BCG Blog - Sponsors

Understanding what is competing for your employee’s money can help you work with them to navigate saving for retirement and encourage more employees to save for retirement.

The millennial workforce is eager to save for retirement, but with immediate financial pressures may not be able to see their way to doing so. By giving them simple ways to save, plan sponsors can help their younger employees find their financial footing and save for a better retirement outcome.

For 82 percent of workers surveyed, the overwhelming consensus is they’ll have a much harder time achieving financial security than their parents’ generation did. Your plan participants want to make the most of their retirement plan contributions. Here’s how you can help.

Many investment advisors often find that a lack of a mental image of what an employee wants retirement to include is a roadblock towards getting employees to commit to retirement savings. Using a recent retirement can do more than help employees say goodbye: it can help some employees get a sense of what they might want their own retirement to look like.

Employees who respond to the market by moving or trading investments with every major market movement may be engaging in “Emotional Investing.” This kind of investing fails to prioritize the long-term goals of retirement planning. An employee’s single best tool for weathering a volatile market is time and compound interest.

Some financial advisors have also helped employees understand that their goal in retirement planning is more than “beating the market.” Instead, it may involve flexible planning, capturing tax benefits, or helping employees stay the course during volatile markets.

When plan participants are hard-pressed for money, sometimes they’ll turn to their retirement savings. What will that mean come retirement?

While some may prefer a more detached approach to investing through algorithms and robo-investing, the human element is in more demand for most investors. This could be because financial advice, unlike cat food or the very best pen, requires an ongoing understanding of individuals and their specific concerns.

Extending your plan to cover all your employees eager to get started on retirement saving may need to consider whether all of those employees are U.S. citizens or their residency status.

Employers who are looking for creative ways to engage more employees in retirement savings may have a few new options!

Just half of today’s workforce participate in company-sponsored retirement plans. How can plan sponsors create more interesting retirement plans?

A recent survey shows that the once-maligned defined benefit plan is making a comeback. Is a defined benefit plan right for your organization?