What will you do?

Now that you’re through

Everyone is asking you

Where will you go?

Friends want to know

The path is clear

I’ll take it real slow

These are lyrics from "What Will You Do (The Retirement Plan Song)," an original song (Music and Lyrics by David Manierka with Lyrics by Bart Manierka). But the song is about retirement then, not retirement now. And it’s the “now” that will the focus of this blog, the first of an every Monday post in BenefitsPro.com, the new web portal brought to you by Benefits Selling Magazine. So whether you’re an employee benefit administrator or retirement plan advisor, the mission is the same: helping employers provide retirement plans that better prepare employees for retirement.

The need should be obvious to all, but let me share some less than encouraging stats with you:

Let start with the just published 2011 Retirement Confidence Survey conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI). It’s the 21^st such survey by the EBRI, a private, nonprofit research institute based in Washington, D.C., that focuses on health, savings, retirement, and economic security issues. EBRI does not lobby and does not take policy positions.