Episode 26

With more than 35 years of experience practicing employee benefits law, Bob Toth is an expert to the experts—particularly in the areas of 403(b) plans and annuity products. Webb and Toth discuss the key to moving the needle on annuities, including how to effectively communicate the benefits of these products, the importance of pricing opaqueness, and how the Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement (SECURE) Act provision allowing portability may help address participant concerns. Toth also shares some of the new products being developed in the marketplace and explains why beer is essential to solving the annuity puzzle.

Episode 25

With more than a decade worth of plan sponsors questions answered by industry experts, the column continues to be one of the most popular features on PLANSPONSOR’s website. Mike, David, and Rebecca share the history of the column, contributing factors to its success, and tips on how plan sponsors can have their questions featured.

Episode 24

Christine shares the backstory of her blog, The DB-ification Trend and the movement toward increased employer control versus employee discretion of defined contribution retirement plans to better provide a sustainable source of income during retirement, along with the one provision she would change with a magic retirement wand, if she could.

Episode 23

Sharing the current funding concerns and potential future reforms for Social Security, Mary Beth provides tips on when to claim and when to delay Social Security benefits in order to maximize value—particularly in the current low-interest rate environment. She also highlights the specific need for women to carefully consider their Social Security claiming strategy to ensure sufficient retirement income.

Episode 22

Episode 21

Ary Rosenbaum practices ERISA and retirement plan law at The Rosenbaum Law Firm P.C. and is also known by industry insiders as That 401(k) Guy, infusing personality into his practice through his That 401(k) Site website, conference series, and podcast.

In episode 20 of Revamping Retirement, Mike Webb chats with Ary about his perspective on topics such as the DOL’s Fiduciary Rule and ESG and Private Equity in retirement plans, his wish list for compliance changes to help plan sponsors avoid plan errors, and his collection of Mets memorabilia.

Episode 20

FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) is a lifestyle movement that embraces the goal of achieving financial independence by decreasing spending and increasing income.

Mike and J.Money discuss why now, in the middle of a pandemic and recession, individuals may want to consider adopting some of the key FIRE tenants. Will the pandemic light a flame for future FIRE movement participants?

Episode 19

One option, growing in popularity among retirement plan sponsors, is to offer an emergency savings account through the retirement plan recordkeeper. But are these sidecar accounts the best approach?

In episode 18 of Revamping Retirement, Mike Webb and Jack Towarnicky of the American Retirement Association discuss differing views over utilizing sidecar accounts for emergency savings.

Episode 18

In episode 17 of Revamping Retirement, Mike Webb discusses the statistical case for adopting auto enrollment, as well as how finding the sweet spot for default deferrals and auto escalation can help improve participants’ retirement readiness.

Episode 17