Products December 13, 2012

Employee Fiduciary Redesigns Website

Employee Fiduciary LLC, a privately held and independent 401(k) recordkeeper, launched a redesigned website.
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In addition to the website’s more intuitive navigation, recent tweets from the Employee Fiduciary @401kLowCost handle are integrated into each page. The website hosts a corporate blog where CEO Greg Carpenter will regularly post commentary not only on 401(k) industry best practices but also the practices the industry needs to improve.  

Employee Fiduciary, headquartered in Mobile, Alabama, provides retirement plan recordkeeping and administration for small businesses, as well as access to a spectrum of low-cost 401(k) investments with transparent fees. More information is at www.employeefiduciary.com.

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Diversions December 13, 2012

The Cost of Christmas

Every year, PNC compiles a price index for that famous list that includes golden rings and drummers drumming.
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As part of its annual tradition, the wealth management firm calculates the “True Cost of Christmas”:  the total cost of items gifted by a True Love who repeats all of the song’s verses. This holiday season is the most expensive year ever: very thoughtful True Loves must fork over $107,300.24 for all 364 gifts, an even more generous jump of 6% increase compared with last year.

Part of the reason for the increase was an improving economy coupled with a drought that caused increased feed costs for large birds.

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Much like the government’s consumer price index, the PNC CPI also measures a core index, up a modest 3% this year, excluding the swans, which tend to be the most volatile in the index. (Swans rose by 11%, continuing the momentum of last year’s 12.5 % increase, to $7,000.)

Other key components include:

  • Six items—the partridge, two turtle doves, four calling birds, eight maids a-milking, nine ladies dancing and 10 lords a-leaping—remained at the same price as last year;
  • Sounding an increase: the prices for 11 pipers piping ($2,562.00) and 12 drummers drumming ($2,775.50) advanced this year, both up 5.5%;
  • Pear tree: Economists report that housing prices may have bottomed and this trend is reflected in the PNC index as the home to the partridge jumped 12%, to $189.99;
  • The three French hens were up 10%, and the five golden rings, which soared 16%, played catch-up with the dramatic rise in gold prices in 2011; and
  • Maids a-milking: As the only unskilled laborers in the PNC CPI, the price for the eight maids a-milking is represented by the minimum wage.  With the minimum wage flat at $7.25 per hour, hiring the maids this year will not increase labor costs.

The PNC CPI’s sources include retailers, the National Aviary in Pittsburgh and the Philadelphia-based Philadanco and Pennsylvania Ballet Company.

The entire index and related information are online.

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