Transamerica Launches Interactive Savings Education Tool

Transamerica Retirement Services has launched RetireTrack, a Web-based interactive and customizable retirement savings tools for retirement plan participants. 

RetireTrack helps plan participants analyze and improve their retirement strategies based on their individual goals, financial situation and available investment choices, Transamerica said. RetireTrack is available online at www.TA-Retirement.com.

RetireTrack is designed to help participants create, fine-tune, and manage their plans for retirement. Participants can use the tool to evaluate the impact of different contribution rates and to experiment with alternative investing strategies, such as saving more or investing through model portfolios that using the funds available in their retirement savings plan. The program can also account for all household income and retirement assets from outside a participant’s plan, so users can build comprehensive projections for retirement. Participants can update their information and monitor their progress at any time.

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“Transamerica helps empower plan participants to make educated decisions about saving for retirement,” said Stig Nybo, President of Transamerica Retirement Services. “Participants can use RetireTrack to create a customized retirement outlook that reflects their individual needs and the realities of their everyday lives. It forecasts whether participants are on track to meet their retirement goals, and, if they’re not, it allows them to explore the impact of alternative strategies, such as retiring later or changing the allocations of their investment portfolio.”

Key features of RetireTrack include:

•  Adjustable savings rate and investment strategies for different scenarios.

•  A focus on strategies participants can implement, such as an action plan to increase their contributions or adjust their investment allocations.

•  Personalized retirement outlook customized to each participant’s situation.

•  Monte Carlo simulations that incorporate uncertainty in the level and timing of returns. This allows RetireTrack to analyze a range of possible future return scenarios and estimate how a participant’s investments might turn out under a variety of circumstances, including fluctuating interest rates, inflation, and market conditions.

•  After-tax estimates in terms of current dollars so participants can relate the projections to their current earnings and living standard.

•  Comprehensive household forecasting that lets participants incorporate outside retirement accounts and assets (including their spouse’s), and other sources of income and expenses into the projections.

•  Easy online accessibility after log-in to Transamerica Retirement Services' secure Web site.

•  No cost to participant or plan sponsor.

Vanguard and Ascensus Introduce Small-Plan 401(k)

Vanguard will offer a bundled 401(k) and profit-sharing plan service for companies with assets of less than $20 million through a partnership with Ascensus.

The plan combines Vanguard investment options with recordkeeping from Ascensus.  The “turnkey service” will include funds, recordkeeping, call center services, compliance testing, participant education, along with optional services such as participant advice, self-directed brokerage, and trustee services. The service is expected to launch in the fourth quarter with “all-in” plan costs “anticipated to be among the lowest in the industry,” according to Vanguard.

The service will be offered directly to plan sponsors as well as to fee-only advisers who serve retirement plan sponsors.

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“Vanguard believes that small businesses should be able to offer high-quality, cost-effective retirement plans to help their employees save efficiently for their futures,” said Kathy Fuertes, head of Vanguard’s Retirement Plan Services for small business. “By working with Ascensus, we have developed a streamlined way for these companies and their plan participants to easily access Vanguard’s low-cost funds and a range of investment and retirement plan services.”
 

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