Products February 12, 2009

AXA Launches Beneficiary Web Resources

AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company announced the launch of its new online Beneficiary Resource Center to help beneficiaries and advisers file a life insurance or annuity claim.
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AXA said the Beneficiary Resource Center offers the forms, tools, and guidance for beneficiaries and financial professionals to quickly and easily file a life insurance or annuity claim. The site also serves as a portal for information, checklists, and contacts to support beneficiaries through what can be an overwhelming period and to help them prepare for the next stage in their lives, according to a press release.

Integrated throughout the site visitors can find customer service contacts by product type and a list of offices by region, so that beneficiaries that require additional assistance or advice know who to call. Or, visitors can submit online requests for follow-up contact from a local financial adviser.

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The site, located at www.axa-equitable.com/beneficiary, features four sections arranged at each stage following a loss, according to the release:

  • Filing a claim: Here beneficiaries are guided on how to choose the correct claim form and gather additional documentation, if required, for their particular situation. Beneficiaries can download claim forms to complete, print and save online, at their convenience. They can also find answers to frequently asked questions about life insurance and annuities.
  • What to do after a loss: Arranged according to stages of need—from the first few days following a loss through the first year—this section offers checklists, notification letter templates and general guidance to help beneficiaries prioritize and keep track of the many legal and personal issues that will need their attention, from contacting creditors and Social Security and changing names on joint property to establishing or reviewing their financial plans.
  • The family love letter: Here beneficiaries can download and personalize a “family love letter,” a powerful estate planning tool that covers crucial issues beyond a will, such as establishing a guardian for children, declaring wishes regarding medical treatment and compiling financial and legal documents, contact information, and account access details. The family love letter is designed to help people avoid future confusion by organizing their thoughts, wishes, and assets, for the sake of those they care about most.
  • Additional resources: AXA said that because some beneficiaries may be embarking on a new chapter in life, the site also provides links to interactive calculators and useful Web sites, such as Idealist.org, Parentswithoutpartners.org, and MyRetirementShop.com.
The Markets February 11, 2009

Louisiana’s The Advocate Announces Match Suspension

The Baton Rouge Advocate newspaper has temporarily stopped contributing to its employees’ retirement 401(k) plan.
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The Baton Rouge Business Journal reports that CFO Ralph Bender announced in a memo to employees that the board of directors voted to suspend company match contributions in effect immediately. Bender cited “difficult economic times.”

“It is my hope that when times improve, this will be one of the first decisions we review,” Bender wrote in the memo, according to the Business Journal.

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The memo also announced that The Advocate‘s board voted to merge the company’s profit sharing plan into the 401(k) plan, effective June 30.

According to the news report, the decision is The Advocate‘s latest response to the economic downturn that has hit the newspaper industry as a whole.

The Business Journal said that industrywide, advertising revenues have fallen an average of 23% in the past two years. Other media companies, especially newspapers, have taken the step of reducing 401(k) match contributions (see “Another Newspaper Announces Match Suspension,’ “Newspaper Company Suspends 401(k) Match, Profit-Sharing Contributions’ and “Daily News Calls off 401(k) Match’).

A Match Suspension Trend?

The almost-daily reports of companies big and small suspending their 401(k) matches raises the question of whether this is now a trend (see “IMHO: Trend Spotting’). Aside from the media industry, the resort and casino industry has also seen a number of companies cutting match contributions (see “Wynn Resorts Calls Off 401(k) Match’ ). Large, well-known employers that have announced match suspensions include Sears (see “Sears Suspends 401(k) Match, Drops 1,100 Jobs’), Motorola (see “Motorola Freezes Pension, Suspends 401(k) Match’), and UPS (see “UPS Joins 401(k) Match Suspension List’), among others.

However, in a recent PLANSPONSOR survey, most plan sponsors said they had no plans to change their 401(k) match (see “SURVEY SAYS: What Are Your Plans for Your Match?’), and other surveys in the industry seem to refute the idea that match suspension is becoming or will become a trend (see “73% of DC Sponsors Plan No 2009 Match Changes’).

In a rare move for the times, Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group decided to reinstate its match after suspending it for 2008 (see “Dollar Says Reinstating Match “Right Thing to Do”’).

A recent academic paper suggests companies consider dropping match contributions altogether, not so much because of the current hard economic times, but arguing that automatic enrollment is a far more powerful mechanism than a match for increasing plan participation and that the money sponsors spend on the match might be used more effectively to pay for other things (see “(k)Plans: Miss Match?’).

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