Investment education still not sinking in with employees
September 10, 2009 by Christian SchappelPosted in: In this week's e-newsletter - benefits, Latest News & Views, Money
Most employees still don’t feel they’re getting the help they need to properly save for retirement.
Even though 73% of employees use their employers’ educational materials to invest their 401(k) money, only 15% say the materials are helpful, according to the latest Retirement Confidence Survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute.
In addition, nearly half of defined contribution participants said they have little to no investment knowledge, says a recent John Hancock survey.
That lack of education has cost employees big money, according to DALBAR, a firm that provides ratings and rankings to the mutual fund, broker/dealer and banking industries.
Take a look at these stats:
From 1988 to 2008 the average equity investor earned only 1.87% while the S&P 500 earned 8.41% during that same period, says DALBAR.
That means employees lost out on the other 6.54%.
The solution many employers are now looking into: providing added help in the form of independent investment advice from a registered investment advisor — one with no ties to the fund provider.
Tags: DALBAR, Employee Benefit Research Institute, investment advisor, John Hancock, mutual fund, retirement funds, S&P
September 17th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
Agreed – Employers should definitely help their employees become more savvy about their financial investments – whether through hiring a financial advisor to come speak with them, hosting a special meeting or webinar, or offering readily available and easy to understand advice on the company intranet. This is a topic often covered on TheHiringSite.com. More ideas here: http://bit.ly/1rIfND
Employees are overworked today enough – they don’t need financial worries on top of that. The benefit for employers is that by helping their employees feel more in control of their finances, they’ll be happier, less distracted, and more productive.