Mercer Adds to Benefits Platform

Mercer's Outsourcing business has added three services to its benefits administration platform all related to financial planning.

The services include Financial Engines’ Income+ solution, HelloWallet’s financial planning and budgeting solution, and TD Ameritrade’s self-directed brokerage account solution. These features will be integrated into Mercer’s online participant experience and accessible through plan Web sites. 

Income+ is an extension of Financial Engines’ professional management/managed account services. It helps participants with the retirement spend-down phase by providing steady monthly payouts with purchase of out-of-plan annuity, offering an alternative to an in-plan annuity as it works with the plan’s existing investment options, and providing professional allocation advice for the payout phase (see “Financial Engines Expands Solutions With Income+“) 

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HelloWallet is an online resource that encourages employees to improve their overall household finances by “finding the money” to boost their contributions to retirement savings and reduce debt. It helps users to create budgets, set savings goals, aggregate financial account data and monitor their spending habits.  

TD Ameritrade’s self-directed brokerage accounts provides participants on Mercer’s platform access to a broad range of investment choices including stocks, ETFs mutual funds and fixed income products, as well as independent research, market analysis and investment screening capabilities.  

“More and more, our clients are looking for us to help them empower their employees to live, work and retire well,” said Dave Tolve, Retirement Business Leader for Mercer’s US Outsourcing business. “By utilizing these cutting-edge products and services as part of their overall benefits experience, participants can feel more confident, capable and in control of their financial future and wellbeing, which leads to plan sponsors having a more engaged workforce.”

John Hancock Launches Consolidation Services Group

John Hancock Retirement Income & Rollover Solutions (RIRS) announced the formation of its Consolidation Services group for retirement plan participants.

The new unit was designed to assist 401(k) plan participants who wish to consolidate their retirement accounts into their qualified retirement plans with John Hancock. This service is also expected to relieve some of the administrative burden from plan sponsors and their financial advisers who would otherwise provide such guidance.  

Participants are given the opportunity on their enrollment forms to indicate that they would like assistance, or they may directly call John Hancock’s Consolidation Center. Consolidation Services specialists are available to answer questions, help with all the necessary paperwork, and support participants throughout the process of moving outside retirement accounts into their qualified retirement plans with John Hancock. After the paperwork has been submitted, the assets are rolled over into the John Hancock plan.  

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“More than 50% of plan participants have more than one 401(k) or other qualified retirement plan,” said Art Creel, Executive Vice President, Sales & Marketing, John Hancock Retirement Plan Services. “Many of these participants have told us that they want to consolidate accounts, but that they find the process daunting, slow and cumbersome. With Consolidation Services, we offer a value-added service to participants that helps increase satisfaction among the participant, the plan sponsor, and the adviser.” 

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