Financial Engines announced Wednesday that 401(k) plan participants can now call a Financial Engines advisor for no additional charge, regardless of whether or not they use the company’s investment advisory services. Similar to the services added to NextCapital’s 401(k) digital account platform yesterday, Financial Engines’ advisors can analyze a retirement plan and outside accounts, recommend a personalized savings rate, and assist with Social Security. Betterment brought it’s robo-advisor algorithms to 401(k) plan sponsors earlier in September, showing that the industry views the retirement savings market as one ripe for automated technology.
Coming Soon
Paramount recently released a new trailer for the upcoming film The Big Short. Starring Christian Bale, Steve Carrell, Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt, it is based on Michael Lewis’ book that highlighted a group of outsiders who saw the 2008 housing market collapse and bet against the U.S. economy. The film—which is set to be released Dec. 11, 2015 to qualify for an Oscar run—may not be as salacious as last year’s The Wolf of Wall Street debacle, but director Adam Mckay (known for his comedies like Anchorman and Step Brothers) told Yahoo! he didn’t want audiences to have to go through monologues about industry jargon. “I didn’t want it to feel monolithic and austere, instead it needs to be human and rumpled,” he says.
Investors Wish They Studied More About Retirement in School
With retirement planning weighing heavily on investors' minds, it turns out that many wish that they studied up more on the subject earlier in their life. According to the latest quarterly tracking study from E-Trade Financial, "Saving for Retirement" is the finance course investors most wish they had taken in school. The report also indicates that not having saved enough for retirement is a greater fear for investors than physical injury or job loss. "Education and discipline are crucial to a regret-free retirement savings plan," said Lena Haas, SVP of Retirement, Investing and Savings at E-Trade. Other courses that survey respondents cited as subjects that they wish they had studied: "Understanding the Markets," "Active Trading 101" and "Introduction to Asset Classes and Derivatives."
