Employer Blog

As a plan sponsor, you may be wondering if you are required to provide a 401(k) match for long-term, part-time employees. Although the rules and regulations of the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement Act of 2019 (SECURE Act) and the SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 (SECURE 2.0) have changed the eligibility rules for long-term, part-time employees, the requirements for matching contributions have stayed the same. Read on to learn more about these provisions and why offering an employer 401(k) match can be valuable to your small business.

You've probably heard that the only two guarantees in life are death and taxes—but with recent stock market volatility, many retirement plan participants would like to add three more items to that list of guarantees: preservation of principal (I can't lose what I contributed), investment return (I know how much my money will earn), and lifetime income (I can't outlive my investments).

Fiduciary. It's become somewhat of a buzzword over the last few years in the retirement industry—and for good reason. With many retirement plan sponsors falsely believing they don’t have fiduciary responsibilities in relation to their plan, and the Employment Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) holding them to a rigorous standard regardless, there’s a clear disconnect when it comes to who is a plan fiduciary is and what their responsibilities are.

Growing your business is always top of mind, and as a small business owner, you have to work strategically to earn community support and grow brand awareness. While holding a sale or giving out coupons may facilitate the expansion of your business, consider how offering a 401(k) and financial wellness education as part of your benefits package can be an alternative strategy to stand out, as well as attract and retain team members who can help your business grow in the long-term.

As tax time approaches each year, small business owners often begin scrambling to find ways to decrease their annual corporate taxable income—sometimes resorting to making large purchases to write off as a business expense or even adding employee benefits, like a retirement plan, to their benefits package. And lately, profit sharing has become a hot topic in the industry.

Humans feel stress daily. It's a part of life, but that doesn't mean it needs to creep into the workplace. Outside stress can cause a serious lack of focus among affected employees, and one of the biggest stressors is money. In fact, nearly half of employees who report feeling financially stressed admit that their personal finances have been a distraction at work—and among those employees, 56 percent admit to spending three or more hours per week dealing with or thinking about issues related to their personal finances while on company time.¹

You've done the research and you've seen the statistics: more than 90 percent of American employees value a 401(k) or similar retirement plan as an important benefit—and more than 4 in 5 agree that retirement benefits offered by a potential employer would be a major factor in their decision-making on whether or not to take a job.¹

As a responsible retirement plan sponsor, you may occasionally wonder if there's a different retirement plan provider that's more beneficial to your employees and your organization. In fact, as a fiduciary, you should consistently review what your plan needs are, what you currently receive in terms of services, the amount you pay for those services, and what else is out there on the market. Before you do any legwork, and certainly before you make any decisions, it’s important to formulate a game plan because no two plan providers are exactly alike, and there are no "cookie cutter" solutions. 

Every few years, for one reason or another, the stock market begins to plummet—and as a result, every few years, there’s widespread panic about a potential recession, what that may mean for Americans' finances, and how it may impact the future of our economy.

Endless opportunities for relaxation. Time to take up new hobbies. Feeling financially free with wide-open days. However you personally envision spending the autumn of your life, one of the cornerstones of the American dream is a secure retirement. After a long and dedicated career, people envision their golden years stretched out ahead of them, filled with leisure and a chance to enjoy what they worked hard for all their lives. That dream has become more difficult to reach over the past decades, but with a little bit of employer-sponsored help, it’s still possible to restore retirement to America.