Products April 4, 2016

Lincoln Enhances Small-Business 401(k) Solution

The enhancements include a broader array of investment options.
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Lincoln Financial Group’s Retirement Plan Services business announced enhancements to its Lincoln Director employer-sponsored retirement plan program for small-business clients.

The Lincoln Director program is a retirement solution for adviser and third-party administrator (TPA)-serviced plan sponsors focused on 401(k) plans with assets of up to $10 million.

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“When we looked at our Retirement Power Participant Engagement Study, we realized the importance of in-person advice to retirement plan participants. This is also important to small-business owners. We have a focus on the small-business market and advisers that serve that market,” Jamie Ohl, president of Retirement Plan Services at Lincoln Financial Group, tells PLANSPONSOR.

The program now offers a deeper, non-proprietary investment universe, made up of more than 250 revenue-neutral investment options in nearly 60 different asset categories, represented by 40 fund families. It also includes a broad range of qualified default investment alternative (QDIA) options, including eight target-date and risk-based series and Stadion’s new managed account solution, StoryLine.   

These enhancements will provide plan sponsors and their advisers with one of the largest investment option universes in the industry to choose from as they customize their small-market retirement plan offerings. “With the enhanced Lincoln Director program, advisers now have unprecedented access to investment options for their small-business clients, at a level typically available only to large institutional plans,” says Tim Seifert, vice president of External Wholesale for Lincoln Financial Distributors.

Siefert tells PLANSPONSOR Lincoln has actively listened to advisers to fully understand their needs and the needs of their clients—advisers are active with education and want to grow their businesses in the face of regulatory reform. Seifert notes that the one-on-one guidance for participants will come from advisers.

COMING UP: New cost structure and continued fiduciary help

He says plan sponsors can access the solution through their adviser or TPA, and he points out that the solution is now offered to plans with up to $10 million in assets, when it was previously offered to plans with up to $5 million in assets.

“We enhanced the product with greater funds, simple and transparent fees and a high level of fiduciary coverage. That is what we kept hearing from advisers that plan sponsors wanted, in addition to high touch educational tools with Lincoln,” Siefert says.

The new cost structure of the Lincoln Director program provides a simple, transparent and level fee environment, making it easy for advisers, small-business owners and their participants to understand the cost of their retirement plan. Michael Conte, vice president and Small Market Business Leader, Retirement Plan Services, Lincoln Financial Group, says the investment universe is completely revenue neutral—no 12b-1 a or sub-TA fees.

The enhanced program also provides plan sponsors with access to fiduciary support and solutions from Morningstar Investment Management LLC that provide 3(21) and/or 3(38) fiduciary services, giving advisers and plan sponsors the ability to select the level of fiduciary support needed.

“This is just one more arrow in the quiver we can offer advisers to help participants save for retirement,” concludes Ohl.

For more information about the Lincoln Director retirement plan enhancements and program, visit: www.LincolnFinancial.com/Director.

Benefits April 1, 2016

Wellness Programs Not Just About Physical Health

Fidelity finds many employers are adding mental and financial well-being solutions to their wellness programs.
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More employers are investing in “total well-being” programs that address areas such as financial and emotional health, according to the seventh annual survey about corporate health and well-being from Fidelity Investments and the National Business Group on Health.

The survey revealed employers are adding programs that help employees manage stress, improve their resiliency and assist with their financial challenges.

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This year’s survey results indicate employers recognize a “healthy” employee may be affected negatively by non-health-related factors and are including programs to address emotional and financial needs rather than focusing solely on physical health. This year, 87% of employers offer emotional or mental well-being programs, and 76% provide financial health programs. When employers were asked about offering well-being programs in the future, 67% plan to expand their efforts, and an additional 17% plan to maintain at the current level.

“Employers have long understood the importance of improving employee productivity and are now focused on the factors that impact productivity, specifically, … emotional stress and financial challenges to achiev[ing] their goals,” says Adam Stavisky, senior vice president, Fidelity Benefits Consulting.

NEXT: Wellness program components and incentives

Stress management is by far the most popular emotional well-being program offered—54% of employers currently offer this program, and an additional 12% are planning to do so in 2017. Also popular is resiliency training, which helps employees manage setbacks in the workplace or in life outside of work—27% of employers offer this program, with another 20% planning to do so next year.

To help employees manage their financial well-being, nearly three-quarters (73%) of companies surveyed offer on-site financial seminars, and 59% make a financial coach available to employees. Student loan repayment assistance—a benefit typically available only in the public sector—will now be offered by 13% of employers in 2016, and another 21% consider adding it in the future.

In 2015, 81% of employees received at least some amount of incentives, up from 73% in 2014. The percent receiving incentives has steadily increased as employers expand well-being programs to address other elements of overall well-being, as well as provide employees with more ways to earn incentives. At the same time, as employers expand into new areas, they are moving away from outcomes-based incentives as a way to encourage employees to participate. The number of employers utilizing outcomes-based incentives is expected to drop from 44% last year to 24% this year.

“We are seeing more companies step up their efforts to integrate financial and emotional well-being, social connectedness and job satisfaction with their more traditional efforts to support physical health,” says Brian Marcotte, CEO and president of National Business Group on Health.

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