Benefits August 10, 2004

Manulife: Lifestyle Participants Had Better Returns

August 10, 2004 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Participants in Manulife 401(k) plans who contributed to a lifestyle fund from 1999 to 2003 earned on average 3.4% higher annual returns than participants who did not.
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The retirement plan provider also found nearly 83% of the participants who picked their own individual funds would have had more money if they contributed to a lifestyle fund. Additionally, the non-lifestyle participants ending account balances would have been 13.5% points higher at the end of the period had they contributed to the plan’s lifestyle option, according to a survey conducted by Burgess + Associates for Manulife USA.

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Results appear to be fairly uniform over the period of the study, as lifestyle participants experienced gains in each of the risk categories. Within each risk category, lifestyle participants experienced between 2.4% to 3.9% points greater annualized returns than non-lifestyle participants. Non-lifestyle participants fared particularly poor in the growth and aggressive growth categories, where this group experienced average annual losses.

The study included 90,506 Manulife USA 401(k) plan participants divided into various lifestyle and non-lifestyle groups based on the investment risk inherent of the allocation strategies they selected.

Products August 9, 2004

Motivano to Offer Prepaid Debit Card for HSAs

September 8, 2004 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - In a move that is intended to reduce the amount of paper-work required for Health Savings Account (HSA) processing, Motivano is launching a debit-card style prepaid health card for the new health plans, called 'SmartFlex'.
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In conjunction with UMB Bank, Motivano has release the multi-purpose card, with which a customer will have access to multiple accounts – for everything from HSA’s to parking accounts – on the same card.

“The ability to have a ‘multi-purpose’ card that can separate HSA, HRA, and FSA funds is essential in the growing prepaid card industry.   We are excited about the opportunity and functionality that Motivano’s SmartFlex program brings to this market,” says Dennis Triplett, UMB’s Executive Vice President of Lending Services, in the release.

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The debit card system for consumer-driven health plans has been growing in popularity as of late, as both employers and employees aim to reduce the amount of paperwork required.

“For healthcare consumers, the prepaid card is quickly becoming a critical part of HSA functionality. Without the card, it’s a paper-driven process. Our SmartFlex card relieves the administrative burden that healthcare providers and third party administrators face,” says Mark Keck, Motivano’s Executive Vice President, in a press release.

Motivano is a provider of electronic FSA, HRA, HSA, dependent care and mass transportation and parking prepaid card accounts as well as employee incentive and recognition programs. UMB Financial Corporation is a $6.9 billion holding company headquartered in Kansas City, Mo.

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