There has never been more attention focused on helping American workers financially prepare for retirement than there is today. So why aren’t Americans planning and saving more for their future years? As plan sponsors and the industry spend more time, energy and money on retirement education, why hasn't the message translated to employee actions in retirement planning?

Mary Willett, CRA^SM, CRC^®, Willett Consulting and Ruth Helman, Research Director, Mathew Greenwald & Associates, will delve into this issue by reviewing research conducted by InFRE and Greenwald & Associates to examine the retirement readiness of the American worker. The findings from this effort suggest a new model for retirement education and counseling that will be shared during this thought-provoking Web course.

This session will discuss research from multiple sources on the subject of retirement planning combined with original research conducted as part of the InFRE^® Retirement Readiness Project. The current state of retirement readiness and why workers’ perceptions about their retirement futures generally don’t match their actions will be explored to illustrate why the current retirement education and counseling/guidance services may not be effective.

The InFRE Retirement Readiness Profile^® that was developed to provide a qualitative measure of total retirement well-being will also be demonstrated, as well as how this can be used to establish a comprehensive and effective retirement education program.

Topics for this session include:

• Worker perceptions and attitudes about retirement compared to the reality of their actions
• The three dimensions of retirement readiness
• Results of the InFRE® General Population Retirement Readiness Survey

New model for retirement education and counseling that includes:

• A simplified and automated plan design
• Expanded message to cover three dimensions of retirement readiness
• Effective education using adult learning principles
• Productive and cost effective delivery methods

Your presenters for this session will be:

Mary Willett, CRA^®, CRC^®, Willett Consulting
Mary is a benefit plan consultant in Oregon, Wisconsin with more than twenty years experience in the field of public employee retirement benefits. Prior to starting her consulting business in 2002, Mary was Director of the Office of Supplemental Retirement Plans and Federal Compliance for the State of Wisconsin Retirement System and was responsible for the Wisconsin Deferred Compensation Plan, an unbundled Section 457 plan. Mary was the 2001/2002 President of the National Association of Government Defined Contribution Administrators (NAGDCA) and has been involved with the International Foundation for Retirement Education (InFRE) since its inception in 1997. She serves on the InFRE Board of Standards and holds both the Certified Retirement AdministratorSM (CRA) and Certified Retirement Counselor (CRC) designations. Mary is an expert in public sector retirement plans, specializing in Section 457, 403(b) and 401(a) defined contribution plans. She has co-authored and updated textbooks used in the coursework for the CRA designation and authored many articles for various newsletters and industry publications on topics pertaining to retirement plan issues. She is also a frequent speaker at industry conferences.

Ruth Helman, Research Director, Mathew Greenwald and Associates
Ruth has provided invaluable insights and assistance with InFRE projects. She is the author of the report on the InFRE General Population Retirement Readiness Survey and is one of the primary authors of the EBRI/Greenwald Retirement Confidence Surveys that are published each year. She has also conducted numerous other studies related to retirement and health, including the EBRI/Greenwald Small Employer Retirement Surveys, Health Confidence Surveys, and Small Employer Health Benefits Surveys; the Society of Actuaries Risks and Process of Retirement Surveys, and the Allstate Retirement Reality Check Survey. Prior to joining Greenwald and Associates, Ms. Helman was the manager of Market Area Analysis for United Way of America. In this capacity, she tracked changes in public attitudes regarding United Way and other charitable organizations. Ms. Helman has post-graduate work in Statistics and Demographics from Georgetown University.