Coldwell will oversee Pentegra’s
retirement plan consulting group and develop initiatives to improve client
experience. He will report to Richard Rausser, senior vice president of client services.
Coldwell began his career with
Pentegra in 1978, but left in 2002 to join Glenn G. Geiger Company, where he
focused on executive and director benefit programs. He rejoined Pentegra in
2011 as a senior member of consulting services.
Coldwell holds a bachelor’s degree
in economics and psychology from St. Lawrence University. He maintains FINRA
Series 6 and 63 registrations, as well as life, health and disability insurance
licenses in eight states.
By using this site you agree to our network wide Privacy Policy.
Research from the Center for
Retirement Research at Boston College found that 401(k) participation and
contributions decline during recessions, and the 2008 recession—which the report
calls the Great Recession—could lower the 401(k) assets of the typical
30-year-old by as much as 9% at age 62.
According to data analyzed by the
researchers, among wage and salary workers ages 20 to 69, the share
contributing to employer-sponsored retirement accounts increased sharply
between 1990 and 2001 as employers increasingly offered workers defined
contribution (DC) plans (rising from 22.5% to 40.2%). Participation then dipped
slightly between 2001 and 2003 (falling from 40.2% to 39.1%) with the 2001
recession, dot.com stock market crash and high unemployment period from 2002 to
2004. After 2003, participation rates increased again, but much more gradually,
to peak at 42.7% in 2008. Coinciding with the Great Recession, participation
rates fell in 2009 and 2010 to 41.1%.
Changes in the median DC contribution amounts were similar.
Amid booming economies, median DC contributions increased 19.1% between 1992
and 1999 (about 2.5% per year) and 3.7% between 2002 and 2004 (about 1.8% per
year). They declined 4.6% between 2004 and 2007 as the booming housing market
began to reverse and another 4.9% between 2007 and 2009 (-2.5% per year) with
the stock market crash and Great Recession.
(Cont’d…)
In addition, the percentage of
workers investing their DC contributions in bonds increased dramatically with
the recession from 38% in 2006 to 54.8% in 2009. Participant’s primary DC
investment type shifted away from stock funds with both the 2001-03 and
2008-09 stock market crashes.
According to the report, if the typical
worker had done nothing in 2007 and kept his contributions in 2008 and 2009 at
the 2007 level, instead of reducing them, his account balances would have been
at least $210 higher at the end of 2009. If he had increased his
contributions just 1% each year after 2007, his account balances would have
been at least $289 higher at the end of 2009.
The long-run impacts are even
greater, especially when compounded over many years. The typical 30-year-old
worker reduced his contributions by $138, or 6%, between 2007 and 2010. His
retirement account balance at age 62 is projected to be just less than
$134,000. (This assumes contributions begin increasing 1% per year after 2010
and that accumulated balances earn a 3% annual rate of return). If, instead of
reducing his contributions starting in 2007, he increased them just 1% each
year, his account balance at age 62 would be $145,572—a difference of $11,907
or 8.9%.