Who doesn’t see Google’s stock price and wish they’d purchased a piece of the tech giant while it was still small but mighty? Now could be your chance to expel your Google regrets: the National Association of Retirement Plan Participants—currently a small but mighty nonprofit dedicated to financial literacy and retirement security for all Americans—is seeking visionary plan sponsors to join its effort.
The group intends to revolutionize retirement plans, financial planning tools and consumer education the way “Google did for online search, Apple did for consumer electronics, and Facebook and Twitter did for the ways we communicate and connect.”
NARPP’s leaders—which include academics, behavioral finance experts, policymakers and leading economists—know they can’t create that kind of national shift on their own. After all, revolutions need revolutionaries. That’s where employers come in.
The organization is looking for companies to take an active role by signing up to be part of the NARPP community or becoming Plan Sponsor Coalition Members. So far, a groundswell of employers believe NARPP really could be the next Google: In just 10 days, the group’s plan sponsor outreach campaign has signed on more than 60 employers. The plan sponsors, including Intel and Cisco, represent more than 800,000 participants and more than $70 billion in assets.
NARPP has outlined four primary goals:
1. Increase 401(k) participation levels and connect with participants to build brand equity, trust and loyalty for financial institutions.
2. Educate and empower employees to save sooner, save more and save smarter.
3. Provide innovative educational tools to enrich financial advisors’ services.
4. Give participants engaging information and tools to help them make better choices and give them greater control over their financial futures.
As benefits communicators, we support any effort that brings more clarity to retirement communications and financial literacy. Would your company like to join NARPP in doing just that? Even better, get a glimpse of the movement in person—NARPP Co-founder and President Laurie Rowley will be a featured speaker at the second annual Health and Benefits Leadership Conference in March 2014.
And, while we're on the subject of great events coming up—Jen will be speaking at the P&I Defined Contribution Conference on Monday, October 27th at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. She will appear on a panel titled Evolution of Technology in DC Plans.