Products December 6, 2012

Lincoln Launches HeroPlus Retirement Program

Lincoln Financial Group’s Retirement Plan Services business introduced HeroPlus, a new nationwide Length of Service Award Program (LOSAP).
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LOSAPs are retirement plans designed to address the needs of volunteer emergency services agencies. The HeroPlus program offers sponsors a choice of investment options and ongoing program support in an employer-sponsored retirement plan. The program can be customized at the local level to meet the specific needs of the plan sponsor.  

Lincoln Financial provides the program support, investment platform, recordkeeping administration and Web support. A third-party administrator (TPA) designs the local service agreement, and provides compliance services and general support to the sponsoring agency. A financial adviser assists sponsoring agencies and their participants with investments.   

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Ibbotson Associates, part of the Morningstar Investment Management division, assists plan sponsors by selecting and monitoring 23 investment options that the sponsors can choose for their plan’s lineup. The HeroPlus program also includes the option of the Lincoln LifeSpan asset allocation models designed by Ibbotson, which cover asset and style categories and enable participants to customize their retirement plan investments by risk tolerance and retirement timeline. The program also includes the Lincoln Stable Value fund offering.   

The HeroPlus Program is available nationwide through financial advisers and TPAs. More information is at www.HeroPlusProgram.com.

Products December 6, 2012

ING Maps Retirement Savings in America

Leveraging data from its peer comparison tool, ING U.S. developed the ING State of Savings interactive map.
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The map provides a state-by-state scan and ranking of how Americans across the country say they are saving, applying two different formulas. One formula measures the average amount that residents of each state have collectively saved for retirement as a percent of their total estimated needs, with adjustments made for age—Savings Progress. A second formula measures the average amount that residents of each state have saved up, as a multiple of their annual household income—Savings Score.   

According to the map, the three states that ranked highest in terms of Savings Progress are Hawaii (residents have saved 51% of their estimated needs for retirement), New York (49%) and Nevada (48%). The three states with the highest Savings Score are New Mexico (residents have saved 4.56 times their annual income), Vermont (4.35 times their annual income) and South Carolina (3.78 times their annual income).   

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Nationally, the average Savings Progress for Americans overall was at 39%, while the Savings Score was 2.42. For a full list of the rankings and to access the interactive map, visit http://www.INGStateofSavings.com.    

Since debuting in 2009, the INGCompareMe.com website has received more than 1.8 million visitors. Approximately 60,000 answered a combination of questions that captured their state of residence, their annual household income, the amount they have saved for retirement and the amount they anticipate needing to live a comfortable retirement.

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