"Generally, employees attend plan enrollment meetings and receive lengthy and complex enrollment materials," said Mary Hollingsworth, director of Participant Services. "From our research, we know that participants find it difficult to wade through the complexity of all the information they receive. We want participants to understand that saving for retirement is very basic, and we hope this interactive experience will become a key tool in helping people achieve the best possible retirement outcome."
A link is available on the WRS Web site so participants can view the interactive video at their convenience: www.wachoviaretirementsuccess.com.
The WRS video features a spokesperson who talks through the importance of contributing as much of your pre-tax earnings as you can and the necessity of ensuring that your contributions are appropriately balanced for the stage of your life and your tolerance for risk. An interactive tool allows viewers to create custom projections based on their salary and contribution levels.
Wachovia's video informs plan participants about the key behaviors that drive retirement success. To be successful, you must:
- Participate in your company plan and invest 6 percent or more of your pre-tax earnings, or at least as much as the company match.
- Do the math: Figure out what you need to save in order to replace roughly 80 percent of your pre-retirement income once you're retired.
- Allocate your assets based on your age and risk profile, and remember to rebalance annually
"People can't control the market or the performance of their investments," Hollingsworth said. "But you can control how much you contribute and how you allocate your assets. Understanding and applying this knowledge can make a huge difference in the value of your retirement portfolio over time."
About Wachovia Retirement Services
WRS provides recordkeeping, administration, education, investment options and health savings account services to more than 2.2 million plan participants with more than $105 billion in assets in more than 6,600 retirement plans. In 2007, Wachovia was rated as the second best provider for client loyalty in the retirement industry by the annual Boston Research Group survey.
About Wachovia
Wachovia Corporation (NYSE:WB) is one of the nation's largest diversified financial services companies, with assets of $808.9 billion and market capitalization of $53.8 billion at March 31, 2008. Wachovia provides a broad range of retail banking and brokerage, asset and wealth management, and corporate and investment banking products and services to customers through 3,300 retail financial centers in 21 states from Connecticut to Florida and west to Texas and California, and nationwide retail brokerage, mortgage lending and auto finance businesses. Globally, clients are served in selected corporate and institutional sectors and through more than 40 international offices. Our retail brokerage operations under the Wachovia Securities brand name manage more than $1.1 trillion in client assets through 18,600 registered representatives in 1,500 offices nationwide.
