Products August 21, 2012

Fidelity Launches Retirement Planning Solution

Fidelity Investments has launched Plan for Life, an enhanced retirement planning solution.
Reported by

Plan for Life takes a broader approach to retirement planning, taking into account the complex needs of employees as they move through various life stages and changes in their personal situation or their workplace benefits plan.   

As a part of the Plan for Life rollout, Fidelity is making enhancements to its overall participant offering, including:  

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  • Expanding its team of licensed phone representatives dedicated to helping guide participants through more complex benefits decisions; 
  • Broadening workplace education to include onsite retirement planning consultations, and enabling on-the-spot enrollment using mobile tablets; 
  • Introducing Income Simulator, a tool to help illustrate potential retirement income; and 
  • Rolling out enhancements on NetBenefits.com, Fidelity’s participant website, to improve navigation and drive more confident decisions around life events. 

“Plan for Life is a reflection of how our participants’ needs have evolved and expanded over the years with competing financial priorities and a heavier reliance on their workplace savings plans to help them plan for retirement,” said Julia McCarthy, executive vice president, Workplace Marketing, Solutions and Experience, Fidelity Investments. “Simply asking employees to save more money from each paycheck no longer addresses many of the challenges our participants are facing in today’s economic environment. Plan for Life and the significant investments we continue to make in our participant experience will help them manage the complexities but simplify the decisionmaking process.”

 

Compliance August 20, 2012

DOL Sues Auto Supplier for Diverting Retirement Assets

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is suing to restore $34.6 million in assets to two pension funds for employees of auto supplier Metavation.
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The lawsuit claims Metavation LLC improperly used the funds in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA).

According to The Detroit News, the suit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Kentucky, follows a government investigation that found numerous violations beginning in February 2009, just three months after Metavation, formerly Hillside Automotive, had been acquired by Revstone subsidiary Cerion LLC. The DOL said the firms loaned funds to related companies within the Revstone Industries corporate family, and made other improper transactions.  

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The lawsuit says about $12.1 million from the Hillsdale Salaried Pension Plan and approximately $22.5 million from the Hillsdale Hourly Pension Plan were improperly used. 

In addition to Metavation, the lawsuit names as defendants George Hofmeister, chairman and director of Metavation, and Bernard Tew, managing director of Tew Enterprises LLC and Bluegrass Investment Management LLC, two companies that acted as investment advisers to the two plans, the news report said.  

The DOL seeks an order forcing the firms to correct all prohibited transactions, restore losses to the plans including interest and transfer to the plans all gains resulting from their violations. The suit also asks the court to remove the defendants as responsible for the plans, prohibit them from serving as fiduciaries or service providers in the future, and to appoint an independent fiduciary to administer the plans. 

 

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