Fidelity Adds Education Component to Advisor-Sold K Plan

Using print-on-demand and segmentation technology, Fidelity said its first|PERSON communications service provides a regular stream of information personalized for each employee by life stage, personal situation and plan specifics, with action steps to help them improve retirement planning and reach their goals.

first|PERSON starts with an enrollment guide that offers personalized projections. It continues with a series of educational messages that apply to each participant’s situation.

The centerpiece of the program is the Annual Checkup, a yearly look at each participant’s retirement planning progress and a checklist on the individual’s overall financial health. It also will offer personal retirement savings scenarios, based on an employee’s current salary, birth date and accumulative balances, which illustrate the potential impact of increasing contributions, adjusting asset allocation, or delaying retirement, as well as a review of retirement income sources.

The first|PERSON technology platform relieves both advisors and plan sponsors of the administrative burden of customizing and maintaining large quantities of employee education inventory. The program combines print-on-demand technologies with Fidelity’s segmentation approach to provide faster, more efficient delivery of materials that are more personally relevant, Fidelity said.

In addition, the program provides advisors with a monthly report detailing the automated communications interactions of each plan participant as well as an annual scorecard outlining the results of the campaigns so that advisors can more effectively respond to the specific needs of the plans.

“We are leveraging technology to measure specific educational campaign results and provide reporting on participant behavior,” Donald Holborn, executive vice president, Fidelity Investments Institutional Services, said in a news release. “This kind of measurement gives advisors as well as plan sponsors a detailed view of the effectiveness of the program to further tailor communications to meet the needs of the plan participants.”

Fidelity’s advisor-sold 401(k) program — Premium and Premium 100, has more than 1,900 plans and 300,000 participants, representing more than $10 billion in total administered assets as of March 31, 2004.