As a communications professional who works in the employee benefits world, I never stop encountering dismal reports on the saving habits of Americans. The data is everywhere—and it’s overwhelming. People aren’t saving for retirement and those who are aren’t saving enough. As […]
As humans, we tend to like order. We like lists, we like symmetry, we like calm. So when volatility in the stock market brings chaos to that order, we react. There is a term for this reaction—behavioral finance—and about 40 years of […]
Multiemployer funds are closely monitoring and discussing in detail the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act of 2014 (MPRA), but the majority of funds responding to our recent survey do not plan to take the more drastic measures MPRA allows. These findings and more are revealed […]
In mid-June, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. (PBGC) released their first round of guidance relating to the Multiemployer Pension Reform Act (MPRA) provisions on benefit suspensions (reductions) and pension partitions. MPRA is a complex law, and the […]
You have a retirement plan—But do you have a plan for the worst? It seems that when it comes to retirement, most of us are in denial. You might be diligently saving, but you are missing the mark if you’re not taking […]
When I graduated from college and started my first full-time job, I received very sound advice from my dad. “Start saving for retirement right away—You’ll be glad you did.” He has never steered me wrong, so I did what he said and […]
Last fall I had the opportunity, along with a few Foundation members, to meet with Ian Dingwall, Chief Accountant for the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA). Mr. Dingwall’s team is responsible for making sure employee benefit plans are operating […]
Mother’s Day is just around the corner. It’s a day when many of us reflect on how our mothers, grandmothers and other special women have influenced our lives. I’m no different. As I worked on the recently released International Foundation report, The […]
In honor of Small Business Week, our research team took a dive back in to data from our Employee Benefits Survey: 2014 to identify how small employers are designing their benefits packages compared to their peers. For the following analysis and discussion, data from […]
A couple of years ago, I had a conversation with an older relative about claiming Social Security benefits. Like most people, he began getting Social Security at 62. When I said I hoped to wait until I reached 70, he was incredulous. […]
