Ascensus to buy ASPERIA
ASPERIA (formerly Group Health & Benefit Administrators, Inc.), will become part of Ascensus’ TPA Solutions division.
401(k)/IRA
A Fintech Fix for the Small Plan Cost-Crisis
'We’re offering to clean house in a very fragmented broker market,' said Shin Inoue, CEO of ForUsAll, a turnkey 401(k) provider. Founded in 2014 by three former Financial Engines...
Icon: An IRA for ‘Gig’ Workers
Icon will offer a portable IRA to workers at small companies as well as to independent contractors. State Street Global Advisors and Dimensional Fund Advisors will provide low-cost investments....
Bob Reynolds’ & the Future of 401k
Reynolds emphatically favors the investment interpretation, as does Brian Graff of the American Retirement Association and other industry advocates.
How to attract IRA asset transfers: LIMRA SRI
People ages 45 and older were significantly less likely than people ages 40 to 44 (29% vs. 11%) to move their IRAs recently, according to research by the LIMRA...
An Obama-era retirement savings initiative gets the ax
The program aimed to work in support of private industry, not against it. When MyRA account balances reached $15,000, Treasury bond assets would be liquidated and rolled into private-sector...
Vermont offers state-wide voluntary MEP
The voluntary multi-employer plan, or MEP, 'will be open to any employer with fewer than 50 employees that does not currently provide a retirement plan to its employees.' Some...
Fidelity expands 401k managed account business
Fidelity announced this week that it will offer fiduciary managed account services to retirement plans that Fidelity is not the recordkeeper for--and where it will compete with managed account...
Participants in Wells Fargo retirement plans can buy MetLife longevity insurance
Wells Fargo's plan sponsors will be able to offer their participants the option to earmark a portion of their 401(k) savings for a MetLife qualified longevity annuity contract as...
Boeing’s 401(k) Joins the Hueler Annuity Platform
Boeing joined IBM, General Motors, Vanguard and other firms in giving its 401(k) plan participants access to the Hueler Income Solutions platform, where they can roll over savings to...
Fixed annuity option added to AXA’s DC recordkeeping platform
“The fixed account is generally intended to provide a guaranteed rate of accumulation, but participants have the option to annuitize to receive a lifetime income,” AXA told RIJ in...
Retirement Clearinghouse gathers allies for its ‘auto-portability’ solution
At a forum called 'Retirement Plan Portability & Public Policy: Unlocking the Potential in Portability' in Washington, D.C. on March 30, a panel representing EBRI, Groom Law Group, and...
Savings Pros Meet in City of Big Spenders
At the NAPA 401k Summit in Las Vegas this week, nearly 2,000 plan sponsor advisors et al worried about policy threats to their industry. At nearby slots and gaming...
DC plans deliver less income than DB plans, study shows
Expansion of DC coverage, wider use of auto-enrollment and auto-escalation of contributions, and reduced leakage would help turn the situation around, according to the Center for Retirement Research at...
Average 401(k) balances up 33% since 4Q2011: Fidelity
“More than one-in-four Fidelity 401(k) savers increased their savings rate in 2016—an all-time high—and the number of people with a 401(k) loan dropped to its lowest point in seven...
TIAA offers double-shot of income solutions for DC plans
Plan sponsors and/or their third-party consultants select the investment options and design the glide paths formulas for their TDFs and combine them with one of two income solutions on...
Skin in the (Costa Rican Retirement) Game
How do Costa Ricans pay for retirement? In San Jose, Alvaro Ramos Chaves (above), the pensions regulator, told RIJ how his nation’s mandatory DB and DC plans work. His...
RetirePreneur: Dream Forward
The next wave of automation in retirement plans will be chatbots--intelligent virtual assistants that both teach and learn from participants. Dream Forward, a startup led by Grant Easterbrook, is...
Ascensus to run Oregon’s public DC plan for private-sector workers
Pennsylvania-based Ascensus is the nation’s largest independent retirement and college savings services provider, with more than $139 billion in assets under administration.
Edward Jones’ 401(k) plan accused again of ERISA violations
A federal class action suit in St. Louis charges the Edward Jones 401(k) plan with offering its participants high-cost funds from asset managers that were also paying tens of...
