Products November 13, 2013

T. Rowe Price Offers Participants Online Learning

T. Rowe Price Retirement Plan Services, Inc. has launched its Online Learning Center for participants of the retirement plans for which it provides recordkeeping.
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The center features educational videos designed to better equip retirement plan participants with knowledge they need to plan for the future. Additional videos, including ones focused on financial planning tips for women and the basics of money management, are under development.

Topics discussed on the center’s website include:

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  • Retirement investing from beginning to end, in which participants can explore the basics of building a diversified portfolio;
  • Roth contributions, which compares and contrasts the pros and cons of such contributions with traditional retirement plan contributions;
  • Retirement milestones, which gives retirement participants tips on how to assess their progress and learn more about key milestones they’ll reach beginning at age 50; and
  • Retirement planning made simple, which offers foundational information about savings rates, investment alternatives and tools to help investors evaluate their personal situations.

According to research from T. Rowe Price, more than 50% of plan participants prefer to use online tools and resources to stay informed about retirement planning. The center is available on demand, giving participants the ability to learn at their own pace. The content of the center is optimized for smart devices and tablets, as well as being accessible without having to log in to an account.

“One of our primary missions is to support plan sponsors by offering their participants with sound education and guidance about saving for retirement,” says Aimee DeCamillo, head of Product and Marketing, T. Rowe Price Retirement Plan Services. “The Online Learning Center helps us do that in a manner that participants prefer. Participants can access this content from anywhere at any time.”

The Markets November 13, 2013

Best Funded Pensions Allocate Less to Equity

Defined benefit pension plans that are less funded invest more aggressively, according to an analysis by Towers Watson.
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The analysis found plans that were less than 70% funded were relatively more aggressive investors, generally allocating more to public equities (50.4%) and less to debt (36%). Plans whose funded status exceeded 90% invested somewhat more conservatively, allocating more than any other group to debt (46.3%), and only 42.3% to public equity.

Allocations to debt investments grew steadily higher as funded status increased. The best funded plans in the analysis also had higher allocations to real estate and private equity than the least funded plans. Plans less than 70% funded allocated 1.7% of their portfolios to real estate investments and 1.9% to private equity investments, compared to 2.1% and 2.3%, respectively, for plans with a funded status of 90% or above.

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The analysis also found equity allocations declined as plan size increased and averaged 43.8% for the largest plans versus 50.3% for the smallest.

Towers Watson looked at pension allocations on both an aggregate- and average-sponsor basis as well as by plan size, funded status and other measures. More information is here.

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