The Non-Qualified Deferred Compensation (NQDC) plan is an extremely flexible tool that companies have for recruiting and retaining top talent. Executive retention is one of the main reasons to offer it, but there are also other reasons it is put into place.

Financial fragility was found to be connected to how a person feels about their chances of being infected by COVID-19 as well as their beliefs about the spread of the disease. If financial fragility (AKA financial wellness) can influence behavior and beliefs on non-financial topics, perhaps employers should examine the role that financial wellness plays within their organization and benefits package. This article offers guidance.

The Aspen Institute in April released an article that says, “Amid the COVID-19 crisis, which continues to impact public health, the global economy, and life as we know it, known instances of cybercrime have more than tripled.” Cybersecurity should be an ongoing part of your due diligence process and monitoring for your retirement plans, and also a vital part of your communication campaigns with employees.

Could diversity affect retirement plans and the work force? Kelly McDonald offered up ways to work with people NOT like you. Here’s what it means for your workforce and financial wellness.

Potentially, corporate retirement plans can serve as accumulation vehicles AND also distribution vehicles, and as American workers age and retire on the 401(k) and other contributory plans, plan sponsors are giving more thought to distributions offered to retired/separated participants. Here are the top three things to be thinking about when it comes to terminated employees in the plan.

401(k) plan fees have long been a focus of headlines and regulatory actions, resulting in disclosure documents and showing up in lawsuits. Revenue sharing is a practice of using some of the fees built into expense ratios of the investments to offset the cost of the plan. But, is that a good thing to do? Let’s examine this further.

Mark LeBusque is a champion of humanizing the workplace. He spoke on how to purposefully create workplaces where people feel like they belong. Here were my 3 key takeaways.

Recently a survey was conducted by the Brightwork Partners, of 100 financial consultants and advisors that are actively advising on corporate retirement plans. “Actively” is the key word here because this is really telling as a quick cartography of the industry landscape. Only 10% of these advisors received 51%-100% of their income from managing retirement plans.

We're all about employee education when it comes to finances and the company retirement plan, but there's a new trend we've found disconcerting: Financial Wellness Programs. Here are the things to know about why we think they aren’t effective…yet.

If you missed Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Retirement Plans (HBO) and his account of trying to set up a 401k plan for the show's staff, go back and watch! This is part TWO of the highlights along with our commentary where we point out where our pal went a little off course.

If you missed Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Retirement Plans (HBO) and his account of trying to set up a 401k plan for the show's staff, watch it right now. No, seriously, it's worth it! It's so good, we decided to blog about it. This is part one of two.

Fiduciary liability can feel like an incredible burden to bear, even for HR professionals. Job requirements day to day are demanding enough without adding retirement plan management on top of it. That’s where a fiduciary financial advisor comes in to help carry the weight of it all.

Now that you have your prime directive in place, let’s talk about why it’s important for your employees, your company culture, and the sustainability of your business. 

When it comes to building your retirement plan, before you do anything you need to know what your prime directive is in relation to benefits and retirement for your employees, your company culture, and the sustainability of your business. 

Target Date Funds as the default: Super easy, pre-made, autopilot portfolios that match up with the year closest to when you'll retire. But, they’re certainly not all created the equal and as a default choice require extra focus on the due diligence.

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.

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?

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.

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.