Nationwide Embarks on PPA Education Campaign

Nationwide Financial Services, Inc. has kicked off a campaign to help plan sponsors and investment professionals take advantage of opportunities in the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA).

Nationwide’s “Straight Talk about the Pension Protection Act” campaign gives materials to employers so that they can take advantage of the opportunities within the PPA and build a better retirement plan for their employees, the company said in a press release.

In the guide for plan sponsors, Nationwide discusses PPA provisions such as:

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  • safe harbor automatic enrollment and automatic deferral increase options that don’t require ADP/ACP testing.
  • that safe harbor automatic enrollment requires either an employer matching contribution of up to 3.5% or 3% non-elective contribution and that employers give a written notice 30 days prior to automatic enrollment and a contribution increase.
  • qualified default investment alternative (QDIA) options and the provision that allows a fiduciary to select QDIAs on behalf of a participant that hasn’t given direction on what fund(s) to invest in.

For investment professionals Nationwide created sales ideas they can use to engage plan sponsor clients. In the guide for investment professionals, Nationwide makes such suggestions as:

  • working with plan sponsors’ third-party administrator to outline potential costs impact to the plan sponsor for adopting automatic enrollment versus the additional benefit provided to all employees.
  • helping clients implement a Roth retirement plan if plan participants think taxes will be raised in the future; expect to be in higher income bracket; etc.
  • hiring an outside firm to give investment advice to participants.
  • helping plan sponsors implement the provision of the PPA that allows a non-spouse beneficiary to roll over the benefits they receive from a retirement plan to an IRA.

For more information about the Straight Talk campaign and to acquire a full set of materials visit www.nationwide.com.

Great West Appoints Three 401(k) Sales Execs

Great-West Retirement Services has appointed three regional sales directors to focus on development of new corporate 401(k) business.

The new sales directors are Erik R. Woodin, who will focus on sales in Idaho, Montana and North Dakota; Guy Ridout, whose territory includes Alaska and the state of Washington; and James Noack, who will cover South Texas, including Houston and Austin.

Woodin and Ridout were previously internal wholesalers at Great-West Retirement Services. Noack joins the firm from the Principal Group where he served as a senior sales representative.

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“They strengthen our ability to deliver exceptional retirement plan solutions to the corporate market,” said William Harmon, vice president-401(k) sales for Great-West Retirement Services, in an announcement.

Great-West Retirement Services provides 401(k), 401(a), 403(b), and 457 retirement plan services to 21,000 plans representing approximately 3.5 million participants with $104 billion in assets as of December 31, 2006.

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