AXA Schools Teachers About 403(b)s

For educators who like to learn the way they teach, AXA U.S. has launched the 403(b) Learning Lab, a retirement savings tool designed and developed specifically for K–12 employees.

By way of focus groups and research, AXA targeted K–12 teachers, administrators and staff to determine how they would like to be taught about retirement saving—the specific message being the importance of supplementing their pension with a 403(b) plan. The result was a colorful, app-like website “giving educators an experience they enjoy and want to use,” the company says.

“School employees have made it their mission to prepare future generations for a lifetime of learning by breaking down complicated topics into easily understood concepts,” says Kevin Molloy, head of AXA’s employer sponsored business. “When our research revealed that teachers want a similar learning approach when it comes to planning their own retirement, we used this feedback to create the 403(b) Learning Lab.”

Borrowing from the small-step approach employed in a teacher’s lesson plan, the site takes users through the basics of retirement saving: “Dissect Your Options,” “Master the Fundamentals” and “Do the Math” explain how 403(b) plans augment a pension; “Enroll Now” lets visitors sign up for a plan or seek financial counsel. The jargon-free, easily digestible—“snackable”—portions of content, and cartoon-inspired design, also reflect teacher feedback.

AXA is the brand name of AXA Equitable Financial Services LLC and its family of companies. AXA Equitable provides 403(b) plans for K–12 schools in the U.S.

The 403(b) Learning Lab can be accessed here.