Products August 30, 2012

Raymond James Unveils Financial Planning Software

Raymond James Financial Inc. is offering advisers Goal Planning & Monitoring (GPM), a financial planning software solution powered by MoneyGuidePro.
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The software is designed to make it easy for advisers to develop retirement plans, and to foster collaborative interaction between the firm’s advisers and their clients, according to Patrick Connor, senior vice president, wealth management solutions. “It’s an elegant and effective tool that enhances the close collaboration between advisers and their clients as they work together to align financial decisions with their unique vision of retirement,” Connor said.

The tool exemplifies the company’s commitment to technology investments that support advisers as well as Raymond James’ emphasis on financial planning as an integral part of a client-centric advisory process, Connor said. “With GPM, advisers at Raymond James can create a living plan that uses the client’s unique goals and priorities as the foundation of their ongoing recommendations,” he said. “With a single click, they can revise a plan with up-to-date holdings and values, making it more efficient to use in ongoing client review meetings.”

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GPM enables advisers to customize the level of planning they do for each client in a streamlined workflow. A retirement analysis can be created quickly with minimal data input, by integrating Raymond James client information and through defaults. Business owners and executives can analyze their retirement plans with a single click.

Plan results can be presented on an iPad, a monitor in the adviser’s office, the firm’s Investor Access client site or in hard copy. Raymond James will introduce GPM to all of its advisers and branches over the next three months along with educational programs and hands-on training sessions.

 

Data & Research August 30, 2012

Working to Age 70 Still Not Enough for Many

Working to age 70 will not guarantee adequate income in retirement for many, according to research from the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI).
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For approximately one-third of the households between the ages of 30 and 59 in 2007, working to age 70 will not be enough. Previous EBRI research indicated delaying retirement past age 65 does not ensure having adequate retirement savings. (See “Delaying Retirement No Guarantee of Being Able to Afford Retirement.”)  

The current research, using results from EBRI’s Retirement Security Projection Model, shows that nearly two-thirds (64%) of households ages 50 to 59 in 2007 would be considered “ready” for retirement at age 70, compared with 52% of those same households if they were to retire at age 65.   

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Moreover, the research indicates that a worker’s participation status in a defined contribution (DC) retirement plan at age 65 will be extremely important due to the multiyear consequences for additional employee and employer contributions to the plan. Workers who remain DC participants at age 65 versus those not in one have a substantially improved retirement readiness rating even at age 65 (64% vs. 44%) because those households with members in participant status at age 65 would likely have already been in DC plans for a number of years with their current employers.  

“While workers need to make their own decisions on the correct trade-offs of saving today versus deferring retirement, they should be able to expect that those presenting alternatives be as accurate and complete as possible, avoiding simplistic ‘rules of thumb’ that may result in future retirees, through no fault of their own, coming up short,” Jack VanDerhei, EBRI research director and author of the report, observed.

The full report, “Is Working to Age 70 Really the Answer for Retirement Income Adequacy?” is in the August 2012 EBRI Notes online at www.ebri.org.

 

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