Traditional IRA, Roth IRA, 401(k), 403(b): What's the Difference?
The earlier you begin planning for retirement, the better off you will be. However, the problem is that most people don’t know how to get started or which plan is the best vehicle to get you there.
A good retirement plan usually involves more than one type of investment account for your retirement funds. This may include both an IRA and a 401(k), allowing you to maximize your planning efforts.
If you haven’t begun saving for retirement yet, don’t be discouraged. Whether you begin through an employer sponsored plan like a 401(k) or 403(b) or you begin a Traditional or Roth IRA that will allow you to grow earnings from investments through tax deferral, it is never too late or too early to begin planning.
This article discusses the four main retirement savings accounts, the differences between them and how Saxon can help you grow your nest egg.
“A major trend we see is that if people don’t have an advisor to meet with, they tend to invest too conservatively, because they are afraid of making a mistake,” said Kevin Hagerty, a Financial Advisor at Saxon Financial.
“Then the problem is they don’t revisit it, and if you’re not taking on enough risk you’re not giving yourself enough opportunity for growth. You run the risk that your nest egg might not grow to what it should be.”
“Saxon is here to help people make the best decision on how to invest based upon their risk tolerance. We have methods to determine an individual’s risk factors, whether it be conservative, moderate or aggressive, and we make sure to revisit these things on an ongoing basis.”
Traditional IRA vs. Roth IRA
Who offers the plans?
Both Traditional and Roth IRAs are offered through credit unions, banks, brokerage and mutual fund companies. These plans offer endless options to invest, including individual stock, mutual funds, etc.
Eligibility
Anyone with Earned, W-2 Income from an employer can contribute to Traditional or Roth IRAs, as long as you do not exceed the maximum contribution limits. However, only qualified distributions from a Roth IRA are tax-free.
In order to be able to contribute to a Roth IRA, you must have taxable income and your modified adjusted gross income is either:
- less than $194,000 if you are married filing jointly
- less than $122,000 if you are single or head of household
- less than $10,000 if you’re married filing separately and you lived with your spouse at any time during the previous year.
Tax Treatment
With a Traditional IRA, typically contributions are fully tax-deductible and grow tax deferred. So when you take the money out at retirement, it is taxable. With a Roth IRA, the contributions are not tax deductible but grow tax deferred. So when the money is taken out at retirement, it will be tax free.
“The trouble is nobody knows where tax brackets are going to be down the road in retirement. Nobody can predict with any kind of certainty because they change,” explained Kevin. “That’s why I’m a big fan of a Roth.”
A Roth IRA can be a win-win situation from a tax standpoint. Whether the tax brackets are high or low when you retire, it doesn’t matter. Your money will be tax free when you withdraw it. Another advantage is, at 70 ½, you are not required to start taking money out. “We’ve seen Roth IRAs used as an Estate planning tool, and they’ll be able to take that money out tax free. It’s an immense gift,” Kevin said.
Maximum Contribution Limits
Contribution limits between the Traditional and Roth IRAs are the same; the maximum contribution is $6,000, or $7,000 for participants 50 and older.However, if your earned income is less than $6,000 in a year, say $4,000, that is all you would be eligible to contribute.
“People always tell me, ‘Wow, $6,000, I wish I could do that. I can only do $2,000.’ Great, do $2,000,” said Kevin. “I always tell people to do what they can and then keep revisiting it and contributing more when you can. If you increase a little each year, you will be contributing $6,000 eventually and not even notice.”
Withdrawal Rules
With a Traditional IRA, withdrawals can begin at age 59 ½ without a 10% early withdrawal penalty but still with Federal and State taxes. The IRS will mandate that you begin withdrawing at age 70 ½.
Even though most withdrawals are scheduled for after the age of 59 ½, a Roth IRA has no required minimum distribution age and will allow you to withdraw contributions at any time. For example, if you have contributed $15,000 to a Roth IRA, but the actual value of it is $20,000 due to growth, then the contributed $15,000 could be withdrawn with no penalty, any time – even before age 59 ½.
Employer Related Plans – 401(k) & 403(b)
A 401(k) and a 403(b) are theoretically the same thing; they share a lot of similar characteristics with a Traditional IRA as well.
Typically, with these plans, employers match employee contributions, such as .50 on the dollar up to 6%. The key to this is to make sure you are contributing anything you can to receive a full employer match.
Who offers the plans?
One of the key differences with these two plans lies in whether the employer is a for-profit or non-profit entity.
These plans will have a number of options of where to invest, often a collection of investment options selected by the employer.
Eligibility
401(k)’s and 403(b)’s are open to all employees of the company for as long as they are employed there. If an employee leaves the company they are no longer eligible for these plans since 401(k) or 403(b) contributions can only be made through pay roll deductions. However, you can roll it over into an IRA and then continue to contribute on your own.
Only if you take possession of these funds would you pay taxes on them. If you have a check sent to you and deposit it into your checking account – you don’t want to do that.
Then they take out federal and state taxes and tack on a 10% early withdrawal penalty if you are not age 59 ½. It can be beneficial to roll a 401(k) or 403(b) left behind at a previous employer over to an IRA so it is in your control, and you have increased investment options.
Tax Treatment
Contributions are made into your account on a pretax basis through payroll deduction.
Maximum Contribution Limits
The maximum contribution is $19,500, or $26,000 for participants 50 and older.
Depending on the employer, some 401(k) and 403(b) plans provide loan privileges, providing the employee the ability to borrow money from the employer without being penalized.
Withdrawal Rules
In most instances, comparable to a Traditional IRA, withdrawals can begin at age 59 ½ without a 10% early withdrawal penalty. The IRS will mandate that you begin withdrawing at age 70 ½. Contributions and earnings from these accounts will be taxable as ordinary income. There are certain circumstances when one can have penalty free withdrawals at age 55, check with your financial or tax advisor.
In Conclusion…
“It is important to make sure you are contributing to any employer sponsored plan available to you, so you are receiving the full employer match. If you have extra money in your budget and are looking to save additional money towards retirement, that’s where I would look at beginning a Roth IRA. Then you can say you are deriving the benefits of both plans – contributing some money on a pretax basis, lowering federal and state taxes right now, getting the full employer contribution match and then saving some money additionally in a Roth that can provide tax free funds/distributions down the road,” finished Kevin.
To learn more, contact Kevin Hagerty today at (513) 333-3886 or via email at khagerty@gosaxon.com.
Bringing the knowledge of our in-house advisors right to you...
What to do when your state says you need a retirement plan
Did you know: Almost 25 percent of U.S. adults lack any retirement savings. In response to these findings, many states are beginning to require employees to participate in state-sponsored retirement programs. Read the following blog post to learn what to do when your state requires you to participate in a state-sponsored retirement plan.
We’re all too aware of the looming retirement crisis. Almost 25% of adults in the United States lack any retirement savings, according to the Federal Reserve. In response, a number of states have decided to enact legislation that require employees to participate in their state-sponsored retirement program.
What does this mean for business owners not currently offering a plan?
For businesses operating in a state where legislation has been proposed, it’s very likely that they will have to make some changes in the not-so-distant future. Some state plans come with penalties for not enrolling, while others offer appealing incentives for involvement. However, the real question may not be whether you want to offer a state-sponsored plan, but rather, whether a state-sponsored plan is the right option.
Most state-sponsored plans are designated as Roth IRAs, using investments chosen by the state, and are low-cost. However, there are also benefits to creating a customized plan that works for you and your employees. Issuing your own plan allows you to:
- Select your own investments to include the right fund variety and offer user-friendly models like target-date funds;
- Create your own plan design so you have more control over things like company matching and eligibility rules;
- Derive significantly greater tax benefits because a 401(k) plan allows deductions of pre-tax earnings of up to $19,000 whereas an IRA only permits deductions of up to $6,000 in earnings;
- Borrow against your plan in times of emergency; and
- Keep costs equally low thanks to new entrants and advanced technology that eliminates overhead.
- While state-sponsored plans are getting the conversation started, it’s important to look at the bigger picture strategy and determine the best short- and long-term decisions.
To better understand the urgency behind any retirement plan decision, it’s worth digging deeper into the specific requirements of your state. But regardless of what state you’re in, there are many perks to offering a company-sponsored retirement plan such as tax incentives, recruitment and retention benefits, and investing in your employee’s future. And thanks to new entrants and advanced technology, many traditional inefficiencies and excess fees have been eliminated, keeping costs down.
States are putting emphasis on the retirement crisis and stepping in to help. But at the end of the day, this is about setting your employees — and yourself — up for retirement security. Look at the current proposals in your jurisdiction, think about what you’re trying to accomplish, and determine what will offer the greatest value for you and your team. Everyone deserves retirement security.
SOURCE: Brecher, A. (22 November 2019) "What to do when your state says you need a retirement plan" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.benefitnews.com/opinion/what-to-do-when-your-state-says-you-need-a-retirement-plan
IRS updates rules on retirement plan hardship distributions
Recently, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) finalized updates to the hardship distribution regulations. These new regulations make the requirements more flexible and participant friendly. Read this blog post to learn more about these updated regulations.
Employers who allow for hardship distributions from their 401(k) or 403(b) plans should be aware that the Internal Revenue Service recently finalized updates to the hardship distribution regulations to reflect legislative changes. The new rules make the hardship distribution requirements more flexible and participant-friendly.
Hardship distributions are in-service distributions from 401(k) or 403(b) plans that are available only to participants with an immediate and heavy financial need. Plans are not required to offer hardship distributions. But there are certain requirements if a plan does offer hardship distributions. Generally, a hardship distribution may be made to a participant only if the participant has an immediate and heavy financial need, and the distribution is necessary and not in excess of the amount needed (plus related taxes or penalties) to satisfy that financial need.
An administrator of a 401(k) or 403(b) plan can determine whether a participant satisfies these requirements based on all of the facts and circumstances, or the administrator may rely on certain tests that the IRS has established, called safe harbors.
Over the last fifteen years, Congress has changed the laws that apply to hardship distributions. The new rules align existing IRS regulations with Congress’s legislative changes. Some of the changes are mandatory and some are optional. The new rules make the following changes. The following changes are required.
Elimination of six-month suspension.
Employers may no longer impose a six-month suspension of employee elective deferrals following the receipt of a hardship distribution.
Required certification of financial need.
Employers must now require participants to certify in writing or by other electronic means that they do not have sufficient cash or liquid assets reasonably available, in order to satisfy the financial need and qualify for a hardship distribution.
There were also some optional changes made to hardship distributions.
Removal of the requirement to take a plan loan.
Employers have the option, but are not mandated, to eliminate the requirement that participants take a plan loan before qualifying for a hardship distribution. In order to qualify for a hardship distribution, participants are still required to first take all available distributions from all of the employer’s tax-qualified and nonqualified deferred compensation plans to satisfy the participant’s immediate and heavy financial need. The optional elimination of the plan loan requirement may first apply beginning January 1, 2019.
Expanded safe harbor expenses to qualify for hardship.
The new hardship distribution regulations expand the existing list of pre-approved expenses that are deemed to be an immediate and heavy financial need. Prior to the new regulations, the list included the following expenses:
- Expenses for deductible medical care under Section 213(d) of the Internal Revenue Code;
- Costs related to the purchase of a principal residence;
- Payment of tuition and related expenses for a spouse, child, or dependent;
- Payment of amounts to prevent eviction or foreclosure related to the participant’s principal residence;
- Payments for burial or funeral expenses for a spouse, child, or dependent; and
- Expenses for repair of damage to a principal residence that would qualify for a casualty loss deduction under Section 165 of the Internal Revenue Code.
The new regulations expand this list of permissible expenses by adding a participant’s primary beneficiary under the plan as a person for whom medical, tuition and burial expenses can be incurred. The new regulations also clarify that the immediate and heavy financial need for principal residence repair and casualty loss expenses is not affected by recent changes to Section 165 of the Internal Revenue Code, which allows for a deduction of such expenses only if the principal residence is located in a federally declared disaster zone. Finally, the new regulations add an additional permissible financial need to the list above for expenses incurred due to federally declared disasters.
New contribution sources for hardships.
The law and regulations provide that employers may now elect to allow participants to obtain hardship distributions from safe harbor contributions that employers use to satisfy nondiscrimination requirements, qualified nonelective elective contributions (QNECS), qualified matching contributions (QMACs) and earnings on elective deferral contributions. However, 403(b) plans are not permitted to make hardship distributions from earnings on elective deferrals, and QNECS and QMACs are distributable as hardship distributions only from 403(b) plans not held in a custodial account.
As this list indicates, the new regulations make substantial changes to the hardship distribution rules.
The deadline for adopting this amendment depends on the type of plan the employer maintains and when the employer elects to apply the changes. Plan sponsors should work with their document providers and legal counsel to determine the specific deadlines for making amendments.
SOURCE: Tavares, L. (01 November 2019) "IRS updates rules on retirement plan hardship distributions" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.benefitnews.com/opinion/irs-updates-rules-on-401k-403b-plan-hardship-distributions
How to Find an Old 401(k) — and What to Do With It
According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, there are more than 25 million people with money left behind in a previous employer-sponsored retirement plan. Read this blog post from NerdWallet for information on how to find an old retirement plan and what to do with it.
There are billions of dollars sitting unclaimed in ghosted workplace retirement plans. And some of it might be yours if you’ve ever left a job and forgotten to take your vested retirement savings with you.
It happens. A lot.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office reports that from 2004 through 2013, more than 25 million people with money in an employer-sponsored retirement plan like a 401(k) left at least one account behind after their last day on the job.
But no matter how long the cobwebs have been forming on your old 401(k), that money is still yours. All you have to do is find it.
Following the money
Employers will try to track down a departed employee who left money behind in an old 401(k), but their efforts are only as good as the information they have on file. Beyond providing 30 to 60 days notice of their intentions, there are no laws that say how hard they have to look or for how long.
If it’s been a while since you’ve heard from your former company, or if you’ve moved or misplaced the notices they sent, there are three main places your money could be:
- Right where you left it, in the old account set up by your employer.
- In a new account set up by the 401(k) plan administrator.
- In the hands of your state’s unclaimed property division.
Here’s how to start your search:
Contact your old employer
Start with your former company’s human resources department or find an old 401(k) account statement and contact the plan administrator, the financial firm that held the account and sent you updates.
"You may be allowed to leave your money in your old plan, but you might not want to."
If there was more than $5,000 in your retirement account when you left, there’s a good chance that your money is still in your workplace account. You may be allowed to leave it there for as long as you like until you’re age 70½, when the IRS requires you to start taking distributions, but you might not want to. Here’s how to decide whether to keep your money in an old 401(k).
Plan administrators have more leeway with abandoned amounts up to $5,000. If the balance is $1,000 or less, they can simply cut a check for the total and send it to your last known address, leaving you to deal with any tax consequences. For amounts more than $1,000 up to $5,000, they’re allowed to move funds into an individual retirement account without your consent. These specialty IRAs are set up at a financial institution that has been federally authorized to manage the account.
The good news if a new IRA was opened for the rollover: Your money retains its tax-protected status. The bad: You have to find the new trustee.
Look up your money’s new address
If the old plan administrator cannot tell you where your 401(k) funds went, there are several databases that can assist:
- A good place to start is with the Department of Labor’s abandoned plan database.
- FreeErisa also maintains a rundown of employee benefit plan paperwork.
- If you were covered under a traditional pension plan that was disbanded, search the U.S. Pension Guaranty Corp. database of unclaimed pensions.
- There’s also the National Registry of Unclaimed Retirement Benefits, which works like a “missed connections” service whereby companies register with the site to help facilitate a reunion between ex-employees and their retirement money. Not every company is registered with this site, so if none of these searches yields results, move on to the next step.
Search unclaimed property databases
If a company terminates its retirement plan, it has more options on what it’s allowed to do with the unclaimed money, no matter what the account balance.
"If your account was cashed out, you may owe the IRS."
It might be rolled into an IRA set up on your behalf, deposited at a bank or left with the state’s unclaimed property fund. Hit up missingmoney.com, run in part by the National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators, to do a multistate search of state unclaimed property divisions.
Note that if a plan administrator cashed out and transferred your money to a bank account or the state, a portion of your savings may have been withheld to pay the IRS. That’s because this kind of transfer is considered a distribution (aka cashing out) and is subject to income taxes and penalties. Some 401(k) plan administrators withhold a portion of the balance to cover any potential taxes and send you and the IRS tax form 1099-R to report the income. Others don’t, which could leave you with a surprise IRS IOU to pay.
What to do with it
You might be able to leave your old 401(k) money where it is if it’s in your former employer’s plan. One reason to do so is if you have access to certain mutual funds that charge lower management fees available to institutional clients — like 401(k) plans — that aren’t available to individual investors. But you’re not allowed to contribute to the plan anymore since you no longer work there.
Reasons to move your money to an IRA or to roll it into a current employer’s plan include access to a broader range of investments, such as individual stocks and a wider selection of mutual funds, and more control over account fees.
If your money was moved into an IRA on your behalf, you don’t have to — and probably shouldn’t — leave it there. The GAO study of forced-transfer IRAs found that annual fees (up to $115) and low investment returns (0.01% to 2.05% in conservative investments dictated by the Department of Labor regulations) “can steadily decrease a comparatively small stagnant balance.”
Once you find your money, it’s easy to switch brokers and move your investments into a new IRA of your choosing without triggering any taxes.
Unless you enjoyed this little treasure hunt, the next time you switch jobs, take your retirement loot with you.
SOURCE: Yochim, D. (27 February 2019) "How to Find an Old 401(k) — and What to Do With It" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/investing/how-to-find-an-old-401k-and-what-to-do-with-it/
How to motivate millennials to participate in retirement savings
Why aren't millennials participating in retirement plans? In this article, Zito explains why and how you can motivate your millennial employees to participate.
Millennials comprise one-third of the U.S. labor force, making them the single-largest generation at work today, according to Pew Research Center. But they don’t appear to be functioning as full-fledged members of the workforce just yet — at least when it comes to participating in benefit plans.
The National Institute on Retirement Security found that two-thirds of millennials work for employers that offer retirement plans, but only about half of that group participates. That means just one-third of working millennials are saving for retirement through employer-sponsored plans.
The culprit for such low participation originates primarily with eligibility requirements. Millennials are more prone to disqualifying factors like minimum hours worked or time with the company — products of being relative newcomers to the workplace and spending the early parts of the careers in a deeply challenging labor market. The passage of time will hopefully help relax these eligibility limitations.
But there are other headwinds bearing down on millennials that could be holding them back from plan participation, and which present an opportunity for plan sponsors to demonstrate value to the largest working generation. For one thing, millennials have earned the most college degrees as a share of their generation, according to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, all while tuition costs have continued to outpace inflation. The resulting financial burden is compounded by the fact that millennials are earning less so far in their careers, despite their education gains, than older generations were earning at their age.
It’s important for sponsors to figure out how to enroll more millennials, and not just because it will generate goodwill. Boomers will continue to roll assets out of their plan accounts as they retire. The flight of their outsized share of plan assets will leave a smaller pool to share plan costs. Increased millennial engagement can offset this drawdown.
Plan design that gives due consideration to the rise of millennials should consider how to help with their financial needs and play to their strengths.
Harness millennial tech savvy
Growing up immersed in an electronic and interconnected environment reduces the learning curve that millennials might face in using planning tools. Simple offerings like a loan payment calculator or retirement savings projection interface can make a profound difference on the path to financial preparation.
The flipside to millennials’ willingness to tinker is that they tend to over-scrutinize their investment mix. TIAA found that millennials are three times as likely as boomers to change their investment allocation amid a market downturn — typically a decision that ends in regret. The compulsion to de-risk tends to strike after the worst of the damage is done, leaving investors ill-prepared for the ensuing recovery.
Solutions like target-date funds can remove the need to think about allocations altogether, so millennials can focus on more effective factors like retirement savings or loan repayment rates and stretching for their full matching contributions.
Provide an education benefit umbrella
Compound interest — the accelerant that makes saving and investing for retirement over several decades so effective — works in a similar way against borrowers that are slow to repay their loans. This is an acute problem for millennials, but it doesn’t stop with them. Almost three-fifths of 22 to 44-year-olds have student debt, and they’re joined by more than one-fifth of those over 45-years-old.
Employer-sponsored student loan repayment assistance can take a variety of forms. It can be as simple as directing participants to enroll for dedicated loan payments, and can extend all the way to helping them refinance at a better rate or consolidate multiple loans.
The education benefit umbrella can also cover tuition reimbursement programs for employees that want to continue their education but are hesitant to spend the money. These programs can also serve employee retention goals as they’re typically offered with a payback period if workers leave shortly after being reimbursed.
Any program that lowers employee financial stress will likely help improve productivity. From a practical standpoint, workers have more disposable income — and feel wealthier — once they’ve vanquished their loans.
Being an advocate in helping employees accomplish that goal has obvious benefits for organizations that are seeking to retain members of the country’s largest working generation.
SOURCE: Zito, A (9 August 2018) "How to motivate millennials to participate in retirement savings" (Web Blog Post). Retrieved from https://www.benefitnews.com/opinion/motivating-millennials-to-participate-in-retirement-savings
Health care employers need cure-all for retirement epidemic
Originally posted Jully 11, 2014 by Michael Giardina on https://ebn.benefitnews.com.
Like other industries, health care employers and benefit plan managers in the health care sector are struggling mightily with their ability to address the retirement preparedness of their evolving workforces.
Whether it’s the remnants of the baby boomers or introduction of millennials, the workforce dynamic in the health care industry is going through a change as the it continues to cope with the ongoing hiccups of the Affordable Care Act. Plan fiduciaries at health worksites also caution the need to motivate their employees to save adequately and helping them learn how to invest wisely.
The health care segment includes more 4,000 defined contribution plans, with approximately 5,200 retirement plan participants. In total assets, the health care sector has more $317.8 billion, which is about 40% of the overall DC not-for-profit market.
Ty Minnich, vice president, not-for-profit institutional markets at Transamerica Retirement Solutions, says the root of the problem is the “pendulum shift” from defined benefit to DC retirement plans, which adds to the retirement confusion.
“The aging population, although affecting all industries, is creating a workforce management issue – particularly in health care, where the demand for younger employees is there,” says Minnich. “The technical expertise, the knowledge they need with the sophistication of the changes in medical delivery [is critical], yet they have employees entering the retirement period of their careers and they are not retiring because they are not ready to retire, from a financial perceptive.”
According to health care retirement plan sponsors, approximately 75% say that employee engagement is one of the most significant challenges in managing a retirement plan. Of the more than 100 hospital administrators and chief financial officers surveyed by Transamerica and the American Hospital Association, most agree that helping employees save for retirement and retaining employees are top goals for their retirement plan.
Another wrench in the operation of health care businesses has been the ACA, and its overnight transformation – according to some in consultancy space – of how business is done in the field.
“[Health care] is undergoing an enormous change, from the perspective on how they get reimbursed for their delivery model,” says Minnich. “What you seeing is that the smaller regional community-type organizations just can’t exist in this marketplace.”
David Zetter, of Zetter Healthcare Management Consultants, explains that he is seeing similar shifts in all aspects of benefits and services – from small practices to large groups and health systems that the health care accounting and consulting firm works with.
“I don’t see how health care practices are going to do it,” explains Zetter, also a board member of the National Society of Certified Healthcare Business Consultants. “It’s just getting so expensive, and reimbursements are going down. It’s tough for a doctor to make ends meet at this point in time and if they keep wanting to be the employer of choice they are going to have to ante up. Unfortunately that’s going to cost them quite a bit of money, especially from a benefits standpoint.”
Meanwhile, there has been a change in how plan sponsors measure plan success in the medical industry. There is more of a focus around retirement readiness rather just solely participation rates, according to the study. And this intensified focus on improving employee interaction and tailoring print and electronic education touch points exemplifies how health care retirement plan sponsors are reacting.
“It all indicates that the plan sponsors are not only realizing they have to do more to help participants get ready for retirement, but also helping participant to help themselves,” says Grace Basile, assistant director of market research at Transamerica Retirement Solutions. “There’s no more ‘set it and forget it,’ there’s no more just getting into the plan.” Instead, she says it’s all about “increasing [engagement] over time, [and] making sure your investments are appropriate for where you are in your age and career.”
Overall, employers and their employees have been riddled with uncertainty of retirement since the recession. However, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, retirement confidence reported some meager gains from the losses over the past five years. Approximately 18% of Americans are very confident and 37% are somewhat confident with the future financial needs.
Nevin Adams, co-director of the Employee Benefit Research Institute Center for Research on Retirement Income, adds that all employers – not just those in the health care space – are faced with the challenges of finding the sweet spot of automatic enrollment, default rates and participation.
“One of the things that we are really hearing from employers is that employee benefits are going to continue to be sort of a differentiating factor,” Adams tells EBN. He says that demographic shifts are one of the biggest challenges for employers to deal with.
“The baby boomers [are] kind of hanging around, and the millenials looking for a place to come in,” he notes. “The benefit package and how it’s put together really will make a difference.”
10 tips to help employees boost their retirement savings
Originally posted on https://ebn.benefitnews.com.
Even if they began saving late or have yet to begin, it's important for your plan participants to know they are not alone, and there are steps they can take to kick-start their retirement plan. Merrill Lynch has provided the following tips to help boost their savings - no matter what their stage of life - and pursue the retirement they envision.
1: Focus on starting today
Especially if you're just beginning to put money away for retirement, start saving and investing as much as you can now, and let compound interest have an opportunity to work in your favor.
2: Contribute to your 401(k)
If your employer offers a traditional 401(k) plan, it allows you to contribute pre-tax money, which can be a significant advantage; you can invest more of your income without feeling it as much in your monthly budget.
3. Meet your employer's match
If your employer offers to match your 401(k) plan, make sure you contribute at least enough to take full advantage of the match.
4: Open an IRA
Consider an individual retirement account to help build your nest egg.
5: Automate your savings
Make your savings automatic each month and you'll have the opportunity to potentially grow your nest egg without having to think about it.
6: Rein in spending
Examine your budget. You might negotiate a lower rate on your car insurance or save by bringing your lunch to work instead of buying it.
7: Set a goal
Knowing how much you'll need not only makes the process of investing easier but also makes it more rewarding. Set benchmarks along the way, and gain satisfaction as you pursue your retirement goal.
8: Stash extra funds
Extra money? Don't just spend it. Every time you receive a raise, increase your contribution percentage. Dedicate at least half of the new money to your retirement savings.
9: Take advantage of catch-up contributions
One of the reasons it's important to start early if you can is that yearly contributions to IRAs and 401(k) plans are limited. The good news? Once you reach age 50, these limits rise, allowing you to try to catch up on your retirement savings. Currently, the 401(k) contribution limit is $17,500 for 2013. If you are age 50 or older the limit increases by $5,500.
10: Consider delaying Social Security as you get closer to retirement
For every year you can delay receiving a Social Security payment before you reach age 70, you can increase the amount you receive in the future." The delayed retirement credits range from 3% to 8% annually, depending on the year you were born. Pushing your retirement back even one year could significantly boost your Social Security income during retirement.