Deals & People February 14, 2013

SunTrust Names Institutional 401(k) Director

Mark Jones joined SunTrust Banks Inc. as director of sales and client service for its institutional 401(k) business.
Reported by

Jones co-founded Invesco’s defined contribution (DC) division and was instrumental in the group’s growth, serving as head of sales and client service.

“Mark is a well-known and successful leader in the 401(k) industry, and we are pleased to have him join our team here at SunTrust,” said Stephen Yarbrough, head of SunTrust’s Institutional Investment Solutions business.

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“We have been committed to providing retirement plan solutions for institutional clients for more than 50 years,” Yarbrough continued. “Providing 401(k) plans to our institutional clients and their employees is directly aligned with SunTrust’s broader purpose of ‘lighting the way to financial well-being.’ Having Mark join us is another step in our commitment to move our retirement business to the next level of excellence.”

Products February 14, 2013

Tool Helps Users Envision Retirement

Merrill Edge introduced Face Retirement, a social tool enabling users to see how they will look years down the line.
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Consumers can input their age and gender and use a webcam to provide their photo, then:  

  • View images of what they will look like at various ages in the future;
  • Preview forecasted costs of living;
  • Learn about options to begin saving; and 
  • Share pictures of their future selves on Facebook.  

“In a Stanford University experiment , people who saw age-enhanced images of themselves were more likely to save more for retirement, compared to those who weren’t exposed to their future selves,” said Alok Prasad, head of Merrill Edge. “Face Retirement is designed to minimize that gap by giving consumers a preview of their future self, encouraging them to take control of long-term financial planning.”   

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The Merrill Edge Face Retirement tool is at http://faceretirement.merrilledge.com. 

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