Deals & People April 9, 2015

The Principal Enhances ESOP Team

Global investment manager the Principal Financial Group expands its employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) team with the addition of Kim Blaugher as vice president of consulting and Amy Hartnett as director of business development.
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The two join the firm’s 30-person team in providing ESOP consulting and administration services.

Blaugher was most recently senior director within the ESOP consulting group at BDO USA, LLP and is rejoining The Principal, having served as vice president of consulting on the firm’s ESOP team for nearly 20 years. He is a member of the Employee-Owned S Corporations of America, the National Center for Employee Ownership, The ESOP Association and the Pacific Coast TE/GE Council. Additionally, he holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Earlham College and a master’s degree in taxation from the University of Denver.

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Joining from Fifth Third Bank in Chicago, where she served as vice president in the ESOP finance group, Hartnett brings experience in nationwide business development. She maintains a position on the board of the Illinois ESOP Association and is a member of the National Center for Employee Ownership. A graduate of the University of Iowa in Iowa City, she holds bachelor’s degrees in finance and marketing.

“The addition of both Kim and Amy further strengthens our ESOP consulting practice to better serve existing clients and help grow our number of plans,” says Jerry Ripperger, vice president of consulting at The Principal. He explains recent additions to the company’s team reinforce its commitment to providing comprehensive ESOP services.

Data & Research April 9, 2015

U.S. Retirement Preparedness Seems Wobbly

Retirement security will likely be jeopardized for more Americans because of the shift away from defined benefit (DB) plans and fewer workplace plans, a paper contends.
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Several factors—a drop in the number of employers that offer a workplace retirement plan, the shift away from defined benefit (DB) plans and overall inadequate savings rates by workers—form a dire view of retirement for many workers, according to Teresa Ghilarducci, a professor of economics at The New School and co-author of the report.

“Are U.S. Workers Ready for Retirement? Trends in Plan Sponsorship, Participation, and Preparedness,” co-authored by Ghilarducci, Joelle Saad-Lessler and Kate Bahn, takes a deep dive into retirement statistics since 1999.

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The overview examines statistics on the number of employers sponsoring retirement plans for their workers between 1999 and 2011 and the declines in retirement plan coverage for those workers covered by a union contract. The paper suggests some reasons for the lack of retirement preparedness so many households face, using 2000 and 2012 data from the Current Population Survey, a joint program administered by the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistic.

The report findings predict a greater number of workers will experience dramatic drops in their standard of living as they age and attempts to envision what retirement will look like in 10 or 20 years if trends reverse themselves, by plotting retirement sponsorship and participation rates for the country from 1980 through 2012.

Among the findings:

  • Between 1999 and 2011, availability of workplace-sponsored plans slipped, from 61% to 53%.
  • In 2011, 68% of the working age population (25 to 64) did not participate in an employer-sponsored plan.
  • 55% of households with a head of household nearing retirement (55 to 64) will have to subsist almost entirely on Social Security or will not be able to retire because of inadequate savings.

“Are U.S. Workers Ready for Retirement? Trends in Plan Sponsorship, Participation, and Preparedness” can be accessed here.

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