Blogs

Consumer-directed benefits: The affordable in Affordable Care

By Jody Dietel | May 15, 2013

“Traditional” health care benefits vs. consumer-directed benefits—that is the question.
Employers getting pushy in drive to better health

By Allen Greenberg | May 14, 2013

Short of bribery and potentially violating anti-discrimination laws by not hiring obese smokers, there’s little employers can do to improve the health of their workforce. Or is there?
Don't ignore disability insurance

By Bruce Hentschel | May 13, 2013

According to the Social Security Administration, 30 percent of people will encounter a disability of three months or longer at some point during their working years. If that happened to you, could you afford life without a paycheck?
A retirement plan of a different color

By Jerry Ripperger | May 10, 2013

"Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black." -- Henry Ford.
Expanding plan coverage to part-time workers

By Jonathan Anderson | May 10, 2013

The ability to participate in a 401(k) plan should be extended to part-time employees, so that more U.S. workers can be better financially prepared at retirement.
The problem with mail-order prescriptions

By Jason Wallace | May 10, 2013

Increasingly, both private and public sector groups are beginning to take a careful look at the practices of pharmacy benefits managers as employers and taxpayers become curious about massive PBM profits and unclear contracts.
For fiduciary advocates only

By Chris Carosa | May 9, 2013

The newly established Frankel Fiduciary Prize draws a line in the sand.
What is a DB pension really worth?

By Rich White | May 9, 2013

“How much retirement income can I realistically count on from my pension?” is a relatively new question in the financial lexicon. Advisors are just starting to address it.
On the third hand, metrics

By Allison Bell | May 8, 2013

I'm getting tired of "studies" (mostly: subtle or not-so-subtle position papers) talking about whether the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act exchanges are wild successes or miserable failures.
Municipal bond ETFs – a progress report

By Rich White | May 8, 2013

While long-term, tax-exempt mutual fund flows have turned negative (outflowing $1.3 billion in April), muni ETFs are on an asset-gathering roll.