Empower Retirement and Optum launch innovative, integrated HSA solution for retirement plan participants
New health and retirement savings solution incorporates HSA balances into retirement income projections, giving a holistic view of retirement preparedness
Available this summer to employers to help their employees plan for their future
GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo., March 28, 2017 — Empower Retirement, the nation’s second-largest retirement plan provider, and health services leader Optum today launched an innovative health savings account (HSA) for retirement plan participants – The Empower Health Savings Account.
Available this summer to employers, the Empower Health Savings Account will provide plan participants access to an online seamless financial-planning solution that integrates retirement savings with healthcare savings, helping them prepare for healthcare expenses in retirement. The Empower-Optum tool will provide access to investment advice and retirement planning resources that bring together an individual’s health and retirement portfolio to help them understand their options to cover healthcare costs and maximize their savings across tax-advantaged programs.
The Empower HSA plan will enable participants to see and understand the gaps in their retirement plan and develop a strategy to take action, including health plan selection and enrollment, retirement plan management, inclusion of wellness programs and health savings account management, an otherwise daunting task with disparate HSA and retirement plan providers. Optum and Empower’s technology and planning tools integrate the HSA and the retirement plans to provide analysis and forecasting of the participant’s retirement preparedness.
“Healthcare in retirement can be a considerable expense and one that makes retirement planning more challenging. The Empower Health Savings Account can help people prepare for that challenge,” said Edmund F. Murphy III, president of Empower Retirement. “In this exclusive collaboration with Optum, the nation’s largest HSA provider, we’re taking retirement healthcare planning and saving to the next level.”
“This new HSA offering can help consumers create affordability today as well as in retirement,” said Deborah Culhane, senior vice president of Optum. “Our collaboration with Empower enables us to deliver the tools and experiences that our customers want and need to make the best use of their healthcare savings.”
The Empower participant website helps people better understand their future savings needs. The site’s design and functionality is based on years of analyzing factors that drive participant behavior. Empower data shows that participants in defined-contribution retirement plans tend to take action when offered personalized tools and information to help them understand specific factors relating to their retirement preparedness.
Through the Empower HSA, employers will gain a way to help their employees plan for their future. They will have access to aggregated retirement readiness information, including the retirement plan and health savings account data. Employers will also benefit from streamlined administration through a dedicated partner, and integrated tools and services.
Murphy noted that Empower was the first retirement plan provider to offer plan participants the ability to project their healthcare expenses in retirement through the company’s Health Cost Estimator and is continuing that strategy by introducing a solution that helps people understand how their health affects their wealth.
About Optum:
Optum is a leading information and technology-enabled health services business dedicated to helping make the health system work better for everyone. With more than 100,000 people worldwide, Optum delivers intelligent, integrated solutions that help to modernize the health system and improve overall population health. Optum is part of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH).
About Empower Retirement:
Headquartered in metro Denver, Empower Retirement administers $475 billion in assets for 8.2 million participants. It is the nation’s second-largest retirement plan recordkeeper by total participants (Pensions & Investments, April 2016). Empower serves all segments of the employer-sponsored retirement plan market: government 457 plans, small, midsize, and large corporate 401(k) clients, non-profit 403(b) entities and private-label recordkeeping clients. For more information, please visit www.Empower-Retirement.com.
About HSAs:
An HSA is a medical savings account available to taxpayers who are enrolled in a high-deductible health plan. When used for qualified medical expenses, the funds within an account are not subject to federal income tax. HSA funds roll over and accumulate year to year and are owned by the participant. Unlike a flexible savings account that’s used for spend-as-you-go expenses, an HSA is designed to help workers save additional funds for healthcare needs in retirement.
Learn More
To learn more about how we’re empowering plan sponsors and their participants to be more engaged in their retirement plans than ever before, call us at 800-719-9914.
Empower Retirement refers to the products and services offered in the retirement markets by Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company (GWL&A), Corporate Headquarters: Greenwood Village, CO; Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company of New York , Home Office: White Plains, NY; and their subsidiaries. The trademarks, logos, service marks, and design elements used are owned by GWL&A.
Firm to launch new participant brand to help millions of Americans manage financial health and wealth
GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo., March 13, 2018 — Empower Retirement today announced that it will launch an end-to-end retirement management experience for plan participants designed to help an individual from the goal-setting stage at the start of the one’s career through a withdrawal strategy that’s implemented when their working years conclude.
The new offering, called My Total Retirement™, blends a traditional retirement managed account with a digital and mobile multi-touch experience designed to help meet the needs of today’s employees.
In addition, Empower is announcing plans for a phased launch of a new brand for its participant offering, called EmpowerUp, which is to be focused on the broad needs of individuals. The new program will join My Total Retirement with healthcare savings, budget management, decision support tools and other elements of Empower’s current suite of retirement services.
My Total Retirement
My Total Retirement will fully integrate into Empower’s results-driven online participant experience. Individuals can use the new offering to view and model their savings as potential future monthly income. Empower will pull real-time data from all of a participant’s income sources, savings and investment accounts and integrate those factors with demographic data into a planning experience using the input of investment professionals and Empower proprietary technology.
“No two retirement plan participants are created equal. Each has their own needs, goals and dreams and Empower is taking action to offer a more fulfilling retirement planning experience,” said Edmund F. Murphy III, President of Empower Retirement. “We will be offering My Total Retirement so that employers and their advisers can help employees with a holistic retirement planning experience that goes beyond savings and investing.”
My Total Retirement will include a multi-channel participant communication program that provides and implements personalized recommendations and is designed to increase engagement and action.
Employees in retirement plans that implement My Total Retirement will have access to a range of services through Empower Retirement Advisory Services provided by Advised Assets Group, LLC, a registered investment adviser. Advised Assets Group is a part of Great-West Investments, which has more than $100 billion under management or supervision.
“Investment customization driven by professional management is increasingly being recognized as a central element to one’s financial plan,” said Scott Sipple, President of Great-West Investments.
Through My Total Retirement, employees will have a new means to:
- Personalize their strategy: The new offering creates full alignment with each employee’s life situation and goals to create a holistic view of all relevant information from inside and outside the retirement plan
- Manage as needs change: Participants will have access to ongoing professional investment management, with regular reviews and access to one-on-one support with investment adviser representatives
- Transition to retirement: As one’s working years draw to a close, their strategy shifts to a focus on capital preservation with steady retirement income
- Optimize for Social Security: Participants can receive guidance to help get the most from Social Security
The new experience includes ongoing access to a team of specially trained investment adviser representatives who can answer questions about an employee’s current strategy, discuss any changes to goals or potential income sources and help an employee personalize their profile for a more customized strategy.
New white paper
Along with the launch of My Total Retirement, Great-West Investments will be publishing a new white paper titled “Made to Measure: Evaluating the impact of a retirement managed account,” which presents a method for valuing managed accounts and delineates the menu of features that may be offered through such an offering in a defined contribution plan.
“There’s a rich opportunity to add some much-needed clarity to the market for advice services that are offered through retirement managed accounts,” said Sipple. “The optimal measure of value is not simply historical investment performance, but rather it’s a combination of factors that ultimately drive value.”
Value to plan sponsors
Murphy noted that My Total Retirement includes fiduciary support that is designed to keep the best interests of participants in mind through improved employee education. In line with U.S. Department of Labor Qualified Default Investment Alternative rules My Total Retirement may serve as a plan’s default option.
“Employers ultimately need to focus on what matters most — managing their business. To help support administrative and fiduciary obligations, Empower Retirement Advisory Services addresses the benefits that may be most important to employees,” he said.
EmpowerUp
Later this year, Empower will unveil a new branded participant program that will bring many elements of the firm’s offering in to a single holistic and integrated experience. EmpowerUp will provide engaging features and educational elements designed to make it easy for individuals to take action on their financial health and wealth.
EmpowerUp will serve as a unifying theme, guiding participants to take steps to increase savings, invest wisely, manage their budget, plan for healthcare and consider their entire financial picture as they save for the future.
Murphy explained that the new program will be formally rolled out later this year with additional elements to come through a strategy of ongoing enhancements.
“EmpowerUp will capture the essence of how we serve the needs of individuals by helping them to take action toward a new financial future,” said Murphy. “Empower has demonstrated that as we build new and innovative features into our offering users tend to respond and utilize these services and technologies to their benefit.”
About Empower Retirement:
Headquartered in metro Denver, Empower Retirement administers $529 billion in assets for more than 8.3 million participants. It is the nation’s second-largest retirement plan record keeper by total participants (Pensions & Investments, April 2017). Empower serves all segments of the employer-sponsored retirement plan market: government 457 plans, small, midsize, and large corporate 401(k) clients, non-profit 403(b) entities and private-label recordkeeping clients. For more information, please visit www.Empower-retirement.com.
About Great-West Investments:
From its headquarters in Greenwood Village, Colorado, Great-West Investments creates and delivers investment solutions for investors, advisors and the retirement market. Great-West Investments includes Great-West Funds, Inc., Great-West Capital Management, LLC, and Advised Assets Group, LLC, the latter two being registered investment advisers. Great-West Investments has more than $100 billion under management or supervision in mutual funds, managed accounts, capital preservation products, and retirement income solutions. For more information, please visit GreatWest.com.
As of Dec. 31, 2017. Information refers to all retirement business of Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company and its subsidiaries and affiliates, including Great-West Life & Annuity Insurance Company of New York, marketed under the Empower Retirement brand. There is no guarantee provided by any party that participation in any of the Advisory Services will result in a profit or that the related account will outperform a self-managed portfolio invested without assistance.
Media Contact:
Stephen Gawlik — 303-737-0899 (office), 617-417-4408 (cell)