Under the microscope: a closer look at the diversification and risk taking behavior of 401(k) participants and how plan sponsors can address key investing issues

This article reports the findings of research conducted on the asset allocation behavior of 250,000 401(k) plan participants. Included is discussion and analysis of what influences investment behavior and what employers can do to help their employees plan and invest more wisely for their own retirement.     

Sounds great, but what's in it for me? Helping employees understand their role in the retirement planning process

The communication of retirement plans by employers to their workers has greatly improved, but in many cases still falls short of getting employees to understand their roles in planning for their own retirement. The author states that a well-designed personalized retirement savings education program encourages employees to take ownership of their retirement plan. Three employee profiles are examined in the context of the personalized retirement education process.     

Employer involvement in defined contribution investment education

In this paper the authors consider the personnel problems that may arise for defined contribution plan sponsors if major market corrections cause older employees to delay retirement beyond previous expectations. We move from that basic premise to argue that, given the continued evolution from defined benefit (DB) to defined contribution (DC) retirement plans, employers need to be more "proactive" in educating their employees about their retirement planning. A human resources perspective is used to support this argument, apart from and in addition to legal considerations such as ERISA Section 404(c). Specifics of employer involvement and its place as a component of an organization's culture are discussed. Finally, recommendations are given for employers to consider.     

Helping tomorrow's retirees manage "distribution phase" risks

Much of employers' attention has focused on helping employees manage the accumulation of 401(k) plan assets rather than on helping them manage the distribution phase--the period during which employees begin drawing down their 401(k) savings to meet their retirement needs. Assisting employees in managing the distribution phase can play an important role in helping employers meet a range of workforce planning goals and ensuring a maximum return on the retirement dollars that have been invested by both employees and the company. By implementing a properly structured approach to help employees manage the distribution phase, employers can help them maximize the value of their retirement savings at little or no employer cost, thanks to the leverage of the company's group purchasing power and the tax advantages of employer-sponsored plans.     

Integrating benefits decision making

Integrated employee benefit decision making helps employees use their benefits more wisely and identify opportunities to balance their immediate benefits needs (such as health care) and future benefits needs (such as retirement). This article discusses how employers can overcome employees' behavioral barriers to making integrated employee benefit decisions by changing the ways benefits are communicated and employees are presented with action decisions. Undertaking these steps allows employers to not only improve their employees' overall financial perspectives, but also furthers plan sponsors' goals of actively promoting personal responsibility with respect to retirement funding and changing employee behavior with respect to controlling health care costs.     

Communicating the need for additional savings in the face of retiree health benefit cutbacks.

In preparing for retirement, employees need to consider not only their pension benefits but also the challenge of financing their retirement health care needs. Various trends evolving in our society indicate that future retirees will be increasingly dependent on their own retirement savings. Evidence suggests that employees are not fully aware of the significance of health costs in retirement and must be educated to the need to save for retiree health care expenses. This article discusses the issues of Medicare reduction and retiree health benefit cutbacks and the relative communication and education challenges such issues pose to employers.     

The impact of health care reform on older workers, retirees and employers

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 impacts everyone who uses or pays for the health care system. Among the new law's effects will be changes in older workers' health care choices as they transition from full-time employees to part-time work or other jobs and, ultimately, to retirement, and the retiree health benefit choices facing their employers. This article reviews the major issues surrounding these changes, including those affecting retiree health benefits, benefits for Medicare-eligible retirees and health care options for older Americans not yet eligible for Medicare. The authors conclude that although employers will be reacting in 2010 and 2011 with regard to some issues surrounding FASB ASC 715-60 and the early retiree reinsurance program, employers should consider waiting to make major changes until regulations are issued and the health plans for active employees have been fully vetted.     

Asset allocation and age effects in retirement savings choices

We examine the asset allocation decisions of members of three large Australian retirement savings funds. Superannuation Guarantee legislation in 1992 made Australian employees compulsory investors by requiring employers to contribute a fixed proportion of earnings to a superannuation fund on behalf of employees. A majority of these employees can choose an investment strategy for these contributions. We examine how actual investment strategy and asset allocation choices of members change with age in view of the conventional wisdom that individuals allocate less to risky assets as they age and investments theory which provides conflicting advice on the issue.     

University-Provided Retirement Planning Support and Retiree Financial Satisfaction During Retirement: Differences by Gender, Job Classification, and Planning Behavior

Sound financial planning and financial advice is necessary to achieve retirement income adequacy. The shift from defined benefit to defined contribution pension plans and the recent bankruptcy of Enron Corporation underscore the importance of managing retirement accumulation and liquidation risks. This study analyzes the effectiveness and adequacy of institutional-provided information and advice on employees' retirement planning decisions and their satisfaction with financial resources during retirement. Results suggest that retirement planning should begin earlier in an employee's career and that employer-provided retirement information and advice is a highly valued service. Gender, planning practices, job classification, and age are all significant predictors of satisfaction with financial resources during retirement. Targeting women and union employees with retirement information and advice that focuses on allocating contributions using a balanced portfolio approach should result in significant increases in satisfaction with financial resources during retirement. Regulatory objectives should focus on reducing retirement accumulation and liquidation risks, improving the delivery of professional financial advice to plan participants, and expanding qualified retirement plan choice for all labor force participants. To encourage employer participation in employee retirement planning, employers acting in "good faith" should be federally protected from liability for providing retirement planning information and advice to employees.     

Financing long-term care: employee needs and attitudes, and the employer's role.

Because of increasing life expectancies, high costs for nursing home and home health care, declining levels of informal family care, and the stated policy of the federal and state governments to foster self-reliance, individuals are increasingly exposed to the risk of financial ruin from long-term care (LTC) expenses. Yet, because of psychological barriers and aversions, particularly to thinking about residing in a nursing home, most individuals have not purchased LTC insurance. Hence, it may be the responsibility of employers to provide education to employees about LTC and to sponsor either individual or group plans of LTC insurance. Educational efforts may be particularly effective at the time of retirement when employees are in a more serious mood to consider the contingencies of retired life. A formal and perhaps more economical response for employers would be to offer combined life annuity and LTC insurance benefits through the retirement plan, provided certain regulatory and tax barriers can be removed.     

美国现金余额计划及其对我国的启示

混合型养老金计划是国际养老金计划发展的重要趋势,现金余额计划是美国养老金混合计划中发展较好、规模较大的一种私人养老金计划。该计划具有较低的养老金计划成本、资金筹措较具弹性、养老金给付享受政府担保、较好的激励机制、较强的透明度和携带性、为雇主和关键员工提供更高的福利保障、与其他计划搭配的计划组合效应等特定优势。美国2006年养老金保护法颁布实施后,该计划的年龄歧视、转换期的养老金蚀损、给付贴现则所导致的制度法律风险得以消除,使该计划具有较好的发展前景。美国现金余额计划对中国企业年金发展具有重要借鉴意义。     

Impact of Replacing a Defined Benefit Pension with a Defined Contribution Plan or a Cash Balance Plan

Abstract

Four pension plan conversions are examined to determine the impact on retirement benefits of workers. The study was based on interviews with top management, employee surveys, and actuarial analysis of retirement benefits under the old and new pension plans. In general, workers who leave the firm prior to the age of early retirement can expect increased benefits under the new defined contribution and cash balance plans, whereas older, more senior workers can expect to accrue smaller benefits after the plan conversions. Recognizing these potential adverse effects, the employers in our studies provided various types of transition benefits to existing workers or gave employees the choice of remaining in the old defined benefit plan. Employee surveys reveal that younger workers are more supportive of the new pension plans than are older workers. These case studies also indicate that communication by managements with their employees is very important to the successful implementation of plan conversions.     

Retiree health care benefits: strategies for a changing workforce.

Demographic, economic and cultural trends foretell a dramatically different environment for retiree health care coverage. This article will focus on the redesign of retiree health benefits to meet the retirement objectives of employers and employees, anticipate changing demographics, and respond to changes in Medicare and other government initiatives, including the Consumer Bill of Rights. The material will discuss recent design trends, including managed care, and present results of a study the author co-authored for the Kaiser Family Foundation on changes in retiree health plans.     

Consumer-driven health care: the future is now

Given that managed care seems to have run its course, employers are forced to deal with escalating health care costs by reducing benefits and lowering pay--or are they? Why not bring the power of the responsible, informed consumer to health care? Consumer-driven health care offers a new, economically rational direction that can simultaneously address the needs of both employers and employees. This article reviews the factors leading to the need for consumer-driven health care and describes the characteristics and benefits of its current and next generations of development.     

The Effects of Offering Health Plan Choice Within Employment-Based Purchasing Groups

Employers may offer employees a choice of health plans either to promote competition among plans or to better cater to employee preferences for different types of products. This article examines whether the relationship between the availability of choice and insurance costs and coverage are consistent with these models of employer behavior. The results indicate that employers who offer choice have lower average premiums, primarily because employees are enrolled in less generous plans, and cover a greater proportion of workers than those who do not. The results are consistent with employers offering choice to accommodate diverse worker preferences.     

延迟退休、个人账户调整与城镇职工医疗保险基金可持续运行

文章通过构建精算模型,从城镇职工医疗保险基金可持续运行的角度对不同延迟退休和个人账户调整方案及组合进行模拟评估。研究发现:现行制度下城镇职工医疗保险统筹基金面临支付风险,延迟退休仅能够在短期内缓解城镇职工医疗保险基金的支付压力;仅依靠延迟退休难以在长期内缓解城镇职工医疗保险基金的支付压力,运用“延迟退休+个人账户调整”的模式,即在延迟退休的基础上对个人账户进行调整,更有利于基金的长期稳定运行。在现行退休制度下,建议取消个人账户,将单位缴费和个人缴纳的费用计入统筹账户,城镇职工医疗保险基金的单位缴费率可以下调1%;在延迟退休政策势在必行的情况下,建议在男性和女性不同岁退休的基础上,取消个人账户,实现城镇职工医疗保险单位缴费率降低2%。这样既有利于基金的可持续运行,也可以保证基金的运行效率,更能加强城镇职工医疗保险制度的互助共济性。     

Building a culture of personal benefits responsibility

Successfully having employees take personal responsibility for their benefits plans requires going beyond the rapid rollout of new benefit plan designs; it requires employers to invest in understanding the complexity of their workforce. This article reviews the evolution of benefit plans and what has arisen as the current state of employee benefits. It then discusses steps employers can take to build a successful total benefit strategy that recognizes the importance of the emerging workforce's racial, ethnic and cultural diversity.     

Family support benefits: individual utility and organizational outcomes

How much do employees value the various family support benefits offered by employers? A recent survey finds a correlation between employees' perceived utility of certain benefit programs and job satisfaction and performance.     

Health care consumerism: engaging the real buyers--employees

Many employers have begun moving toward health care consumerism strategies designed to encourage employees to take more responsibility for their health care and the cost of that care. Recent surveys suggest ways employers can ensure their consumerism strategies succeed in engaging employees and, ultimately, encourage employees to change their behavior. This article describes what those surveys reveal about employer and employee perspectives on consumerism and suggests steps employers can take to align their interests with those of their employees in order to manage the demand for and use of health care.     

Exploring the pension ‘X factor’ for generation Y men

In order to reduce state dependency in retirement, current UK pension policy automatically enrols employees into workplace pensions. A key component of success is preventing workers opting-out of the workplace scheme. However, Australian research examining auto-enrolment policy indicates that young men prioritise enjoying life over retirement saving. This article seeks to inform financial services marketing within the new pension auto-enrolment context through examining attitudes towards retirement and pensions among young men in the United Kingdom. Qualitative data is gathered from five dyadic interviews, thematic analysis reveals salient issues of widespread mistrust, negative perceptions of retirement and limited knowledge of auto-enrolment coupled with confidence in future earnings and a desire for greater control. The article concludes with implications for pensions communications planning.