American Fidelity Encourages Education in Honor of National Retirement Planning Week
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Oklahoma ranks 41st out of the 50 states plus the District of Columbia in the percentage of full-time, year-round workers ages 21-64 saving for retirement, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute and Greenwald and Associates. To help improve that ranking and in honor of National Retirement Planning Week® April 7-11, Oklahoma City-based American Fidelity Assurance Company encourages its Customers, Colleagues and the community to research their retirement options and create a plan.
“There is no one-size-fits-all retirement solution,” said Paul Arvin, annuities products specialist at American Fidelity. “You have to evaluate your personal situation, including your income tax rate, investment experience and comfort with risk to determine the best retirement strategy to meet your needs.”
American Fidelity offers a supplemental or alternative retirement strategy to Customers who desire a guaranteed income after retirement. These annuities are insurance contracts allowing Customers to accumulate money that is then distributed on a guaranteed basis after they retire.
“Annuities can be a good solution for people who worry about stock market losses and outliving their retirement savings,” said Arvin. ”In addition, contributions are tax deferred and annuities can be beneficial in estate planning by avoiding probate.”
In addition to serving Customers with retirement solutions, American Fidelity also boosted retirement education efforts with their own Colleagues.
“We provide Colleagues with both a pension plan and a 401(k), and we want to make sure they understand the differences and the importance of contributing to their 401(k) even though they also have the pension plan,” said Karla Bolinger, retirement and compensation specialist at American Fidelity. “As part of our education campaign, we created a game where Colleagues can vote on a fictional Colleague’s retirement strategy and then see how their choices impact her savings and the life she’ll have at retirement.”
The Company also created an infographic to help Colleagues visualize the differences between American Fidelity’s pension and 401(k) plans and shared it on their blog and social media to help other companies with their retirement education efforts.
“While it will take a lot more than just one company’s efforts to improve Oklahomans’ retirement savings rates, we hope we can do our part to help increase understanding and participation within our areas of influence,” said Bolinger.