More "Back to School" on Employee Retirement Planning
As everyone returns to school and the fall gets underway, by this time employers have already begun to think about health plan costs for next year and retirement plan funding/contributions. The fall and end of the year are always a good time to educate employees about the value of their benefits and the need to save for their golden years. According to a Hewitt Associates survey (as referenced here in the Chicago Tribune):
"Nearly half of a group of 200,000 workers who left their jobs in 2004 cashed out a majority of their retirement plans rather than rolling them into other retirement accounts or leaving them parked with their former employers."
The article also noted, alarmingly, that those who cashed out weren't just young employees with low balances:
"...42 percent of workers in their 40's, along with 66 percent of workers in their 20's took the money and ran. Nearly three-quarters of people with plan balances of less than $10,000 took the money, but a third of employees with between $10,000 and $20,000 also cashed out."
Maybe we should be doing more regular education for employees to encourage them to save and if they do leave our employ, to roll over the money into either another qualified plan or an IRA.
