Products January 31, 2017

Mutual of Omaha Launches Program to Engage Retirement Plan Participants

The firm added engagement specialists to its team, partnered with Morningstar for advice, and added a suite of educational materials for participants.
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Mutual of Omaha Retirement Services has launched Imagine Retirement Right, a program designed to motivate employees to take an active interest in their employer-sponsored retirement plan.

The firm says Imagine Retirement Right will create a dramatic shift in employee thinking—one that will engage people who have historically been less active in their company’s retirement plan.

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“We have developed and tested an unconventional approach to increase employee engagement,” says John Corrieri, vice president of Mutual of Omaha’s 401(k) business. “Our approach focuses on right brain thinking—instead of the usual numbers-based approach. Once employees understand why they need to save, many are more motivated to engage in their retirement planning process and seek out meetings with their plan adviser.”

Three pilots were conducted utilizing Mutual of Omaha’s new approach. The company says pilot results indicated that employee engagement significantly increased across all groups when utilizing the new approach. Eligible employees increased their retirement contributions by nearly 40%.

Based on the pilots, Mutual expanded its Participant Experience team to include engagement specialists, whose sole function is to help motivate employees to take action in their retirement plan.

Mutual of Omaha has also teamed up with Morningstar Investment Management LLC to help increase participant engagement with that company’s Retirement Manager, an online service designed to help participants decide how much to save, when they may be able to retire, and how to potentially invest the savings in their workplace retirement account. Morningstar uses both webinars and one-on-one sessions to educate plan participants on how this service can help them reach their retirement goals.

Mutual of Omaha also launched a suite of educational materials including presentations, videos and fliers along with its new participant tools.

Break from the Grind January 31, 2017

Is the NFL Pension Plan Ready for Retirees?

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At the start of April 2015, the National Football League Players’ Pension Plan was 74% funded—up from 55% at April 2014, according to an analysis by the Society of Actuaries (SOA).

However, the SOA notes this is largely because benefit changes reduced liabilities by $0.5 billion, leaving $1.8 billion in assets against liabilities of $2.5 billion. In the context of the red-yellow-green zone system commonly used with this type of pension plan, the plan is in the yellow zone.

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During 2015, NFL clubs collectively contributed $266 million, compared to $306 million for 2014. Of the $266 million contributed for 2015, $36 million covered the cost of benefits that active players earned during 2015, leaving $230 million to be applied toward the funding shortfall of $700 million.

According to the SOA, the average approximate annual pension benefit is $34,000, and $146 million in benefits was paid out in 2015. There are 2,169 active players, 6,017 inactive players and 4,403 retirees receiving benefits.

NFL players have been covered by this pension plan since 1962. The plan considers age 55 to be the standard retirement age. If a player waits until later to start his benefit, his benefit is actuarially increased accordingly. Players are fully vested after 3 credited seasons or 5 years of service in other capacities (for example, as a coach), but the amount of retirement benefits is based on the number of credited seasons.

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