Products November 17, 2016

BenefitGuard Partners to Link Health Insurance and Retirement Savings

The strategic partnership with Spectra Benefits and Miller & Wade Group aims to helping employees view the HSA more like a retirement account for their health. 
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BenefitGuard announced partnerships with Utah healthcare benefit providers, Spectra Benefits and Miller & Wade Group, with the intent to simplify small business access for the two most popular employee benefits, health insurance and retirement savings.

“Small businesses are turning to one-stop shops more than ever for employee benefit programs,” states Matt Bradley, CEO of BenefitGuard. “Our streamlined 401(k) model is a natural fit for health benefit providers to effectively serve their customers. Our early efforts with these great partners are validating this direction.”

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This one-stop shop initiative allows health benefits companies to better compete with discount services selling insurance and human resource outsourcing. These partnerships are even more beneficial to employers and employees because BenefitGuard’s 401(k) solution integrates with popular online health savings account (HSA) platforms.

Such integration:

  • Helps employees view the HSA more like a retirement account for their health;  
  • Provides single sign on experience and displays 401(k) balances in the HSA portal;
  • Increases retirement related messaging and notifications to participants; and
  • Improves 401(k) platform access and utilization.

“Since the Affordable Care Act has made health insurance more accessible outside of employer coverage, the retirement plan has risen in importance to small business as a means of attracting and retaining great employees,” states Scott W. Miller of Miller & Wade Group. “Partnering with BenefitGuard allows us to keep pace with this evolving marketplace and bring great value to our customers.”

BenefitGuard is expanding business development initiatives with benefit providers on a national scale similar to its previous national expansion with financial advisers.

Products November 17, 2016

Technology Industry Group in Washington Launches Open MEP

The WTIA's partnership with Empower Retirement enables employers to offload virtually all administrative tasks.
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The Washington Technology Industry Association (WTIA), an advocacy group for the technology community in Washington State, announced its benefits suite has expanded to include a new 401(k) multiple employer plan (MEP).

The WTIA’s 401(k) MEP offers all the retirement services for employees traditionally only afforded to large businesses; that’s because from a government-reporting standpoint, it is treated like one large plan. Strength in numbers makes it possible for employers to deliver a high-value retirement savings plan while benefiting from an institutional pricing model. This empowers businesses employing the plan to reduce plan fees, eliminate audit expenses, decrease fiduciary liability, and avoid administrative headaches, while still gaining all the same perks associated with sponsoring an independent plan.

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The WTIA’s partnership with Empower Retirement enables employers to offload virtually all administrative tasks, providing them with assistance in investment selection, fund monitoring, employee education, and customizing the plan to their individual needs.

“Most small to mid-size companies dream of offering a 401(k) to their employees, but the time it takes to manage the administrative side of things often turns that vision into a pipe dream,” says Michael Schutzler, CEO of WTIA. “The WTIA’s 401(k) Multiple Employer Plan take a hands on service approach handling all the legwork for employers. This makes superior retirement services a reality, and gives our local businesses a leg up in recruiting and retaining high-demand tech talent.”

More information is at http://www.washingtontechnology.org/.

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