Products April 28, 2014

Aspire Financial Launches TPA Playbook

Aspire Financial Services released the TPA Playbook for Success, a proprietary education and communication tool designed to drive competitive advantage for the firm’s third-party administrator (TPA) partners.
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The firm says it has added the TPA Playbook to its suite of proprietary, value-driven tools offered to members of its TPA Partnership Program, which focuses on helping TPAs grow business and improve service delivery through specialized digital resources and planning support.

The TPA Playbook is delivered as a password-protected digital publication for easy access and engagement across computers and smart devices (e.g., phones and tablets). TPA Partnership Program members will receive regular installments of the Playbook that deliver perspectives on important trends and issues impacting TPA firms. Playbook updates will also feature insights on new leverage-selling models and partnership strategies, Aspire says, helping TPAs stay informed about the competition.

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This information will be viewable via the digital edition and also can be downloaded for offline reference. An automatic email notification alert will be sent when new installments of the TPA Playbook are ready for review.

According to Aspire’s President and CEO, Pete Kirtland, the TPA Playbook should also help TPA service providers leverage new channels and optimize open-architecture plan designs and strategic relationships to generate more business.

More information on the new TPA Playbook and Aspire’s TPA Partnership Program is available at www.aspireonline.com.

Data & Research April 28, 2014

Roth Plan Features Becoming More Popular

Roth 401(k) plan features are gaining in popularity, Aon Hewitt research finds.
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A paper, “Roth Usage in Defined Contribution Plans,” indicates companies and workers are increasingly receptive to these features as a retirement savings vehicle. In addition, more U.S. employers are adding Roth 401(k) features than ever before and participation is also on the rise.

More specifically, Aon Hewitt’s research finds half of all companies now offer a Roth account, nearly five times the percentage that did so in 2007 (11%). Aon Hewitt also found in 2013, 11% of workers saved to a Roth account when it was available in the plan, which is up from 8% in 2011.

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“Continued changes to legislation around Roth, coupled with increased awareness and understanding of these plan features, are driving more employers to add Roth savings feature to their plan,” says Rob Austin, director of Retirement Research at Aon Hewitt, based in Lincolnshire, Illinois. “Because of the potential tax benefits, employees increasingly see Roth accounts as attractive savings options and we anticipate that the use of Roth will continue to rise.”

Roth 401(k) plan features can also improve retirement readiness, says Austin. According to the paper, while the average pay of Roth users was slightly higher than for non-Roth users (6% higher), Roth users contributed significantly more to their plan than non-users. In 2013, workers saving to a Roth account contributed an average of 10.2%, compared with 7.7% for non-Roth savers (32% higher).

In addition, the survey found, when Roth 401(k) accounts are available, 15% of workers in their 20s contributed to a Roth, compared with fewer than 8% of workers in their 50s. When it comes to salary, workers earning between $60,000 and $79,000 were most likely to use Roth 401(k) accounts (12%), compared with 6.3% of workers earning between $20,000 and $39,000, and 10% of workers earning more than $100,000 annually.

“Young workers and mid-level earners are most likely to benefit from investing based on today’s tax rate,” says Austin. “These workers are more likely to anticipate future tax bracket increases, so they are taking actions now that are likely to benefit them down the line.”

More information about the paper, including how to download a full copy, can be found here.

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