Benefits September 29, 2004

Education Firm Finds Participant Retirement Planning Focus

September 29, 2004 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Participants calling in to the help line of a San Francisco-based financial education company during the second quarter of 2004 were more focused on investment planning rather than on withdrawing retirement savings funds.
Reported by

According to a news release from Financial Finesse, the most frequently asked retirement planning questions during Q2 were about how much is needed to retire and the amount of necessary savings to achieve that goal.

With 7% of total questions about retirement planning, the top five inquiries also included:

  • What is the difference between a traditional and a Roth IRA from a tax perspective?
  • What do I do with my previous employer retirement plan?
  • I have general administrative questions about my company retirement plan
  • How do I choose the right investment in my retirement plan(s)?
  • The company pointed out that inquiries about plan loans didn’t make the top question list.

Financial Finesse said another 4% of questions centered around investing and included:

  • I want to work with someone who can help me get started in investing
  • How do I choose the right investments in my retirement plan(s)?
  • I need someone to help me assess how my investments should be allocated.

Four percent of questions concerned finding a financial planner, 6% dealt with tax issues and 12% dealt with budgeting and saving.

Generally, employees were very focused on dealing with personal debt – a subject that generated 44% of second-quarter calls versus 34% the quarter before, the company said.

More information about the company is at http://www.financialfinesse.com/ffinesse/jsp/home.jsp .

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