Products October 24, 2012

BMO Launches Retirement Income Calculator

BMO Retirement Services introduced a personalized retirement income calculator to keep participants’ goals on track.
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The BMO calculator enables employees to review their estimated savings in terms of monthly retirement income rather than a total retirement dollar figure.

The calculator is personalized for each participant, incorporating individual current balance, prospective retirement age, estimated length of retirement, current pre-tax income and three other key measures. Auto step-up features, availability of catch-up contributions and any company contributions can be built into the calculator based on plan design. This is designed to enable participants to access a monthly income projection at retirement based on current savings in the plan, paired with monthly income the participant is expected to need at retirement.

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Employees are also given the ability to adjust the calculation to include other assets or review different savings scenarios. The calculator is designed to pop up when a participant logs in to an account and is reset to appear once every 30 days.

 

Products October 24, 2012

Zero Tolerance for Failure Is Campaign Theme

Security Benefit Corp. launched “Failure Is Not an Option,” a retirement income campaign.
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The provider of retirement income solutions wants to address an urgent planning problem for pre- and post-retirees by tasking advisers with a plan for their clients to generate more predictable and sustainable income in retirement with less risk. The firm’s executives say the campaign targets new planning strategies.

Retirement portfolios today demand a smarter balance of growth and safety to achieve a stream of lifetime income, pointed out Michael P. Kiley, chief executive of Security Benefit. “The challenge is finding solutions to that end,” he said.

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Security Benefit in July commissioned Milliman Inc., an independent actuarial and consulting firm, to conduct a study on income-product allocation. The firm plans to announce the full results of the research later in the month.

According to Kiley, financial advisers are questioning traditional approaches to retirement planning, and Security Benefit’s goal is to help advisers find innovative ways to meet the challenge. “The Milliman study tells us there are real solutions emerging in the form of improved strategies that promise to generate more income at less cost with less market risk,” Kiley said.

The campaign includes a website, Retirement Income Challenge, built for advisers. The site includes an income calculator and a modeling tool to help optimize retirement income portfolios similar to the Modern Portfolio Theory approach.

Subsequent materials in the campaign will include white papers, research reports and bylined articles on securing income in retirement.

Security Benefit Corporation, a Guggenheim Partners Company, is a provider of savings and income solutions for pre- and post-retirees.

 

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