John Hancock Participant Education Initiatives Include Features for Advisers

John Hancock Retirement Plan Services has announced new initiatives designed to help 401(k) participants with retirement saving and planning that include useful features for financial advisers.

The Set a Goal campaign includes a Web site for financial representatives that provides PDFs of the Set a Goal marketing materials, allowing financial representatives to identify contracts where participants are either less engaged or highly-engaged.

As part of the campaign, participants receive an annual review kit along with their first quarter plan statements, a press announcement said. The kit includes a questionnaire that walks participants through the process of setting a retirement goal.

For more stories like this, sign up for the PLANADVISERdash daily newsletter.

Participants return the questionnaire to John Hancock and receive a one-page, personalized action plan built around their specific retirement goals. Participants also have the option of completing the survey online and receiving their action plan immediately.

In addition, the Set a Goal campaign provides participants with an online ‘increasing contributions’ calculator, which allows them to choose a contribution amount and see how much their account would be worth after five years.

The EZRoute post-enrollment education initiative includes a “Be Prepared for Emergencies’ component that allows participants to record all their important financial information in one place to help with emergency preparedness. The summary not only helps participants in the event of an emergency, but also helps financial representatives better understand their clients’ needs, John Hancock said.

The EZRoute program is comprised of four distinct modules, focusing on different sets of participant needs. The modules contain seminars and workbooks that teach essential skills related to effective retirement planning.

For more information, visit http://www.johnhancock.com/retirement-plan-services.html.

Reliance Signs on as Custodian for BenefitStreet ETF 401(k) Platform

BenefitStreet Inc. has announced that Reliance Trust Company has been added as a custodian to the recently introduced BenefitStreet ETF 401(k) solution.

Reliance will provide ETF custodian services to complement BenefitStreet’s transparent and low-fee 401(k) administration structure. The firm will also offer other services, including directed trustee services, ACH pull services, and certified statements to advisers and plan sponsors, according to a company announcement.

The technological integration between BenefitStreet and Reliance will help plans enjoy competitive recordkeeping and custodial fee rates, the firm said. Combined with the lower fund management fees of ETFs, companies will be able to reduce 401(k) plan expenses for participants.

For more stories like this, sign up for the PLANADVISERdash daily newsletter.

The BenefitStreet ETF system distributes the funds directly to investors, circumventing the use of collective trusts and reducing commission costs. In May, BenefitStreet announced it would offer Barclays Global Investors’ iShares exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on the 401(k) platform (see BenefitStreet Offers Barclays’ iShares on New 401(k) Platform).

For more information, visit www.benefitstreet.com.

«