the financial needs of their workforce, employers apparently are offering more robust and wide-ranging workplace benefits, according to new survey results.
“We are seeing the number of employers who offer comprehensive workplace benefits...
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By Ted Godbout 9/22/2021
New research finds that retirement plan participants have clear preferences when it comes to communications, but employers and the retirement planning industry are not always listening.
In setting out to discover what language and formats work for savers, the Empower Institute explains in “Less...
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By Ted Godbout 9/22/2021
With participant interactions shifting to digital channels, a new study finds that a majority of retirement plans are failing to deliver proactive guidance and many have made it more difficult to find the information users are seeking.
For instance, just 24% of retirement investors strongly...
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By Ted Godbout 9/20/2021
Many Americans are struggling with burnout—which if left unaddressed, can affect not only an individual’s wellbeing, but the success of firms, according to Jennifer Moss, a burnout expert and author of The Burnout Epidemic.
Speaking at the NAPA 401(k) Summit Sept. 13, Moss discussed the current...
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By Ted Godbout 9/16/2021
Amid the rapidly changing regulatory and investigative initiatives at the Department of Labor and IRS, plan advisors can serve their clients well by helping them stay ahead of the curve, a panel of industry insiders said Sept. 12.
At an opening-day workshop session at the 2021 NAPA 401(k) Summit...
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By Ted Godbout 9/16/2021
As asset management firms compete for assets in a primarily virtual environment, data can help distribution teams increase productivity by identifying the next best opportunities, but system integration and data sourcing remain challenges for many firms, according to a new report by Cerulli.
When...
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By Ted Godbout 9/16/2021
Mega-Roth, backdoor IRAs and large retirement account balances would be limited under legislation approved Sept. 15 by the House Ways and Means Committee.
In a near party-line vote of 24-19, the changes were approved as part of the $3.5 trillion Build Back Better Act reconciliation recommendations...
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By Ted Godbout 9/15/2021
The House Ways and Means Committee has revealed that it intends to partially pay for the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill through a series of limitations on upper-income individuals’ retirement savings.
The retirement proposals are included in Subtitle I titled “Responsibly Funding Our...
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By Ted Godbout 9/13/2021
The House Ways and Means Committee has approved the retirement subtitle of the Build Back Better Act, legislation supported by the American Retirement Association as a way to help close the coverage gap and boost the existing retirement savings system.
The retirement subtitle, which is estimated...
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By Ted Godbout 9/8/2021
The House Ways and Means Committee this week will consider legislation requiring employers without employer-sponsored retirement plans to automatically enroll their employees in IRAs or 401(k)-type plans.
Committee Chairman Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA) announced Sept. 7 that the Committee will begin...
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By Ted Godbout 9/8/2021
Noting that it would add trillions of dollars in retirement savings and would help close the coverage gap, the American Retirement Association has offered its support for the retirement provisions contained in the Build Back Better Act, set to be considered by the House Ways and Means Committee...
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By Ted Godbout 8/25/2021
While employees struggled with their personal finances during the COVID-19 pandemic, a recent survey finds that the financial impact on organizations is even greater.
According to results from BrightPlan’s annual Wellness Barometer Survey, financially stressed employees reported an average of 15.3...
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By Ted Godbout 8/25/2021
Last year, the Department of Labor established an e-delivery rule allowing plan sponsors to communicate retirement plan information electronically. But is there more that can be done to get participants to login more often?
A recent Cogent Syndicated study from Escalent provides some answers....
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By Ted Godbout 8/23/2021
While the official amounts won’t be announced for a couple of months, an early projection suggests that nearly all qualified retirement plan limits will increase significantly next year.
Using the Internal Revenue Code’s cost-of-living adjustment and rounding methods, the Consumer Price Index...
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By Ted Godbout 8/19/2021
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Department of Labor (DOL) and Congress are gearing up to “protect investors” from the emerging cryptocurrency market.
Contending that large parts of the crypto market are not operating within regulatory frameworks that protect investors, SEC Chairman...
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By Ted Godbout 8/19/2021
The Department of Labor reportedly is engaging in a letter-writing campaign urging retirement plan fiduciaries to recoup amounts held by former recordkeepers or paying agents that may have been overlooked during the transition of a service provider relationship.
According to an Aug. 13 blog post...
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