Schwab Personal Connection For the future that employees want.
It s time for employees to feel good about retirement planning. Providing your employees with a retirement plan that meets their goals is one thing. Keeping your employees engaged and focused on meeting those goals is a whole separate challenge. That s why Schwab Personal Connection is available to clients of Schwab Retirement Plan Services, Inc. Designed to help participants improve their retirement outcome, Schwab Personal Connection fosters participant engagement through a relationship-focused approach that is relevant to each participant s life stage, personal situation, and knowledge about retirement planning. Our strategy addresses the challenges you face: 68% of employees said, I bring my financial worries to work. 1 Only about 3 in 10 workers are very confident about having enough money to pay basic expenses in retirement. 1 2
Improving the outcome starts with improving participant engagement. When you use Schwab Personal Connection, you engage employees with a retirement planning experience that goes deeper than a packet of materials. It s a one-onone relationship that seeks to help keep participants actively involved by addressing their retirement needs individually. Better engagement has its benefits: Participants work with someone who understands their needs and whose answers they can trust Participants get ongoing advice focused on their life stages and personal situations Participants stay informed with news and topics relevant to their life and their plan Participants may gain greater confidence about planning for retirement Participants may feel more knowledgeable about the investment decisions they are making Participants have a solid plan for working toward and reaching goals 3
Connecting with particip Everyone s retirement planning needs are different, so we work with participants to find out how we can best help. With a full range of available resources, tools, and advice, participants have access to a number of paths for getting to the retirement outcome they want. This is how we keep them engaged. Personalized communications address personal wants and needs. What s important to the participant as an individual? We find out and address these topics through personalized communications that focus on the information that is important and relevant to each person. Plan feature communications give big-picture details. Participants stay informed about core retirement plan features and benefits through regular communication campaigns. The Schwab Workplace Retirement app provides on-the-go account access. Retirement plan accounts are accessible anywhere and anytime. 2 Participants can quickly and easily enroll, initiate transactions, and monitor personal information right from their mobile device. My Retirement Progress can help keep participants on track. Participants have access to this reporting tool, which helps them understand where they are on the road to saving for retirement. It shows progress as a percentage: an employee s estimated monthly income, based on their current savings rate, divided by the retirement income needed. 3 It is delivered online, through email, and in mailed statements. Sponsors also receive an overview report once a year, which consolidates their employees progress. 4
ants on what matters to them. Workshops educate and build planning confidence. Participants can gain more in-depth knowledge by attending online and on-site workshops that help them become more confident about making retirement planning decisions. Market wisdom creates an understanding of the industry. For participants who want access to more investing resources, the Schwab Center for Financial Research 4 produces regular print and online publications featuring valuable news, research reports, and commentary. Resources include: On Investing magazine 5 Schwab Investing Insights Schwab Market Update 5 Employees need more retirement savings, and they need help making it happen. According to a Schwab Retirement Plan Services study, some 70% of plan participants looked to their 401(k) plan as their primary source of retirement income. 6 Despite the popularity of 401(k) plans, studies show that nearly 3 in 4 workers didn t think they were on track to retire, and almost 9 in 10 plan participants were worried about not having enough money to retire comfortably. 7 Informative webcasts Individual advice helps to build confidence with decision making. Participants can take advantage of impartial thirdparty advice, which can help them make more informed investment decisions. The advice is based on factors like expected retirement age, savings rate, risk tolerance, and fundamental life situations. One-on-one service from representatives who strive to get to know participants. Participants can build solid relationships with representatives who work to fully understand their financial situation on a much deeper, personal level. And representatives can be conveniently reached through online chat or by phone. The proof is in the advice. A 2014 Morningstar study showed that participants using professional advice saw these results: Participants increased their savings rates by nearly 28% after using the program, an average of 2% of their salary. 8 Participants stayed on track by maintaining their equity allocations throughout the economic cycle. 9 5
You also have access to additional services that make Schwab Personal Connection more beneficial for you and your employees: Easy employee enrollment. The goal of this experience is to focus employees on the importance of participating in their company-sponsored retirement plan. Our enrollment experience provides everything employees need to start participating and to remain participating in their retirement plan. Participants can easily enroll online or from their mobile device using the Schwab Workplace Retirement app. Continued assistance for terminated employees. Our retirement support extends to your employees who have separated from your company, whether the separation was voluntary or involuntary. Your employees will receive help with navigating this change, including education around identifying and selecting their distribution options. This assistance is designed to keep their retirement savings working for them, now and in the future. Customized service for executives. Your executives can take advantage of professional, highly personalized advice and financial planning. An Executive Services Financial Consultant is assigned to each employee, and will assist with unique financial goals both within and beyond the employer-sponsored stock and retirement plans. Schwab Executive Services is about providing the highest level of service and commitment to your executives to ensure they are meeting their personal financial goals. 10 6
Plan participation reports to help you track employee progress. Sponsors receive an annual participant engagement report that not only tracks employee participation but also provides statistics and insight on how employees are doing once enrolled. This report includes: Percentage of participating employees Percentage of participants using advice Number of web views, mobile app downloads, and phone calls Average contribution rates, percentage of participants increasing their contribution rates, and percentage of participants decreasing their contribution rates Percentage of participants making catch-up contributions Percentage of participants receiving Schwab Personal Connection communications, and the conversion rates from those communications 7
The advantages are yours. Schwab Personal Connection is committed to helping participants feel confident about their retirement plan and get the outcome they ve been saving for. All you have to do is take full advantage of the experience. Take the next step: New to Schwab Retirement Plan Services? Talk to your sales representative, call 1-800-456-0777, or visit corporateservices.schwab.com. Already a Schwab Retirement Plan Services client? Call your Communications Consultant for more details about Schwab Personal Connection and how you can make the most of it. 1 Employee Benefit Research Institute, Issue Brief #397, March 2014. 2 System availability and response times are subject to market conditions and mobile connection limitations. Requires a wireless signal or mobile connection. Orders received outside normal market hours will be entered the next business day. 3 The My Retirement Progress percentage is calculated by Schwab Retirement Plan Services, Inc. (SRPS) based on and using the data formulated by independent registered investment advisors GuidedChoice Asset Management, Inc. ( GuidedChoice ) or Morningstar Associates, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Morningstar, Inc. GuidedChoice or Morningstar Associates formulates and provides estimated monthly income projections in retirement using savings and investment data and assumptions that include, but are not limited to, current retirement plan balance and savings rate, projected date of and estimated years in retirement, and estimated replacement income. SRPS cannot alter or influence any of the calculations that GuidedChoice or Morningstar Associates provides. SRPS then uses the projections formulated by GuidedChoice or Morningstar Associates to express the potential gap in retirement savings as a percentage that is made available as part of the retirement plan recordkeeping and related services provided by SRPS. GuidedChoice and Morningstar Associates are not affiliated with or agents of SRPS; Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., a federally registered investment advisor; or their affiliates. Projections and other information regarding the likelihood of various retirement income and/or investment outcomes are hypothetical in nature, do not reflect actual results, and are not guarantees of future results. Results may vary with each use and over time. To obtain more information about how the percentage is calculated or to provide additional information that can impact My Retirement Progress calculations, visit workplace.schwab.com or call 800-724-7526. 4 The Schwab Center for Financial Research is a division of Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. 5 On Investing magazine and Schwab Market Update are provided by Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. 6 Schwab Retirement Plan Services in conjunction with Koski Research, The New Rules of Engagement for 401(k) Plans, 2010. 7 Financial Engines, The Financial Engines National 401(k) Evaluation 2010: Who Benefits from Today s 401(k)? ; Employee Benefit Research Institute ( EBRI ), 2011 Retirement Confidence Survey Fact Sheet #1, ebri.org. 8 David Blanchett, The Impact of Expert Guidance on Participant Savings and Investment Behaviors, August 2014. The average increase in saving deferral rates is determined by analyzing each participant s savings deferral rate prior to using and after using the Morningstar Retirement Manager service. The result is the average across all participants included in the study. 9 Average equity allocation of participants prior to using Morningstar Retirement Manager was analyzed from May 2007 to February 2014 and compared to the value of the S&P 500 Index. 10 Executive Services (a separate service offered by Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.) is not intended to be a substitute for specific individual tax or legal advice. Schwab does not provide tax or legal advice but does provide holistic financial planning services to individuals, which takes into consideration, but does not provide advice on, assets held in a qualified plan. Where specific tax or legal advice is necessary or appropriate, please consult an attorney or qualified tax advisor. Schwab Retirement Plan Services, Inc. created this communication for retirement plan sponsors and retirement plan consultants, advisors, and other retirement plan service providers and fiduciaries only. Schwab Retirement Plan Services, Inc. is not a fiduciary to retirement plans or participants and only provides recordkeeping and related services. 2015 Schwab Retirement Plan Services, Inc. All rights reserved. CC0009487 (0715-4238) MKT86760-01 (08/15) 00153720