Betterment, Bennie Streamline Benefits Platform

The firms say the partnership creates a single, easy-to-navigate platform where participants can access all their benefits information.

The Betterment 401(k) has partnered with Bennie, an employee benefits platform focused on health benefits. The companies say the partnership will help employees gain better control of their finances and benefits by combining them on a single platform.

“The reason we wanted to partner with Bennie was to give participants a simple and powerful way to access all of their benefits, including their 401(k), in a technologically forward manner,” Kristen Carlisle, general manager of Betterment for Business, tells PLANADVISER. “Bennie customers will benefit by gaining access to our 401(k), which includes personalized advice, managed accounts and the latest in investing, including socially responsibly investments. All of this will now be available to midsize or small companies at a low cost. Plan sponsors benefit because it will now be easier for them to administer high-quality benefits for their employees, and the employees will benefit because this now gives them a cohesive place where all of their benefits can exist and their full financial picture can be readily accessed by linking all of their accounts in a user-intuitive format. We are growing very rapidly at Betterment and continue to give more and more midsize and small companies access to world-class benefits. That can be a key differentiator for an employer.”

She adds: “Despite the many challenges that businesses have faced over the past year, the one thing that has not changed is employers’ desire to ensure that their hardworking employees are financially well. That starts by being able to offer a great benefits package. By partnering with leading platforms like Bennie, we can support those businesses by making high-quality retirement plans and employee benefits available and accessible to all.”

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Catch-Up Rules That Apply to 457(b) Plans

Experts from Groom Law Group and CAPTRUST answer questions concerning retirement plan administration and regulations.

What are the catch-up rules that apply to 457(b) plans?”

Charles Filips, Kimberly Boberg, David Levine and David Powell, with Groom Law Group, and Michael A. Webb, senior financial adviser at CAPTRUST, answer:

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The answer depends on the type of plan sponsor and is thus often a source of confusion. There are two types of catch-up elections for 457(b) plans: an age-50 catch-up rule, which operates in a fashion similar to the age-50 catch-up under 403(b) and 401(k) plans, and a special three-year catch-up, which is an election to catch-up on prior missed deferrals in the three years prior to normal retirement age that is unique to 457(b) plans. Check out this Ask the Experts column for additional information on the three-year catch-up election.

While governmental 457(b) plans can permit both the age-50 catch-up election and the three-year catch-up election, it should be noted that a participant cannot use both elections at the same time (effectively, the participant gets the larger of the two if eligible for both). For private-tax exempt employers, however, ONLY the three-year catch-up election is permitted; the age-50 catch-up election cannot be a provision of a private tax-exempt 457(b) plan. This is often a point of confusion, so plan sponsors and those who work with them will want to make certain that these provisions are properly communicated to 457(b) plan participants.

 

NOTE: This feature is to provide general information only, does not constitute legal advice, and cannot be used or substituted for legal or tax advice.

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