An article released by the Associate Press this week unveiled a new index that measures how well 401(k) plans for thousands of companies are preparing their employees for retirement. Retirement-plan ratings firm, Fiduciary Benchmarks, released the Retirement Readiness Index, which measures the number of employers who sponsor retirement plans by industry. The index measures whether their plans are keeping pace or falling behind their peers and how their plan compares to other industries.

A new “hybrid” type of retirement plan, which becomes available on January 1, 2010, may be a boon to small businesses, according to a recent article in the Washington Post. The DB(k) plan, as it is currently known, was created as a result of the Pension Protection Act of 2006 (PPA), but is only now going into effect.

Holding retirement planning seminars can lead to increased participation in 401(k) plans, according to a study cited in PlanSponsor.com (free registration required). The study showed that participation rates by non-highly compensated employees are 11.5% higher for plans that offer frequent seminars, than those where such seminars are not offered. For highly compensated employees, the participation rate was 6.5% higher.

The IRS Web site provides a guideline of important life events that can have an affect on your retirement savings. Handling these life situations appropriately can increase the amount of money you are putting away for your future and ensure your loved ones are secure and protected.

With 2009 shortly coming to an end, an article with Benefit News provided a few 401(k) tasks to handle before ringing in 2010:

In a recent article from the Baltimore Sun, a research study by Hewett Associates shows that 46% of Americans switching employers today cash out their 401(k) savings, losing an average of 30% of their compound savings to taxes and early withdrawal fees. Before the age of 59 ½, participants are subjected to taxes and early withdrawal fees upon cashing out their 401(k) accounts, as they have not hit the legal retirement age in which they are allowed to begin receiving distributions from their retirement savings.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently released their Fall 2009 Employee Plans News edition. The fall newsletter includes articles pertaining to hardship distributions and loans from 401(k) plans, various limits and how they are applied, tax preparations as well as retirement and savings initiatives to ensure all Americans save for their future.

You don’t need to be a large company to take advantage of having a 401(k) retirement plan. In fact, NADART offers small businesses a plan that is just as effective, efficient and affordable as plans for larger companies. Our Sub20 Plan caters to companies with 20 or fewer employees.

While Target Dated Funds seem to be rising in popularity as a retirement-related investment, a recent survey by AllianceBernstein LP shows that participants are not necessarily investing in them correctly.