Retirement plan sponsors have a difficult challenge: balancing the desire to offer a valued and valuable retirement plan to their employees, with the administrative and regulatory requirements and expense of maintaining the plan. Experts agree that plan sponsors can help address these issues by consistent adoption of plan administration and oversight best practices.These steps can lower costs, increase plan enrollment, boost savings rates, and better prepare employees for a more secure retirement, while helping mitigate the risk borne by plan fiduciaries. Industry best practices suggest that plans be put out to bid every three to five years. Putting plans out to bid allows plan sponsors to take advantage of changing conditions and overall marketplace competition. This ensures they are offering their employees a cost competitive plan and one where a record keeper uses current technology for both the plan and its participants. A three- to five-year frequency does not have to needlessly b

Act solely in the interest of plan participants — This may seem obvious, but you cannot prioritize your board, president, or local community interests over the plan participants. Act prudently — The duty to act prudently requires expertise in areas such as investment. Lacking that expertise, a fiduciary should hire someone with that professional knowledge. Fiduciaries are responsible for a decision process, not investment results. The process used to make decisions must be documented to show fiduciaries acted prudently.  Capture more detail than you typically would when documenting an employee benefits-related decision as a fiduciary, . You do not just say, “The retirement plan committee reviewed the investment menu and the performance over the last six months and discussion ensued.” Instead, say something like, “There was a discussion about fund ABC, which almost but not quite met the watch list criteria that we set up in the investment policy statement and the committee decided to p

Active vs. Passive investing styles is an age-old debate in the investing world. Investment managers on either side tend to be steadfast advocates of the merits of their approach. Active managers seek to exploit market inefficiencies by relying on analytical research, forecasts, and their own judgement and experience to decide which securities to buy, hold, and sell. Passive investing involves simply tracking an index to avoid the management fees and trading costs that can be a drag on performance by adhering to a buy-and-hold strategy. However, no one strategy always triumphs. It cannot be ignored that both investing strategies have positive attributes and have helped define the historical and current investing trends we have witnessed in the retirement marketplace. As a retirement advisory firm, HANYS Benefit Services (HBS) consults with fiduciaries to help them design a fund menu that will utilize the most appropriate investment style per asset class, customized for their Plan’s dem

Stable value investments have been a core investment option in defined contribution retirement plans since the 1970s and are an attractive alternative to money market investments due to steady returns and principal preservation guarantees. Stable value funds have proven their worth to investors during the protracted period of low interest rates present since the recent financial crisis. Consider the following comparison of 2007-2016 calendar year total return for the Vanguard Federal Money Market Fund (VMFXX) [i] to the HBS MetLife Stable Value Fund. 1.            What is a stable value fund?  Stable value funds are low-risk, capital preservation investment options available in employer-sponsored retirement plans and other savings plans. They are invested in high quality, diversified fixed income portfolios and feature protection against interest rate volatility through contracts from insurance companies or banks. 2.            How popular are stable value funds when offered as an in

As of June 30, 2017 U.S. equities advanced for the seventh consecutive quarter, with the S&P 500 Index gaining 3.09% in the second quarter and 9.34% year to date. With the economic expansion and the bull market for stocks both in their eighth year, it is understandable that many investors are nervous about a market correction. Equity prices are reflecting a very solid U.S. economy, operating at full potential and full employment. Most of the economic data followed by investors has been positive: surges in Leading Economic Indicators, and the Small Business Optimism Index; accelerating global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth forecast; rising housing starts; strong Purchasing Managers Indexes (manufacturing and service sectors), strong hiring, declining unemployment, record low weekly unemployment claims and high quit rate; low inflation; strong consumer data: growth in average hourly earnings/real disposable personal income, household balance sheets, savings rates, credit scores,

Last quarter we reported to you that investors turned decidedly bullish toward equities after the U.S. election. That trend continued in the first quarter of 2017, with the S&P 500 Index hitting an all-time high of 2395.96 on March 1, immediately following President Trump’s conciliatory speech to Congress. That represented a 12% advance in the Index from pre-election levels. The Index closed the quarter off the all-time high, at 2362.72, as investors re-evaluated the probability of President Trump and Congress’ ability to deliver on tax cuts and increased federal spending on infrastructure. The S&P 500 returned a very strong 6.07% in the first quarter—the sixth consecutive quarter of positive returns for the Index. In Chinese philosophy, yin and yang describe how seemingly opposite or contrary forces may actually be complementary, interconnected, and how they may give rise to each other as they interrelate. The U.S. has entered a period where proposed policy or political risks,

Get Ready for Paid Family Leave Effective January 1, 2018, New York State Paid Family Leave Program will provide New Yorkers job-protected, paid leave. Working families will no longer have to choose between caring for their loved ones and risking their economic security. But how does this impact you as the employer? This webinar will cover the new regulations for the Paid Family Leave law and how to prepare for it including: which employers are covered, and employees are eligible for benefits;  the differences between Paid Family Leave (PFL), Disability Benefits Law (DBL) and the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA); and  what employers should do to get ready. Thursday, May 18 at 11:00 a.m. CLICK HERE to register PRESENTERS: Wesley Price Sales Account Executive Employee Benefits HANYS Benefit Services Wesley is responsible for assisting clients with health and welfare benefits, and any other area of human resource consulting. Before joining HBS in 2009, Wes worked in the insurance business