Tuesday, December 17, 2019

Retirement Plan Success Starts with Education

The road to a successful retirement is filled with twists and turns. Employees are faced with challenges throughout this journey. Yesterday's solutions may not work today.

Vanguard Retirement Plan Access (VRPA) stands by your employees every step of the way. VRPA is constantly evolving to provide the education and support employees need to stay on the right path to retirement. We analyze what employees respond to and how their needs are changing. This analysis helps us provide answers to employee questions to enable them to make more informed decisions.

Are participants saving enough? Are they invested appropriately for their age and to attain their retirement goals? Do they know how much money they'll need in retirement? Questions like this may seem simple, but they show how important participant education is to helping employees achieve retirement success.

We're here to help answer these questions.

Serving nearly 600,000 participants as of the end of August, VRPA is committed to providing easy access to a range of valuable education resources that can meet the needs and preferences of plan sponsors and participants:

  • Participant quarterly emails. Our quarterly participant email program is designed to help give participants the information they need to make more informed financial decisions. Topics are tailored to reach participants at their stage in the retirement life cycle.
  • Opportunity to learn from experts. We conduct quarterly webinars that focus on helping your employees learn more and save more. Our subject matter experts walk your participants through retirement scenarios that help each of them take charge of their retirement savings. Registration is open for our next webinar: Getting on Track for Retirement.
  • Financial wellness. We partner with Ascensus to deliver a unique financial wellness program that can make a meaningful impact for your employees. Through the workplace financial wellness benefits provider Financial Finesse, Ascensus offers VRPA clients unbiased and personalized guidance to help participants achieve financial security.

In addition to the education resources available, VRPA supplies research and reports for sponsors and the advisors that provide trends in retirement plans and can be valuable resources for plan design.
  • How America Saves 2019: Small Business Edition. Our annual comprehensive report features plan design trends and participant savings behavior from the more than 11,000 plans we serve.
  • Plan health reports. Plan sponsors and advisors may wonder how the participants in their plans are progressing toward retirement. Plan health reports are available on demand and provide a customizable summary of plan, employee, and investment activity.

"I'm excited about the continued expansion of our participant education services," said Steve Holman, head of VRPA. "We tailor the participant education programs to meet the needs of people at various stages of retirement planning in clear and actionable ways. And for the many plans working with advisors, our participant education complements that expertise and education shared by advisors."


Notes:

  • All investing is subject to risk, including the possible loss of the money you invest.
  • Diversification does not ensure a profit or protect against a loss.
  • Past performance is no guarantee of future returns.

Simplified Contribution Processing


To make plan administration as simple and intuitive as possible, we’ve improved our website and service capabilities related to contribution processing. Learn about these latest enhancements here. We’ll introduce even more new features in 2020.

IRS Hardships Got Easier


On September 23, 2019 the IRS published the final regulations on hardship distributions. These final rules include:
       Eliminating the six-month suspension of employee elective deferrals after a hardship distribution
       Allowing employer QNECs and QMACs (qualified nonelective and matching contributions) and earnings to be included in hardship distributions*
       Permitting hardship distributions without first requiring that plan loans be taken

Most employers will have to amend their plans to meet these new requirements. Click here to learn what you need to know now. For more complete details, including a hardship distribution overview, click here.

Based on these final regulations, our hardship distribution forms will be updated. Watch for a notification soon of their availability on the plan website, so you can download them to replace your existing forms.

*This rule does not apply to most 403(b) plans.

Navigate Year-End Processing with Ease


To help you stay on task with your year-end requirements, we’ve published our Online Resource for Upcoming Annual Events. This guide highlights key activities and deadlines to keep your plan in compliance. Access this guide on the plan website under the Resources tab.

Learn Essentials, Earn Credentials


Are you shouldering fiduciary responsibilities with no formal training? Would you benefit from learning tips for working with your financial advisor or engaging your employees? As our client, you have exclusive access to the Certified Plan Sponsor Professional (CPSP) program administered through the American Retirement Association. You can complete the course online and at your own pace. And although credentials can be costly, this one’s on us. Learn more here.