In his latest article in MarketWatch, RetireMentor and RCH CEO Spencer Williams gets us into the festive, holiday spirit by showcasing the “miracle” of compound interest. Compound interest is particularly relevant to retirement savers, whose nest eggs will incubate over a career. 

The recent U.S. Presidential election brought renewed focus upon large infrastructure projects: massive, capital-intensive efforts required to rebuild America’s roads, bridges, railways and airports. Desperately needed, these projects could cost taxpayers hundreds of billions, perhaps even trillions of dollars.

It is intuitive to observe that the easiest way for a plan participant to achieve lifetime participation in the U.S. retirement system is to work for the same employer for 40 years or more. But in today’s highly mobile workforce, that rarely happens. According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), the average American will change jobs more than seven times during a 40-year working life, indicating that a participant’s average tenure with each employer will be a little over five years. So what can be done to help the vast majority of participants that simply won’t work for one employer for their entire careers? 

In his latest MarketWatch RetireMentors column, RCH CEO Spencer Williams modifies the familiar proverb “a stitch in time saves nine” for the benefit of 401(k) savers who have multiple retirement savings accounts. A roll-in becomes the equivalent of the stitch, saving participants considerable time and money as they change jobs.

It’s ironic that, as we observe another “National Save for Retirement Week,” the retirement system we have in this country isn’t really a “system” at all.

By Neal Ringquist and Tom Hawkins

As we prepare to observe National Save for Retirement Week (also known as “National Retirement Security Week”), scheduled for October 16-22, it’s a great opportunity to remember why we, as individuals, need to save for our retirement. But the sobering reality is that we are all being called upon to save retirement itself—by rescuing a retirement system that doesn’t work for millions of hardworking Americans.

In his most recent article in MarketWatch, RCH’s Spencer Williams notes the upcoming ‘National Save for Retirement Week’ event, and employs some clever word-association that has readers re-thinking the meaning of the word “save.”

This summer, there’s one topic that everyone in Washington, D.C. seems to agree upon: the importance of consolidation in protecting Americans’ retirement security.

Hey, plan sponsors: Imagine for a moment that your active participants are Tom Cruise from Mission: Impossible (or Barbara Bain, Peter Graves and Martin Landau, for those of us who remember the classic TV series).

“Make the smart decision the easiest decision” seems like an obvious goal for plan sponsors when designing participant-directed retirement plans, and it’s certainly driven the rapid adoption of the autos—auto enrollment, auto deferral escalation, and auto investment options, such as target-date funds and managed accounts.