Products September 14, 2007

The Standard Rebrands Retirement Products

Retirement plan products and services provided by The Standard will now be sold under the Mainspring Retirement Plan Solutions name.
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According to a press release, Mainspring Retirement Plan Solutions includes three participant planning tracks – Mainspring Managed, Mainspring Guided, and Mainspring Independent. The products are available through either the group annuity or trust product platform offered by The Standard.

Mainspring Managed replaces the name Advice Path, which has been available through the trust platform since its inception in October 2004.

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The company has also created new participant education materials to coincide with the re-branding, including enhanced account statements, sponsor and participant newsletters, plan enrollment kits, and online planning tools.

For more information, visit http://www.retirement.standard.com.

Data & Research September 13, 2007

Americans Plan to Keep Homes in Retirement

The majority of American retirees (73%) say they will hang on to their homes rather than sell or downsize, according to the latest Principal Financial Well-Being Index.
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The Index also found 21% of working Americans who are five years from retirement also plan to keep their homes during retirement – at least at first, Principal said in a press release.

Most retirees included in the survey have their homes completely paid off (60%). While the trend of reverse mortgages to fund retirement may be catching on somewhat, the majority of retirees (78%) and working American homeowners (76%) surveyed for the Index said they have not considered taking out a reverse mortgage or selling their home to help fund retirement.

Financial Concerns in Retirement

The Principal Financial Well-Being Index revealed that 67% of workers and 52% of retirees are concerned about their long-term financial future. Top financial concerns of workers were being able to enjoy the same quality of life during retirement (39%), the ability to afford good medical care (39%) outliving their savings (32%), and the rising cost of inflation reducing their purchasing power (28%).

As for retirees, the ability to afford good medical care (29%) was their chief concern, followed by outliving savings (24%, and the ability to pay for basic necessities (21%).

Despite their concerns, nearly half of workers (45%) and 61% of retirees have not received any financial planning assistance, the Principal news release said. Also, the Index found while 42% of workers think they should save 11% or more of their pre-tax salary for retirement while only a minority (11%) actually do.

Harris Interactive conducted The Principal Financial Well-Being Index survey online among 1,214 American workers and 554 retirees from August 1 – 7, 2007.

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