Runnymede has increasingly been serving as a fiduciary advisor to companies' 401(k) plans so I will be writing a series of articles on how to tune up your retirement plan. The intended audience is the company and its trustees that sponsor the plan but participants are also advocating for better plans. It is our hope to help employers optimize and better manage their retirement plan. In doing so, we seek to help employees achieve their goal of successfully preparing themselves for retirement.
401(k): Finding The Right Asset Allocation
One of the most important decisions you have to make in your 401(k) plan is asset allocation — that is, how much you put in stocks, bonds, and cash. Asset allocation is the strategy of dividing your investments across various asset classes in order to reduce risk through diversification. Here are two simple approaches to get you started.
Your 401(k): Benefits of Starting Early
Your 401(k) could make you a millionaire. By making small, regular investments starting in your 20s or early 30s, your savings will grow tax-free for 30 to 40 years. Unfortunately, people tend to procrastinate because they are focused on bills that are due today and the things they want right now. We human beings are notoriously bad at wrapping our minds around far off events.
When it comes to investing, time is a big advantage. Here are three reasons why.
401K Providers: 2016 Top 20 Lists
Editor's note: There is a more up-to-date version of this article at 401k Providers: 2017 Top 10 Lists. Thanks!
Plan sponsors, that is companies that offer their employees a 401(k) plan, have many choices when selecting service providers for their defined contribution plans. The challenge for many businesses, especially for small businesses, is that the day-to-day running of their businesses leaves little time to review, monitor, and optimize their retirement plan. The result is that many plan sponsors lack a comprehensive understanding of who the top 401k providers are. PLANSPONSOR magazine conducts an annual recordkeeping survey profiling top providers. Here's their list of the 2016 top 401(k) providers and a few of my thoughts.
Taking Too Much Risk May Sink Your Retirement
Thanks to the Fed's zero interest rate policy (ZIRP), baby boomers are facing a much tougher road to retirement than those in the past. While it may seem like an eternity, it was only 10 years ago when you could park your money in a savings account and earn interest of 5%. Retirees who worked hard and saved their money could safely invest their assets in retirement and not have to worry about suffering any losses.
Today is an especially challenging environment for investors who are looking to generate a safe income stream. No Treasury bond will pay a safe 5% return as a 30-year Treasury Bond yields just 2.69%. This is causing a massive gap between what boomers say they want in retirement and what they're doing to make it happen.
Qualified Charitable Distribution from IRAs Permanently Extended
Officially approved by Congress on December 18th, 2015, there will be no more waiting until the final weeks of December (or beyond) to see if Congress will extend the Qualified Charitable Distribution from IRAs. The Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes (PATH) Act of 2015 includes a provision to permanently extend the ability of individuals at least 70½ years of age to exclude from gross income qualified charitable distributions from Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) of up to $100,000 per taxpayer in any tax year.