Products February 7, 2017

Small Employers Now Have Access to College Savings Benefit

HR platform provider Gusto is making 529 plans available through a partnership with Gradvisor.
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Gusto, an all-in-one HR platform provider, announced they will begin offering their small business customers a wide array of benefits typically only available to employees of big companies; the first of which is the availability of 529 plans through a partnership with Gradvisor.

Gusto’s 40,000 small business customers will be able to provide personalized, tax-advantaged savings plans to their employees, enabling them to save for their children’s college education.

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Saving for college education competes with saving for retirement. A survey last year found more than two-thirds (67%) of parents surveyed said saving for their children’s college education is more important than saving for retirement.  The survey also found they may not be using the most appropriate type of account to save. Forty-two percent are using low-interest savings accounts, and 27% are using retirement accounts that penalize savers for withdrawing money before retirement. Only 37% of parents are using a tax-advantaged 529 plan to save for their children’s college education.

“We’ve always wanted to bring this benefit to smaller businesses, but it was difficult for us to scale on our own,” says Marcos Cordero, CEO and co-founder of Gradvisor. “By tapping into Gusto’s well-established ecosystem of 40,000 customers, we can now bring this benefit to a broader audience simply and automatically – helping small businesses and their employees to plan for the future.”

529 plans will be available within Gusto for an additional $6 per employee that registers to use Gradvisor. More information is available at https://gusto.com/product/529-college-savings.
Products February 7, 2017

Appo Group to Integrate Participant Communication

The new solution by Appo Group aims to cut costs and time by allowing users to create and manage multimedia communication materials through a single platform. 

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Appo Group, a communications technology provider focusing on the retirement services industry, is rolling out a new solution designed to integrate the creation and management of multimedia communications including print, email and Web into a single platform.  

The Appo solution is comprised of two components. The Appo Toolset allows designers to drag and drop variable content into various documents, while storing content replicated across different media channels as “modules” for future use. All elements used to create communications are stored in the Appo Portal, a secure website where internal and external users can manage and order materials with varying security and approval processes in place.

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The firm says the solution aims to cut time and costs while improving efficiency of the participant communication process, a challenge and increasingly important task in the retirement services space.  

“Participant engagement can be difficult and expensive, especially when it means integrating complex data sources and working across multiple platforms,” explains Steve Wigler, president of Appo Group. 

He adds, “Unlike many of the existing solutions on the market, Appo is first and foremost a technology solution, not a print solution. In fact, clients appreciate that we are agnostic as to which fulfillment provider they use, so bringing us in doesn’t cause disruption to existing relationships.”

The firm says it’s currently working with one major plan provider and considering others to find ways to apply the solution to other data-driven objectives including annual plan reviews, enrollment materials, fund fact sheets, participant statements and compliance communications.

While the fate of the DOL’s conflict of interest rule remains uncertain under the administration of President Donald Trump, many industry experts note that firms are still widely preparing for a more fiduciary-focused industry. Moreover, related compliance issues remain a large part of ERISA litigation that’s likely to continue as well.

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