DES MOINES, Iowa--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

With the deadline for new retirement plan disclosure regulations just around the corner, 89 percent of financial professionals1 say their plan sponsor clients would value more education about plan fees.

The Principal Financial Group has created a comprehensive online resource to help. Assessing Retirement Plan Value offers tips and tools for understanding and evaluating retirement plan fees, services and overall value.

Financial professionals can use the new resource to help clients comply with a key fiduciary obligation: evaluating whether plan fees are reasonable for the services received.

There is more to assessing retirement plan fees than comparing numbers. The better informed plan sponsors are about the services received for those fees, the better equipped they are to make an effective evaluation, said Greg Burrows, senior vice president of retirement and investor services at The Principal. Financial professionals can use our new online resource to help clients evaluate the overall value of the services the plan is receiving and then assess the reasonableness of the fees paid for those services.

The online resource offers:

The Principal also offers a new Fee Reasonableness Review Checklist, a sample template financial professionals can share with plan fiduciaries to help guide them through the evaluation process.

Weve been delivering the required enhanced disclosures to plan sponsors since last year, said Burrows. We wanted to get ahead of the deadlines so there would be no surprises for financial professionals and plan sponsor clients. This new online hub is one more step in ensuring that plan sponsors understand their plan costs and have what they need to fulfill their fiduciary obligations.

The Principal began delivering a redesigned and streamlined summary of fees to new clients in July and existing clients November 1, 2011. Other features from The Principal include:

The Principal also created an ERISA 404(a) Participant Disclosure Regulation Resource Center to assist plan sponsors in complying with the new participant disclosure regulation,

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New Resource Helps Evaluate Retirement Plan Fees

ST. LOUIS, May 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Some Americans are not optimistic about the possibility of a financially comfortable retirement or the possibility of retirement in general. According to a survey released today by financial services firm Edward Jones, one in 10 Americans say retirement simply isn't an attainable goal when asked to identify the reason they're not saving enough. Only 32 percent of survey respondents identify hard financial issues, such as the need to focus on immediate expenses as the rationale for their lack of savings.

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"While everyday expenses like education and housing are clearly necessary expenses for many Americans, this survey found that there is still almost one-third of respondents who point to fairly vague reasons for not saving enough, including those with concerns that saving for retirement is unattainable or that it's too early to start," said Scott Thoma, Investment Policy Committee Member at Edward Jones. "We want to remind Americans that taking a proactive approach, no matter how minimal it may seem, is the best way to overcome retirement readiness fears. Investing regularly into a 401(k) or an IRA can be a great option. By working with a financial professional, any investor, whether they are at the beginning of their career or close to traditional retirement age, can work to develop a plan to help them achieve their goals."

Conducted by Opinion Research Corporation, the survey of 565 respondents found that age plays a factor in whether Americans are saving enough. Seventy-two percent of respondents between 18 and 34 believe they are not putting enough money towards retirement. The percentages dropped with the age of the respondents, with just less than half of respondents (47 percent) 65 and older indicating they are not saving enough.

The survey also found that household and family size has a clear impact on retirement savings. While the survey average shows that 32 percent of Americans are grappling with too many current expenses to save for retirement, the percentage increases dramatically for respondents with children between 13 and 17 to 49 percent. "Balancing college and retirement savings is a common challenge for parents. With limited resources, it's important to create a strategy that will help allocate savings appropriately," Thoma continued. For respondents with no children, only 25 percent indicate that current expenses are impacting their ability to save.

Other key findings from the survey include:

About Edward JonesEdward Jones provides financial services for individual investors in the United States and, through its affiliate, in Canada. Every aspect of the firm's business, from the types of investment options offered to the location of branch offices, is designed to cater to individual investors in the communities in which they live and work. The firm's 12,000-plus financial advisors work directly with nearly 7 million clients to understand their personal goals - from college savings to retirement - and create long-term investment solutions that emphasize a well-balanced portfolio and a buy-and-hold strategy. Edward Jones embraces the importance of building long-term, face-to-face relationships with clients, helping them to understand and make sense of the investment solutions available today.

Edward Jones, which ranked No. 11 on FORTUNE magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For 2011," is headquartered in St. Louis. The Edward Jones Web site is located at http://www.edwardjones.com, and its recruiting Web site is http://www.careers.edwardjones.com. Member SIPC.

Survey was based on 565 telephone interviews of U.S. adults conducted between April 5 7, 2012. The margin of error was +/-5 percent.

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US Investors Admit They Are Not Saving Enough for Retirement

Retirement planning isn't easy. Nearly half of Americans don't feel financially prepared to live to age 75, according to a survey from Northwestern Mutual. But the process is a lot less burdensome if you break the task down into simpler parts. Here are seven questions to ask as you plan for your long-term financial security in retirement.

- Mark Trumbull,Staff writer

At the core of the typical retirement plan is the goal of building assets that will provide income, alongside Social Security and other sources, during your senior years. But how much do you need to save by age 65 or 70? And what does that mean for your present saving habits? The math gets complicated fast, because there are so many variables. How much to save depends on things like your future wage growth, inflation, longevity, future spending needs, what year you hope to retire, and whether you have a defined pension in addition to Social Security. Many families will find it helpful to consult a financial planner who is paid by client fees (not paid by a financial company to promote certain products). A planner would help with setting a savings target and with other steps in retirement planning. But online calculators can also offer some useful guidance. One free tool that blends ease-of-use with relatively sophisticated results is T. Rowe Price's retirement income calculator. Answer a few questions, and soon you'll see a chart of how much you're on track to save now, and how much you might need to boost that amount to have a 70 percent chance of hitting a prudent target by retirement. The tool lets you test what happens when you shift a few parameters (like retirement age). An alternative online tool, worth noting because it's considered state-of-the-art by some finance experts, crunches the numbers to fit a theory called "consumption smoothing." This is the idea that your goal is to maximize your quality of life (the "consumption" part) over your whole lifetime (the "smoothing" part).

The service, called Economic Security Planner, often gives very different advice from the typical online calculator. And it can be tailored specifically to one's situation such as factoring in when you'll stop helping a child through college and start putting some extra money toward your own retirement. The software concept was crafted by financial economist Laurence Kotlikoff of Boston University. Whether you turn to a professional or to some software designed by professionals for guidance, don't be frozen by the complexity of the decisions. Doing something is much better in this arena than doing nothing, finance experts say. So set a goal, keep saving, and you can revise or improve your plans as you go.

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Retirement planning 101: Seven questions you need to answer

Graduation is a proud day for parents and students, but saving for a child s college education shouldn t take precedence over saving for retirement.

CHICAGO -- Imagine if retirement were financed by scholarships, grants and loans.

You could qualify for a substantial aid package to pay for your senior years. Your stellar job "grades" and career achievements would be rewarded with significant merit aid.

Alas, no such aid exists. Paying for retirement is an expensive obligation that you have to handle on your own.

The one similarity with college is you likely will need to set aside money for many years in order to take care of it.

And if you need to save for your children's college as well as your own retirement, you've got a daunting challenge on your hands.

The cost of a college education continues to rise faster than inflation, at roughly 5 percent per year. The average sticker-price for four years at a private college is now more than $150,000 -- including $38,589 for the 2011-12 school year. Even going to your state's university runs close to half that total at an average $17,131 a year, according to the College Board.

Retirement is far more expensive than that.

How do you balance those important objectives? Here are some considerations to keep top-of-mind as you juggle both:

Put retirement first: Student loan debt has risen above $1 trillion and the average student's debt at graduation now exceeds $25,000, according to the Project on Student Debt. Hoping to keep their own kids from being overly burdened, parents often unwisely sink thousands of dollars into their

Originally posted here:
Retirement savings should come before college funds

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

DCAdvisors, a retirement plan, investment strategy and plan governance consulting firm announced that industry veteran John Rowe has joined their client consulting group as well as the firms leadership team.

Mr. Rowe has served in a variety of market-facing roles throughout his distinguished 30-year career. His professional experience includes senior leadership roles in business development, client management and product development while working at American Express (now Ameriprise), Merrill Lynch, Genworth and MetLife. He is a frequent speaker at industry events and is a recognized expert in the use of lifetime income solutions within target risk and target date investment strategies.

DCAdvisors Managing Director Dan Esch stated, More than ever, corporate executives and retirement plan committees need objective guidance regarding their fiduciary responsibilities. Johns experience with institutional investments and his industry knowledge will be immensely valuable to our clients as we advise retirement plan sponsors on the new 408(b)(2) and 404(a)(5) fee transparency requirements, design appropriate risk mitigation strategies, and deliver enhanced service provider and investment menu benchmarking services.

Mr. Rowe served as a trustee for the Minnesota Zoo Foundation from 2003 to 2007 and as Board Chair from 2007 to 2009. Additionally, he served in a leadership capacity during the 2002 and 2009 PGA Championships held at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, MN and plans to serve in a similar capacity at the Ryder Cup Matches scheduled in 2016.

Mr. Rowe is a native of Kokomo, IN. He received a degree as Bachelor of Science (Finance and Economics) from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana in 1982. He and his wife Julie have lived in the Twin Cities since 1990 and have two grown children.

About DCAdvisors: DCAdvisors helps companies meet their retirement plan fiduciary responsibilities by providing plan design expertise, unbiased investment recommendations and comprehensive plan governance services to mid and large retirement plan sponsors across the U.S. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the firm prides itself on its independence and its reputation for passion, commitment and integrity.

DCAdvisors is a registered investment advisor, founded in 1994.

To find out more, please visit http://www.DCAdvisors.com

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Industry Veteran John Rowe Joins Retirement Plan, Governance and Investment Consulting Firm

RBC CANADIAN CONSUMER OUTLOOK - Percentage of share of responsibility for ensuring a financially secure retirement

Alberta residents acknowledge that their investment knowledge is limited

TORONTO , May 9, 2012 /CNW/ - Albertans on average say they are responsible for most (62 per cent) of their financial security in retirement - three percentage points higher than the national average, according to the latest RBC Canadian Consumer Outlook (RBC CCO).

Thirty-seven per cent of Albertans are confident they will have enough money to have a secure retirement. On the flip side, 35 per cent are concerned about securing their financial future and nearly one-third (29 per cent) say they will have to return to work or continue working after 65 to maintain a steady income stream.

"We're here to provide Canadians with the information and advice they need to make informed decisions about their financial future," said Michael Wood , regional vice-president, RBC. "Thinking about retirement from an early age and putting a plan in place builds a strong foundation for financial security whether they're saving $50 or $500 a month."

However, when it comes to understanding the array of investment options, two-thirds (62 per cent) of Albertans say that they don't know enough about how all retirement savings options work and 44 per cent say they don't have the time to learn and understand their retirement savings options.

Other highlights from the survey found:

The RBC CCO is Canada's most comprehensive consumer assessment of the economy, personal financial situation and economic and purchasing expectations.

About RBC's savings and other financial advice and interactive tools Canadians can freely access savings advice and resources at rbc.com/savingsspot. In addition, all personal RBC online banking clients can use myFinanceTracker, a no-cost interactive financial management tool, to create a budget and track their spending habits. Whether Canadians want to get more from their day to day banking, protect what's important, save and invest, borrow with confidence or take care of their businesses, the RBC Advice Centre can help answer their questions. Interactive tools and calculators provide customized information covering many facets of personal finance. In addition, online advice videos are updated regularly to reflect current trends and to answer the questions that are top of mind with Canadians. With the guidance of RBC advisors who are available to chat live, Canadians have access to free, no-obligation professional advice about RBC products and services and personalized one-on-one service at rbcadvicecentre.com.

About the RBC Canadian Consumer Outlook The survey is conducted online via Ipsos Reid's national I-Say Consumer Panel to 3,398 Canadians (489 British Columbia, 481 Alberta, 539 Saskatchewan/Manitoba, 778 Ontario, 525 Quebec , 586 Atlantic Canada ). Weightingwas thenemployed to balance demographics and ensure that the sample's composition reflects that of the adult population according to Census data and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe. Data collection was April 2 to 9, 2012. A survey with an unweighted probability sample of this size and a 100 per cent response rate would have an estimated margin of error of 1.7 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what the results would have been had the entire population of adults in Canada been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population.

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Albertans taking retirement matters into their own hands: RBC

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) Retirement health-care costs are enough to cause a severe anxiety attack. Even with Medicare benefits, a 65-year-old couple retiring in 2012 will spend at least $240,000 in retirement, according to the latest estimate from Fidelity Investments.

That doesnt include long-term-care costs, over-the-counter medications and most dental costs.

Plus, that $240,000 estimate is based on average life expectancy for a 65-year-oldthe husband living until age 82 and the wife until 85but average means half of people live longer than that.

In other words, that 65-year-old couple may well need much more than $240,000.

No wonder almost half of wealthy Americans close to retirement said they are extremely worried about the effect health-care costs will have on their plans, according to a recent survey, by Harris Interactive for Nationwide Financial, of people with more than $250,000 in household assets.

When youre young, you cant envision what its actually going to cost you, said Henry Hebeler, a former Boeing executive who created AnalyzeNow.com, a retirement-planning website.

As you get older, thats when you start having the medical bills, said the 78-year-old Hebeler. I missed one day of work for sickness in 33 years at Boeing. And then I retired, he said.

Despite being relatively healthyhe and his wife still ski, for instancehes been in the hospital a number of times since retiring, he said, including for knee surgery. He details some of his experiences on his website.

Get your budget straight

If youre still in the retirement-planning stage, you might be envisioning lower living costsno more commuting, buying business attire, setting aside huge sums for retirement.

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Your retirement health-care tab will run $240,000

Published: 10:47AM Monday May 07, 2012 Source: BusinessDesk

Source: Metlifecare

Metlifecare, which raised $45.5 million of new capital last year, has agreed to buy rivals Vision Senior Living (VSL) and Private Life Care Holdings (PLC) in a deal worth some $216 million in stock and cash.

The retirement village operator will buy VSL's five existing villages for $83 million in Metlifecare shares, and PLC's three villages for $123 million for scrip, the company said in a statement.

VSL's shareholders will also buy 4.2 million further shares for some $10 million in cash to pay down the retirement village operator's debt.

"The merger will strengthen Metlifecare's presence in the key Auckland retirement village market and ensure that the company continues to compete strongly in the New Zealand retirement village sector," managing director Alan Edwards said.

"The merger will be immediately cash flow accretive and will provide an enhanced platform for Metlifecare to drive growth and shareholder value."

In February, Metlifecare reported a 38% slump in first-half underlying profit as it had to pay rising insurance costs and had to contend with smaller operating revenue after selling its Merivale Village last year.

The merger will boost Metlifecare's portfolio to 24 villages, three of which are in development.

The number of units will increase to 3,902 from 2,460, while brownfield and greenfield capacity climbs to 1,011 units from 380 units.

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Retirement village owner buys two rivals

Dear Liz: After working all out for 28 years in a small business, I have put away $2.6 million in stocks, bonds and some cash. (I am a reasonably smart investor.) I'm 58 and want to be done at 60. I'm not tired of my business, just tired of working. How much do you think I could draw out and not get myself into trouble? I'm in great health, so I could last 30 more years. Our house is paid off, and my wife gets about $40,000 a year from a nice pension. Any ideas?

Answer: Financial planners typically recommend an initial withdrawal rate of 3% to 4% of your portfolio. With $2.6 million, your first year's withdrawal would be $78,000 to $104,000. The idea is that you could adjust the withdrawal upward by the inflation rate each year and still be reasonably confident you won't run out of money after 30 years.

Some studies indicate you can start with a higher withdrawal rate, as long as you're willing to cut back in bad markets.

There is still some risk of going broke, though, even with a 3% withdrawal rate. Particularly poor stock market returns at the beginning of your retirement, for example, could increase the chances your nest egg will give out before you do.

This is an issue you really should discuss with a fee-only financial planner who can review your investments and your spending to make personalized recommendations. (You can get referrals from the National Assn. of Personal Financial Advisors or the Garrett Planning Network.) If you've chosen especially risky stocks or have too much of your portfolio in bonds, for example, your retirement plan could fail even if you choose a conservative initial withdrawal rate.

You'll also want to talk about how you're going to get health insurance, and how much it's likely to cost. If you've been arranging coverage through your business, you might face some sticker shock when you have to buy a policy on your own. But it's essential to have this coverage, since you won't qualify for Medicare until you're 65.

If you're not tired of your business, you might consider phasing in retirement, if that's possible in your situation. That would mean starting to take some long breaks to travel or pursue the interests you plan to indulge in retirement. Delaying retirement even a few years can dramatically increase the chances your nest egg will last.

Shielding elderly parent from larceny

Dear Liz: I liked your answer to the elderly couple who were being badgered for money by their daughter and her husband. I agree that involving the other daughter can help.

I managed to combat the tendency of family and caregivers to pester my 90-something mom for money by convincing her to give me electronic access to her bank accounts. We did this so that I could pay her bills if she got sick unexpectedly. The other benefit is that I see the small larcenies as they begin to happen. Then I can quickly step in and stop them before they escalate. It is a lot easier having a conversation with someone who has sleazed $100 from her than to deal with the $5,000 theft that motivated me to set this in motion.

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Deciding how quickly to draw down retirement funds

ANN ARBOR (WWJ) - New researchby the University of Michigan shows that 40 percent of older Americans postponed retirement in the wake of the Great Recession.

The research is the first to link actual data on household wealth just before and after the downturn to the retirement plans of a nationally representative sample of Americans age 50 and older.

Brooke HelppieMcFall, an economist at the U-M Institute for Social Research, said the typical household lost aboutfive percent of its total wealth between the summers of 2008 and 2009. She said the average personwould need to work between 3.7 and 5 years longer than they planned in order to make up the money they lost.

But people do not intend to work long enough to make up everything they lost.

In considering when to retire, people make trade-offs between their desire for more leisure and for more time to spend with friends and family, and their desire to be financially secure in retirement, McFall said in a statement.

So the typical person we surveyed who planned to work longer because of the recession only planned to work about 1.6 years longer than they had originally planned. That isnt long enough to make up what they lost, but theyre trading off time for money.

In general, research shows that people who decided to postpone retirement also expected to leave less for their heirs.

With funding from the National Institute on Aging, McFall conducted the analysis using longitudinal data from 900 participants in two ISR studies: the Health and Retirement Study and the Cognitive Economics Study.

She found that people who were pessimists about whether the stock market was going to rebound in the next year, and people who were within two years of their initial retirement age, were the most likely to say they planned to work longer.She also found that the greater the loss, the more likely people were to delay their retirement. Still, she saidvery few people decided that they would work long enough to recoup their entire economic loss.

In the analysis, McFall took into account financial wealth, including stock market, cash and retirement accounts, and net equity in housing wealth, as well as the likely value of future earnings, based on the income and the unemployment rate in the counties where participants lived.

Excerpt from:
Retirement Plans After The Great Recession