Some employers and retirement services providers are trying to help bewildered 401(k) plan participants by offering them new default investment options and new ways to turn the assets into annuity income.
Pam Krueger thinks that employers should also show the participants how to pay to meet with fee-only advisors who provide holistic planning services.
Krueger is the founder and CEO of Wealthramp, an Osterville, Massachusetts-based firm that runs a matchmaking service for consumers and fee-only advisors. She's trying to sell employers on the idea that offering her service or a similar service to retirement plan participants is critical to acting in the participants' best interest.
Too often, Krueger said, workers are offered one-size-fits-all solutions along with no advice, or advice from sales representatives who know little about the assets and obligations that a worker has outside the workplace.
Meeting with an advisor who understands a worker's life is especially important for someone looking to lock assets up in something like an annuity, Krueger said.
"I think everything is a tool," Krueger said. "I'm not saying an annuity is not a really good tool. But an annuity must be served on a platter with advice."
