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| Procrastinating Retirement Savings Is Americans’ Biggest Financial Regret |
| Eighteen percent of Americans regret not starting to save for retirement earlier, Bankrate.com found in a survey. This is followed by not saving for an emergency, and taking on too much credit card and too much student loan debt. Among those who have a financial regret, 49% are doing something about it.Read more > |
| Recent Dip in Average Fidelity Account Balance Belies Long-Term Trend |
| Average individual 401(k), 403(b) and IRA account balances increased year-over-year, according to the latest cut of data from Fidelity’s book of retirement business, but the average dipped slightly from Q4 2017, reflecting market volatility and the fact that new small-balance savers entered the fold. Other relevant findings show managed accounts are now offered by more than 5,300 employers, or more than double the percentage offering a managed account option five years ago. Fidelity still finds increased use of target-date funds to manage savings.Read more > |
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| Sponsored message from Vanguard |
Snapshots of TDF performance miss the big picture
When evaluating TDF performance, use a holistic approach to look beyond a single point in time.Read more > |
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| Products, Deals and People |
| Wellness Solution Targets Behavioral Change |
| Following an alliance with Ernst & Young LLP (EY), MetLife has created a new financial wellness solution targeted at behavioral change among employees.Read more > |
| Sentinel Updates Benefits Data Delivery and Improves Data Protection |
| With Actifio Sky and Actifio Data-as-a-Service, Sentinel Benefits was able to create high-availability customer data solutions and obtain data protection improvements.Read more > |
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| Economic Events |
| Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in April were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,352,000, the Census Bureau reported. This is 1.8% below the revised March rate of 1,377,000, but is 7.7% above the April 2017 rate of 1,255,000. Single-family authorizations in April were at a rate of 859,000; this is 0.9% above the revised March figure of 851,000. Authorizations of units in buildings with five units or more were at a rate of 450,000 in April. |
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| Market Mirror |
Wednesday, the Dow gained 62.52 points (0.25%) to finish at 24,768.93, the NASDAQ closed 46.67 points (0.63%) higher at 7,398.30, and the S&P 500 was up 11.01 points (0.41%) at 2,722.46. The Russell 2000 increased 16.03 points (1.00%) to 1,616.37, and the Wilshire 5000 climbed 125.12 points (0.44%) to 28,322.99. The price of the 10-year Treasury note was down 6/32, increasing its yield to 3.098%. The price of the 30-year Treasury bond decreased 11/32, bringing its yield up to 3.221%. |
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| Small Talk |
| ON THIS DATE: In 1792, the New York Stock Exchange was founded at 70 Wall Street by 24 brokers. In 1875, the first Kentucky Derby was run at Louisville, Kentucky. In 1946, President Harry Truman seized control of the nation’s railroads, delaying a threatened strike by engineers and trainmen. In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled for school integration in Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka. The ruling declared that racially segregated schools were inherently unequal. In 1999, Alex Trebek received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2006, the U.S. aircraft carrier Oriskany was sunk about 24 miles off Pensacola Beach. It was the first vessel sunk under a Navy program to dispose of old warships by turning them into diving attractions. It was the largest man-made reef at the time of the sinking. |
| SURVEY SAYS: Data shows the majority of retirement plan sponsors have implemented what many call “best practices” for their retirement programs, but there are still some underutilized features that could help boost participant outcomes. This week, I’d like to know, putting your plan participant “hat” on, which underutilized retirement program feature or other benefits would help YOU the most in reaching your retirement savings goal? Results will be shared in a future edition of PLANSPONSOR magazine. You may respond to this survey by 6 p.m. Pacific time today.Read more > |
| Share the news with a friend! Pass the NewsDash along and tell your friends/associates they can sign up for their own copy.Read more > |
