Few product innovations have been as well-designed for the needs of retirement plans and retirement plan participants as asset-allocation funds, specifically those oriented to match up with a participant’s retirement date—and their inclusion as a primary qualified default investment alternative (QDIA) solution has only served to further fuel their popularity.
These “target-date” or, as they are sometimes called, lifecycle funds offer a near-magical clarity for what is frequently the most daunting of participant decisions: how to invest their retirement savings. Moreover, it offers the prospect of professional rebalancing on a regular basis, an area that even the most diligent retirement plan investor frequently overlooks.
Still, any offering that makes it that easy for participants must come with a "catch." And recent developments here have highlighted the reality that not all lifecycle funds are built with the same philosophy in mind.
December 17, 2012
Safe Harbors
Safe Harbors
UpFront
Kristen Heinzinger
Plan sponsors not making best use of target-date funds
While more than 50% of plan sponsors offer target-date funds
(TDFs) in defined contribution (DC) plans, only half of them use the funds as
their default. AllianceBernstein’s third biannual surve
December 17, 2012
Tough Times
Tough Times
UpFront
Kristen Heinzinger
Risks
threaten DC plan success
Amid market volatility, the changing role of defined
contribution (DC) retirement plans, a shrinking work force and longer life
expectancy, plan sponsors must tackle more issues that threaten DC plan
success. Three
December 06, 2012
Paring Down Providers: A 403(b) Sponsor’s Experience
Paring Down Providers: A 403(b) Sponsor’s Experience
December 6, 2012 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – Southern Methodist
University (SMU) shared during a recent event its experience paring down to one
403(b) provider.
Kristen Heinzinger
editors@plansponsor.com
With 2,340 benefits eligible staff a
October 16, 2012
Plan Sponsors Not Making Best Use of TDFs
Plan Sponsors Not Making Best Use of TDFs October 16, 2012 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – While more than 50% of plan sponsors offer target-date funds (TDFs) in defined contribution (DC) plans, only half of them are using TDFs as their default, an AllianceBernstein survey found. Kristen Heinzinger editors@plansponsor