Volatility is part of the stock market—and significant volatility can be influenced by factors outside investor control: trade wars, terrorist attacks, global pandemics, and other micro and macroeconomic situations to name just a few.

Turning 40 is a major milestone in both life and retirement planning. With retirement on the horizon, it’s time to reflect on whether you’re on track. Are you planning a big trip, a career change, or a family move? The decisions you make now will shape your financial future.

Life can throw many financial challenges your way— unexpected home repairs, student loans, and rising costs of living—that make it feel hard to put money away. Luckily, if you’re in your 30s, you still have plenty of time to get on track to achieve your ideal retirement—even if you haven’t started saving yet.

When was the last time you reviewed the investments in your employer-sponsored retirement plan?

If you’re like many, the answer might be that it’s been a while. Don't sweat it, now’s a great time to put a plan in place so you can stay up to date on the performance of your investments.

There are many factors that go into preparing financially for retirement, but one of the most important is understanding how your retirement savings will complement your Social Security benefit—and ultimately, when you should start claiming your benefit. Here are key considerations and tips that can help you start planning.

Today, Social Security benefits represent about 30 percent of the income for people over age 65^.1 But there is significant concern among workers about access to their benefits in the future. In fact, 72 percent of Americans worry their Social Security won’t be there when they retire.²

Retirement planning isn't easy—you can make all the right decisions, but your savings are always susceptible to market volatility. Unexpected world events can influence your savings by seemingly drastic amounts, causing an unsettling feeling that can leave you questioning if your financial future is secure.

If you're trying to locate an old 401(k) plan from a previous job, you're not alone…not by a long shot. The good news is that the Department of Labor (DOL) has established rules for protecting money put into a 401(k), so the money isn't necessarily lost—just waiting for someone to claim it. However, that doesn’t mean your old 401(k) account will always be easy to track down. It may take some digging, but there are a variety of ways you can find it.

It happens far too often: workers saving in a retirement plan leave their jobs and decide to take their 401(k) funds with them as a distribution, only to be caught off guard when their distribution is subject to a variety of fees and taxes. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will be looking for the income taxes on funds that have been accumulating tax-free, and recordkeepers will be charging a fee for processing the distribution. These taxes and fees apply whether you leave the plan and take your money, or your employer closes the plan and pays you out.

There’s never a bad time to audit your retirement savings account and make sure there are no major discrepancies between the amount of time you’d like to be retired and the amount of time you can afford to be retired.

There's an old, well-known adage that says, "There’s no time like the present." We've all heard the phrase at one point or another, and while it probably wasn't referencing when to start saving for retirement the first time it was uttered, it may as well have been.

With countless rules enforced by the Social Security Administration (SSA) and many potential strategies for collecting Social Security benefits, it’s no wonder pre-retirees and retirees alike often feel overwhelmed and confused when it comes time to claim benefits.

Saving for retirement sounds simple enough, and your employer-sponsored 401(k) allows you to make convenient contributions to save for your future—but making decisions about how to invest in your plan can be overwhelming if you don’t understand the language used to describe your options. Whether you’re saving in a 401(k), IRA, 403(b), or any other type of retirement plan, we’ve collected some of the key terms and jargon you may see in your plan to help you feel empowered and knowledgeable about your investment decisions.

A 401(k) or similar retirement plan can be an incredibly useful tool for workers looking to save for retirement without the intimidation that can come with solo exploration of the open stock market.

Your company’s retirement plan is just one of a collection of useful tools for successful retirement planning. As is the case with any tool, you have to use it for it to work.

Enrolling in (and starting to contribute to) your 401(k) plan can seem like a daunting task—especially if you aren't overly familiar with the inner workings of the financial industry.

Picture this: you’ve left your office for the last time. You’ve spent the better part of your career preparing for this exact moment and have finally reached retirement bliss.

Let’s be honest—401(k) plans are seriously underrated. And we don’t mean that in terms of how often they’re utilized, but instead how exciting they are.

If you’re currently saving for your retirement in a 401(k) plan—congratulations! You've made a smart financial decision to get closer to being retirement ready when the time comes.

There are two types of 401(k) savers in this world: those who quickly glance at their 401(k) statement (or don't even look at it at all) before filing it away or throwing it in the trash, and those who immediately start analyzing the returns on their investments as soon as the statement arrives in their mailbox.

An old, well-known adage says that only two things in life are guaranteed: death and taxes. While we may not have much control over the first of life’s guarantees, we can aim to fully understand and be prepared for the second, right?

At Ascensus, we want everyone to know that saving for college is possible.

Health savings accounts (HSAs) are tax-advantaged savings accounts held by individuals to pay for eligible out-of-pocket healthcare expenses. An individual can also contribute to an HSA to pay for qualified medical expenses such as vision and dental. HSAs provide a triple advantage through pre-tax contributions, earnings from interest on the account, and qualified distributions that are exempt from federal income tax. HSAs can be a tax-exempt trust or custodial account held by the individual. Please be sure to consult your tax and legal advisors for questions or specific information on tax matters.

One of the simplest and most effective ways to save for retirement is through your workplace retirement plan. Many financial professionals recommend saving 10% to 15% of your total income. Yet how much you should save largely depends on your retirement goals, age, and income.