For Individuals,For Plan Sponsors,Custom

ICMA-RC Launches the Retirement Roadmap Resource to Enhance Participant Services

January 24, 2019

One-on-one meetings between retirement plan participants and financial representatives can be a critical approach in ensuring that participants make the most of their retirement plan's potential and stay on track to build financial security. Plan sponsors play a critical role in ensuring that all participants have access to the same high quality advice and guidance, regardless of their location, career stage or financial priorities, or whether it be in-person or through digital resources.

ICMA-RC recently launched the Retirement Roadmap, a comprehensive set of tools and educational materials to guide one-on-one participant meetings, which complement ICMA-RC's extensive, participant-focused digital resources. ICMA-RC representatives use the Retirement Roadmap to deliver enhanced planning capabilities to all plan participants, while also allowing them to tailor meetings to participants' career stages and financial concerns.

The Retirement Roadmap entails ICMA-RC's three RealizeRetirement® stages - engage, build, and realize - based on where participants are in their careers:

  • Engage is designed for someone not yet enrolled in the plan. It offers information about the benefits of tax-deferred savings and an introduction to retirement plan features. Calculators show participants the cost of delaying to save, growth of savings over time, how small changes in savings rates can add up and estimated savings based on participants' current paycheck.
  • Build focuses on assessing how well mid-career participants are doing at meeting their retirement savings goals now, and how they could close any gaps by increasing contributions or applying more effective investment strategies. Calculators depict the potential growth of savings over time, the impact of changes in contributions, a paycheck calculator, and a Roth analyzer, which helps determine whether a Roth IRA would be beneficial.
  • Realize assists participants who are at or near retirement, as well as those who are already enjoying retirement. It helps participants determine whether they're ready for retirement and offers group and one-on-one consultations on income replacement and withdrawal strategies during retirement.

Participants can sign up for meetings through a digital event registration tool, identifying topics they'd like to discuss. Retirement Plan Specialists can customize content to address specific participant concerns.

"Plan sponsors want to know that their employees are receiving consistent information about retirement planning no matter what their career stage," said Joseph Teague, Managing Vice President, Field Sales & Relationship Management at ICMA-RC. "The Retirement Roadmap provides a framework for tailored meetings and one-on-one discussions to help participants succeed throughout each stage of their careers."

The Retirement Roadmap also makes it easy for ICMA-RC representatives to create presentations that are relevant to specific participants, based on where they are in their retirement planning journey. Just as important, the Roadmap helps the representative focus the discussion on things the participant can control - such as how much they save, how they invest and when they plan to retire - ensuring the discussion is meaningful.

Finally, all meetings using the Retirement Roadmap include a call to action with at least three actionable next steps for the participant to complete. The system is designed to empower participants to take control of their retirement security - whether by enrolling in the plan, increasing their regular contributions, or realigning their investment strategy.

"We know that one-on-one meetings are a powerful tool for motivating participants to take action," says Michele Martin, Managing Vice President, Field Sales & Relationship Management ICMA-RC. "The Retirement Roadmap enables our representatives to maximize these opportunities for improving retirement security among participants while complementing other valuable services."

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