Blog
September 24, 2018
Plain Vanilla? How About Vanilla/Chocolate Swirl?
BEI strives to keep our client’s plans “plain vanilla” and we take this approach because when retirement plans become too complex, there are increased government regulations, and thus more oversight. Advanced plan design also drives up the cost of maintenance and this will become a “cost - to - benefit” comparison. However, we are finding adding some chocolate swirl, in certain situations, can be worth the hassle.
August 1, 2018
What is the Government’s Plan of Attack for 2018?
We often get the question…” What does a TPA do”. That can be a involved conversation. The short answer is ….we keep you out of trouble with the government. The following is a laundry list of what the IRS is finding wrong with employer retirement plans. Utilizing BEI as your TPA can avoid these issues.
July 6, 2018
What’s Your Enrollment Method?
Targeting people’s urge to procrastinate is key to boosting savings under automatic enrollment, while addressing financial literacy works best for opt-in plans. This is the conclusion of a February 2018 survey done by the TIAA Institute.
In our last article “Digital Nudging” we talked about engaging employees with emails to prompt enrollment. The TIAA Institute survey below compared automatic enrollment (opt-out) to traditional voluntary sign up (opt-in).
June 20, 2018
Digital Nudging
In a recent paper authored by behavioral economist Shlomo Benartzi, he looked at the impact of an email to get employees enrolled in their employer’s retirement plan.
He did a study in conjunction with the White House Social and Behavioral Science Team, also known as the Nudge Unit, a name left over from the Obama administration.
Their findings were that a well drafted email nearly doubled the program enrollment rate compared to the control group.
The email used simple nudges, such as providing actionable steps for enrolling in the savings program and giving people clear examples of how small contributions can lead to large account balances.
June 8, 2018
Thank Goodness for a Good TPA
Have you ever used these words? If you have, you know the value that a good Third Party Administrator (TPA) brings to your practice.