"Let's put it this way: if employment is a product, then what would the candidate want to buy?" said Juan Pablo Gonzalez, who works with companies to design compensation packages, among many other things, at Axiom Consulting Partners. He may have implied at a dinner party that a match or a retirement plan may not be the best investment for an employer's dollar...and I may have been mildly offended at first!

Courtenay Shipley of Retirement Planology, Inc. recently participated as a delegate to the 2015 NAPA D.C. Fly-In Forum, an exclusive gathering of the nation’s leading retirement plan advisors.

In 2012, one of my clients had asked everyone to take a pay cut, had discontinued their match, and was just trying to keep the doors open until the recession waned. Let’s talk about how culture helped them stay afloat.

Conducting an RFP for a new retirement plan provider? Here are five important questions to ask during your due diligence.

Our friend, Dan Doran of Quantive Valuations, provides business valuations for owners looking to sell, buy-sell agreements, estate planning, and 409(a) compensation. He wrote a great piece on planning for the future and how your business' value fits into your personal picture. Here ya go:

So... where exactly does your retirement plan fit in? That's at the heart of our consulting practice. Is the plan doing what it's designed to do for you -- or, back up one step -- what's it supposed to do??

Plan advisors from VA had a great time this morning talking with Senator Warner's staffer about tweaking the DOL's proposed fiduciary regulation. I thought it might be good to share what we said while packed in the tiny conference room!

ALEXANDRIA, VA — Courtenay Shipley, CRPS, AIF, Chief Planologist of Retirement Planology, Inc. has been selected as a delegate to the National Association of Plan Advisors’ (NAPA) DC Fly-In Forum, an exclusive gathering of the nation’s leading retirement plan advisors.

Surely you've heard that you eat an elephant one bite at a time, meaning that you have to attack a large problem in small, systematic increments. 

I'm a fan of James Clear, who writes about science-based ideas for mastering your habits and living an optimal life. It's part of my "if I can only harness my habits" obsession of late. He wrote a great post called How to Stop Procrastinating by Using the “2-Minute Rule” and it totally hits home when it comes to retirement.

I had the privilege of being in a finalist presentation today, which is always fun. The retirement plan committee asked a very pointed question at one point that caught me off guard.

We keep hearing about Retirement Readiness...but is it another craptastic invention of my industry or something we should pay attention to?

Ever been asked for advice? Of course you have. Happens a lot. Ever had someone not take it because they say it won’t work, or worse, “take” your advice, not actually follow what you said, and then proudly proclaim that you were wrong and responsible for their failure?

In May 2015, Retirement Planology, Inc. was named as one of The Financial Times’ Top 401 Retirement Advisers! In addition, they did a nice profile on us here.

Too often we don't hear about the good things companies are doing with their retirement plan, even when they're in the news. Tibble v. Edison International is a recent court case regarding share classes of investments and whether the plan sponsor/committee has the duty to review prior investment decisions for fees, namely regarding institutional share classes. 

I love working with the Jones Company of Tennessee! In January I was fortunate to attend their company-wide meeting to hear how 2014 closed out and how they were preparing for 2015. I always root for my clients' success, but it was great to hear how this business had managed to wait out the recession (with every employee job retained no less) and was coming back with a vengeance.

The IRS is adding some new questions to the 5500 Form, which is the tax return for a retirement plan.

Here's another installment of how retirement plans are awesome…until they’re not! And they’re not awesome when they’re a drain on your cash flow, a bane of the plan administrator’s existence, and considered a throw away benefit by your employees. Here's another story you can learn from so you can hopefully avoid these mistakes.

Retirement plans are awesome…until they’re not! And they’re *not* awesome when they’re a drain on your cash flow, a bane of the plan administrator’s existence, and considered a throw away benefit by your employees. Let’s talk about the back stories on some clean up work we were involved with lately and hopefully you can avoid these mistakes.

The number one way to shorten your RFP process? Use a Retirement Planologist. (Retirement Planologist: one who specializes in providing consulting and advisory to retirement plans.) Why?