The internet has grown over the last decade in the United States. Smartphones, smart watches, smart glasses, and smart jewelry became abundant among young Americans. Mobile access to any website is crucial, but what about your retirement plan? With new technological advances, retirement plan services are being delivered to plan sponsors and participants on mobile platforms. With these changes in technology here are five technology must-haves for any 401K/403b Retirement plan.
1. Responsive Design
A responsive website is one that adjusts to match the size of any browser. In other words, when a participant or a plan sponsor log on to their plan website, they will see the same thing on all devices. Today, 55 percent of retirement plan sites feature a responsive design, and 50 percent feature a public or private app. This is to keep your 401k platform mobile and available anywhere.
2. Comprehensive Mobile and Tablet Apps
Responsive design is an important must have. In some cases, so much of the information from a website can’t fit on our small smartphone or tablet screens. To solve this problem mobile apps for those sites were created to offer a different version of the same website for users to interact with. Mobile app interactions include providers who allow plan participants the ability to process transactions on a smartphones, enrollment, and deferral percentage changes. Over half the respondents in Deloitte’s 2015 Defined Contribution Benchmarking Survey reported a higher interaction rate with their plan providers and retirement plans.
3. Wearable Apps
Wearable apps have also become popular today. From watches that can track your health to smart jewelry that can track your heart rate, these devices are becoming the norm. These devices are also used for retirement monitoring. In July of 2016, Empower Retirement released a one of the kind mobile app that allowed its participants to track their retirement plans via Apple Watch. Empower began their mobile movement to increase their interactions with their clients and capture their attention.
4. Encouraging Retirement Readiness and Financial Wellness
Being attentive to your retirement goals and financial wellness is a tedious task. Digital tools have the capability to help participants understand how to prepare for retirement. This being one of the most talked about topics in the industry today. So, it is only fitting that today’s technology has made it easier for anyone to be ready for retirement. Many plan providers are now offering digital tools that allow plan participants and sponsors to better understand and improve their retirement goals. These tools help to educate and influence participants to understand behavioral finance. While, helping those participants to apply strategies for themselves. In the long run this will allow plan participants to improve and measure their plan health outcomes over time.
5. A Personalized Approach to Retirement Planning
There are many ways to personalize your retirement, but one tool being offered on by many plan providers is a way to keep tabs on your retirement readiness. They way plan providers do this is by setting up a system that can synchronize retirement and non-retirement accounts. This is useful for plan participants to understand that having a 401k/403b isn’t always going to be the only way to be retirement ready. These sites take all the information a plan participant chooses to input in the system and creates a more personalized retirement goal for them. It is a wonderful way to look at one’s personalized retirement and understand what needs to be done to reach certain goals. Not all recordkeepers offer this type of tool so make sure you inquire about this need if you are evaluating new providers for your plan.
This information was developed as a general guide to educate plan sponsors but is not intended as authoritative guidance or tax or legal advice. Each plan has unique requirements, and you should consult your attorney or tax advisor for guidance on your specific situation. In no way does advisor assure that, by using the information provided,